Apartment Dining: Apple Pie
Written by Grace Baines
As fall approaches our minds turn to the woodsy, sleepy flavors that accompany the season. A great way to launch yourself into the season is a good, homemade apple pie. Not only is the dish filled with fall favorite spices, memories and fruit but it also serves as an excellent group dessert and potential leftovers. Pies are surprisingly simple to make and look great as a centerpiece for a meal, or proof to your parents that you can, in fact, cook.
Apple Pie
Ingredients and Supplies
- •9 inch pie pan
- •1 large bowl
- •1 small bowl
- •Paring knife
- •Cutting board
- •1 box of Pillsbury pre-made pie crust (I know it’s cheating, we’re working from scratch for the Pumpkin pie, no worries)
- •7 apples total, roughly 4 tart and 3 sweet. I recommend Granny Smiths for the tart and Gala’s for the sweet.
- •¼ cup granulated sugar
- •2 tbsp brown sugar
- •1/3 cup all purpose flour
- •¾ tsp ground cinnamon
- •Pinch of ground nutmeg or World Market pumpkin pie spices.
- •½ tsp fine grain salt
Ingredients for Crust Glaze
- •1 large egg
- •½ tsp granulated sugar
- •a pinch of fine grain salt
Preparation
- Begin preheating the oven to 350 on the bake option. Make sure your oven is clean before heating to avoid cross contamination on flavors and a potential fire. Move the racks of your oven to the lower 1/3.
- Take one of the two crusts from the Ready Made crust and carefully spread it in the pie pan. Gently push it to touch the bottom. Try not to tear the crust but if you do use the scraps from later to fill the hole.
- Trim the overhang (past the lip of the pie pan.) off of the crust and put it to the side. Take the crust in the pan and put it in the freezer to chill for 10 minutes.
- Wash the apples carefully, removing any stickers and wax. Peel the apples either with a potato peeler or by using the paring knife to carefully slice away from your torso.
- Core the apples by slicing around the core. The core will look like a rectangle once you’ve removed the meat of the fruit.
- Carefully slice the apples into pieces roughly bite sized and 1/3 inches thick. Place these into the bowl.
- Add the sugar, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, a pinch of salt and nutmeg or pumpkin spice. Carefully (the flour will go everywhere) stir the mixture together until the apple pieces appear to be evenly coated in a brown-flecked mixture. Your nose should be in heaven about now.
- Take the piecrust from the freezer and pour the mixture into the crust. Pile it in so that it fills the crust and comes to a peak in the center of the pie.
- Unroll the remaining ready-made crust and place it over the filling. Carefully trim the top crust to the same length as the bottom crust. When you’ve completed that smush the two together. Use a fork to crush the edges together and give the edge a texture.
- Stick the pie in the freezer to chill and settle for 5-8 minutes. Then remove the pie and cut seed shaped holes in a four-leaf clover pattern on the crest of the pie. They should be close, but not touching. These will allow the pie to ventilate while cooking.
- Mix the egg, 1 Tbsp of sugar, and pinch of salt together in the small bowl and brush (no pooling) it onto the top crust of the pie. This will give a golden glaze to the top of the pie.
- Place the pie in the oven on the lower 1/3 rack. Turn on your oven light so that you can keep an eye on the pie as it cooks.
- Cook for an hour. At 45 minutes in check that the crust is simply turning golden, not brown. If it’s browning, carefully place strips of aluminum foil around the crust to protect it from the heat.
- At 50- 60 minutes remove the pie from the oven, the crust and peak should be golden brown and the apples should be browned and the smell should be mouth-watering. Let it cool for a few minutes before you attempt to cut it. Turn off your oven and prepare for serving.
