Hello, this is Christian doing my first guest post on Kitchen Corners. I'm an avid reader although I almost never leave comments and there's a handful of scattered recipes that I can take credit for, usually baked goods.
I baked Da her first apple pie when we were dating. I was a graduate student (some things never change) and lived on the West Side of New Haven, CT near Edgewood Park. The apples were foraged from a tree in the park. They were tart and green which is better for baking but not so good for eating. These apples are also foraged from a tree here at Family Student Housing, in the 700 loop if you're ever in the area in late October.
Often I make apple crisps because you don't have to bother with a pie crust and I love the crumbly topping but Da loves pies so I make those pretty often too. I don't really have a recipe (because I don't measure) so I'm going to make it up but it will work because BAKING IS NOT A SCIENCE. There's actually only one secret, never trust the recommended bake time because burning things will ruin them.
Green Apple Pie
(printable version)
Crust for top and bottom (basically Betty Crocker's Recipe)
2 cups flour
2/3 cup butter or shortening
1 teaspoon salt
4-6 Tablespoons water (it doesn't have to be cold)
-Mix salt and flour
-Cut in the butter or shortening with two knives, pastry cutter, or food processor (I mostly use the two knives because the other two options are a pain to wash and I am the dishwasher)
-Add water, mix a little, squeeze into two balls
-cut open two sides of a plastic grocery bag, put a ball of dough in between the two sides, roll it out with in between the two sides of the bag, peels off the top layer, place it in the pie pan and then peel off the other side (this makes rolling out, lifting up, and messing with the crust really easy. You could do it with plastic wrap or waxed paper but we always have a ton of grocery bags and they're the perfect size.)
-Repeat the last step to make the crust for the top
Filling
Apples (lots of apples, like 10-20 depending on the size, I usually use a lot more because they cook down a lot, the more apples the better, and apples are good)
Sugar, brown or white
Cinnamon, nutmeg
Peel, core and slice apples (this is the most time consuming part of the whole recipe, if I'm watching the kids while I do this I will sit on the floor and we can all eat apple peels together)
Put apples on top of the unbaked crust, sprinkle with sugar (usually 3-4 tablespoons)
Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg. (I like nutmeg and put in almost anything that I put cinnamon in)
Put on the top crust, poke some wholes it it with a fork
Bake at 350 for half an hour or so but check it often and take it out when its nice and golden brown on top. Our oven bakes hot so I'm always checking it after 20 minutes or so.
Take it out, let it cool down and enjoy with whip cream, ice cream, or a cold glass of milk.
________________
Dear Christian,
When you pick apples
and
bake me a pie
I feel like the luckiest woman alive.
xx
Da
