digsandthat.com

DigsMagazine.com make your stomach happy  .

 

 

a home + living guide for the post-college, pre-parenthood, quasi-adult generation

11.21.2005

home
editor's note 
_____________

DEPARTMENTS
 
o lounge 
o nourish 
 
o host
o
laze
_____________

o BOARDS
o SHOP
o send an ECARD
_____________

about
contact
submit your ideas
support digs
search
links  

 

..
got a food question? jump to the boards

copyright ©1999-2005
DigsMagazine.com.

pie for you, pie for m
3 classic pies for the holidays
by Yee-Fan Sun |
1 2 3 4 5
continued from page 1

apple pie
I'm an equal-opportunity pie-eater, but if I really had to pick a favorite, I'd have to go with the good ol' all-American apple pie. So very simple, so utterly delicious. And the leftovers make a very tasty breakfast too.

ingredients
2 basic piecrusts (you can either double the ingredients and divide the dough by two, or make two separate batches; personally I prefer the latter, as I find it easier to work with this dough in smaller quantities)

filling
9 cups of thinly sliced apple (this can require anywhere between 6 to 12 apples, depending upon how big or puny your fruits are… it will look like quite a lot when you pile them in initially, but you'll find the apples shrink down a lot as they cook)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 tsps. cornstarch, or 2 Tbsp. instant tapioca

topping
1 Tbsp. milk
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. cinnamon

1 Make your piecrust dough and chill in the fridge.
2 While the dough is chilling, make up the filling. Peel, core and slice apples until you have about nine well-packed cups worth of apple. Slide the apples into a big mixing bowl. Toss with the brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice and cornstarch/tapioca.
3 Preheat the oven to 450F.
4 If your dough isn't already divided, cut it in two. Take one portion and roll out a big circle for the bottom crust; it should be large enough to cover the whole bottom of the pie pan, and hang over at least an inch all around. Transfer it to your pie pan, and press it into place. Trim any excess crust so you have a more or less even 1" overhang all around. Save the scraps.
5 Pile in the apple mixture; it should make a generous mound, and be higher in the middle than at the edges.
6 Roll out the second portion of the dough into another big circle; make sure it's plenty large to cover the pile o' apples. After draping the rolled-out dough over the filling, tuck the excess under the edges of the bottom crust (if there's a lot of excess dough, you might want to trim it away before tucking it under). Pinch the dough together to seal the two crusts, then decorate the edge by fluting or crimping.
7 Now remember those scraps you saved earlier? Roll those out. Use a sharp paring knife to cut the dough into decorative shapes -- apples or leaves work well for Thanksgiving, but you can make whatever suits your fancy. Of course, if you have cookie cutters on hand, you can save yourself some effort by making use of those, but I like having the excuse to exercise my artsy-fartsy urges.
8 Arrange the shapes on top of the pie however you like. Once you're happy with where they sit, you'll need to cut some slits in the pie to create steam vents (as the apples cook down, they'll release a lot of water in the form of steam; if you don't have vents in the crust, the steam will be trapped inside). I generally cut about 5 long slits into the crust. Now combine the cinnamon and sugar for the topping in a small bowl. Lightly brush the top of the pie crust with milk, and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top.
9 Place the pie on top of a big baking sheet (this will catch any juices that spill over … for even easier clean-up, you can line the sheet with foil) and slide it in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes at 450F. Lower heat to 350F and bake for another hour. The pie should be a gorgeous golden brown at this point; slide a paring knife into one of the steam vents, and the tip should go easily through the filling.

keep on moseying kids!

---------------------------> lounge . nourish . host . laze . home.