Classic Apple Pie

My dear friend Jennifer gave me a wonderful cookbook for my birthday this year. Best Recipe from a test kitchen. They take the most popular recipes and test all the different variations. I will say this was very well balanced for texture, apple flavor, and seasoning.

Ingredients 

Pie crust (recipe at bottom)
2 tbl flour plus more for dusting the work surface
3 large Granny Smith Apples (about 1 1/2 lbs, for tartness and crisp texture)
4 large McIntosh Apples (about 2 lbs, for sweetness and soft texture)
1 tbl juice and 1 tsp grated zest from 1 lemon
3/4 cup plus 1 tbl sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg white, beaten slightly with a dash of water

Directions:

Lower oven rack, heat to to 500 deg

Roll half the dough on a lightly floured work surface with a piece of parchment paper or wax paper on top. Roll into a 12 in circle, using your flattened hand to make sure of even thickness all around. 

Roll the dough around your rolling pin and then unroll it onto your pie plate, easing it into the corners and leaving excess. Place in refrigerator. Peel, core, and slice the apples into 1/4 inch slices and toss with lemon juice and zest. In a medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients together (reserve 1 tbl sugar), then toss with apples. Empty bowl into chilled pie shell, mounding in center.
Roll out the remaining half of crust and place on top by following previous steps.
Trim edges of crust to 1/2 inch all the way around, tuck the top layer over the bottom and into the pan, flute edges with fingertips. 

Cut 4 slits on top of pie with a knife. If dough is very soft, place in the freezer for 10 min. Brush the egg white on the top crust and sprinkle evenly with remaining sugar. 

 Place pie on a baking sheet and lower oven temp to 425. Bake the pie until the crust is golden, about 25 min. Rotate the pie, reduce oven temp to 375, continue baking until the juices bubble and the crust is a deep golden brown, 30-35 min longer. 

Cool to room temp, at least 4 hours to let juices set up. 

Serve with your favorite vanilla ice cream! Mine is Breyers.

Pie Crust:
2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, plus more for dusting the work surface
1 tsp salt
2 tbl sugar
1/2 cup vegetable shortening, chilled
12 tbl (1 1/2 sticks) cold butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
6-8 tbl ice water

Mix flour, salt and sugar until combined. Add shortening and butter, cutting in with a pastry blender, a food processor, or two knives. Do this until it resembles coarse crumbs, the size of small peas. In a medium bowl, sprinkle 6 tbl of water mix with clean hands by scraping the edges and folding in on itself. If too crumbly, add remaining water. Do this until well mixed. Divide in half, cover, and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Chocolate Chess Pie

I have the great honor and privilege of living close to my brother and his three amazing children. Time to time, when I babysit them, I let them help me cook and try to pass on my knowledge to their young, eager faces. This was a perfect opportunity to bake a pie: their father's birthday.

Now in the south, a Chess pie is a tradition. It's one of the first recipes I learned, passed down from my grandmother along with this story. The old saying goes, that a yankee was enjoying a delicious pie baked for him by a southern cook when he asked what kind of pie it was. The cook, in a heavy accent, said, "It's jes' pie." Thus, the name, "Chess Pie." What's better than a pie full of sugar and butter? A pie full of sugar, butter and chocolate. So here's the variation on the old favorite.

Ingredients
3 cups sugar
7 tbl cocoa powder
3 tbl flour
1 cup milk
4 eggs
1 stick butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 regular pie shells or 1 deep dish.

Directions
Heat oven to 350, place pie shells on a cookie sheet. prepare a crust shield (directions in Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake).
In a small saucepan, heat butter on low just until melted, remove from heat and add cocoa until melted.
In a bowl, mix sugar with flour, then add remaining ingredients. Add butter/cocoa mixture. Pour into crusts.
Bake for 30-40 min, until a crust has formed on top of the pie. (it will be cracked and not sticky to the touch)
Remove crust shield during the last 15 min of baking.
Cool completely before slicing. We call this "Settin' up."  (trust me, resist temptation or it will be pure liquid inside!)

Funny side note: After baking this and putting the sweet darlings to bed, I couldn't resist tasting my creation. So, I confess I nibbled a bit :) It made Twitter with a picture of the creator/culprit.

Apple Cinnamon Bread

Fall is here, accompanied by the fragrance of apples and cinnamon filling my home with the sound of rustling leaves for background music through the open window. A friend of mine gave me a bushel of small, tart apples to feed my cooking fetish, so this is my first try at Apple Bread.

One fall, several years ago, I was blessed to visit the state of Maine during its height of color. The coastline was lined with antique stores, book shops, bead and breakfasts, and bakeries that made me feel like being transported back in time to simpler days. So, when I came across this recipe from Ogunquit, ME, I knew I had to try it. It is every bit as delicious as a slice of New England history should be.

Ingredients
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup melted butter
1 tbl vanilla
2 cups apples, peeled, sliced 1/4 in thick and cut in half
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 tbl flour

Directions
Heat oven to 350, grease the bottoms of 2 glass loaf pans.
Toast walnuts in heating oven 10 min or until you can smell them. Cool, then toss with flour.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, cin, soda, salt, and baking powder.
In a separate, large bowl, beat eggs for a minute.
Add sugar, butter, oil, and vanilla, stir just until incorporated.
Add flour in quarters and stir just until mixed. Add apples and walnuts.
Pour into two pans, bake for 1 hour, rotating half-way through.
Check 10 min early and then at 5 min intervals until a toothpick comes out mostly clean.
Let cool for 5 min before dumping out of pan.
Savor the smell!