They are baking pies in Kansas!!!

It’s… Pie Night!
David’s girlfriend, Erin, wanted to learn how to make pies from scratch. September 1st was the scheduled date. They both arrived promptly at 7:00 eager to get going. The plan was to have the boys play cards while Erin learned how to make pies. Erin wanted to make two different kinds of pies: apple and berry. After much consultation, we agreed that double crusts for both were in order.

Let the pie making begin…

We used a recipe that I had only made once before. It was a very buttery, flaky crust. I got it from The Splendid Table, Lynne Rossetto Kasper’s show on NPR. I remember driving Daniel to his piano lesson and this recipe was being described. Both David and I were drooling from the sounds of it, so we decided that I should make it for his birthday that year. I think that was two years ago… Dan, my boyfriend, looked it up and sent it to me. Viola! It’s called Lynne’s Pie in the Sky Apple Pie recipe.

First, we laid out the crust ingredients… I told Erin that if you lay them out ahead of time, then you know if you have everything before you start and, if you put each one away as you use it, then you’ll know if you’ve used everything when you get to the end. Plus you won’t have a bunch of cleanup left at the end, which can seem overwhelming when you’re tired.

Pie Crust ingredients:

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, each cut into 4-5 pieces
1 Tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar
5-7 Tablespoons iced water or iced apple juice

1.  Take a large plastic bag. Measure all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt) and place them in the bag. Toss them together. 

Add the butter to the bag and seal it. Put the bag in the freezer for about 20 minutes.

2. Turn the contents into a big bowl. With clean hands, blend the flour with the butter by rubbing them together with fingertips. Don’t use palms because the heat will melt the butter. The butter should be in big flakes—about 2 inches long.

3. Sprinkle the vinegar and 5 tablespoons iced water over the dough. With a fork toss everything until it’s barely moistened. Try to gather the dough into a ball. If too dry, sprinkle with 2 more tablespoons water, toss lightly, and then gather the dough into a ball. 

4. Divide the dough into 2 balls (in this case we had 4 balls since we were making a double recipe). Wrap them up and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. (There’s a lot of refrigerating in this crust recipe because of the butter in it. And… it’s the butter that makes the crust so flaky.) While the dough is in the fridge, you can get the apples peeled and sliced…

5. Pare the apples and toss together the apple slices and the lemon juice.

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Filling ingredients: 


6 large apples, peeled, cored, and sliced about 1/2 inch thick. (Don’t use Golden Delicious—they will ruin the pie.)
Juice of 1 large lemon
1/2—2/3 tightly packed cup dark brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Add the other ingredients for the filling, tasting for sweetness.

Turn the apples with seasonings into a sieve and set over a bowl. Leave for 30 minutes.

6. Grease a 9- or 10-inch pie plate. Roll out the first piece of dough onto a well-floured board into a big circle that’s about 1/8-inch thick. Lightly flour the top of the dough to keep it from sticking. 

Fit the dough into the pie pan, leaving about a 2-inch overhang. Save scraps for decorating the pie. Chill 30 minutes.

7. Spread a piece of foil over a cookie sheet. Roll out remaining dough to a circle that’s about 16 inches in diameter. Set on the foil and chill 30 minutes.

8. Turn the drained juices from the filling into a saucepan and boil them into a thick syrup. Scrape back into the apples.

9. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

10. Fill the bottom of the pie shell with apples, mounding them high and pressing out air pockets. Cover with the big round of pastry. Seal edges together by rolling the overhang over the top crust and pinching them together. There should be a high ridge on the crust on the pie plate rim.

11. Brush 1 egg, beaten, and 3 Tablespoons sugar over the top of the pie to glaze it. Cut out a few steam holes. Cut our stars or leaves from the dough scrapes to decorate on the crust. Brush with more egg and sprinkle with sugar.

12. Bake on a cookie sheet for 45 minutes to an hour, or until apples are tender when you pierce them through one of the steam holes. Cool the pie(s) on a rack. Serve warm… with Sadaf (persian) tea. Yum!

So… we made that apple pie and a mixed berry pie and enjoyed them warm. Erin’s family also got to enjoy the apple pie. The berry pie—left behind—didn’t last too long the next day at my house. That was fun, Erin. Next… we’ll have a lesson on Jane’s Gluten Free Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins…