Apple Pie

Who doesn’t love apple pie? Especially this time of year when the apples are fresh and sweet. I got the apples for this pie at a local orchard. Normally I like to use McIntosh apples for pie, but I heard recently that Northern Spies are good for pie because they keep their shape well. This turned out to be true – the slices even stood up to a good toss with the other filling ingredients without breaking.

Another ingredient to note is honey, which I added to the pie filling. I debated whether it would add too much moisture, but in the end decided the flavor would be worth it, and it was. When my husband tasted the pie, he guessed right away that there was honey. It added a nice richness. I chose not to add spices like cinnamon this time because I didn’t want to detract from the apple flavor.

This pie turned out to be light and satisfying, and not at all filling. That may be because I didn’t add butter to the filling as is usually done. The result was an almost refreshing apple pie.

Apple Pie – yields 8 slices

Pie Pastry:

1 1/2 C flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup butter, ice cold and diced
7 – 9 T ice cold water

Pie filling:

6 – 8 pie apples, peeled and sliced
1/4 C flour
1/4 C granulated sugar
1/4 C brown sugar
2 T honey

Start with the pastry dough so that it can rest in the refrigerator while the filling is made. Blend flour and salt in a large bowl. Drop ice cold butter into the flour and either cut with a pastry blender, or blend in a food processor until it it has the consistency of large crumbs. Add the water one tablespoon at a time, lightly tossing until just incorporated. Form a ball out of the dough, cut it in half and refrigerate 10 – 15 minutes.

Peel and slice apples while the dough chills. Add flour, sugars and honey and toss until the apples are evenly coated.

Take dough from refrigerator and, on a well-floured surface, roll the dough out to somewhere between an eighth to a quarter of an inch thickness and about 10-11 inches in diameter. Lay the bottom pastry in a 9.5 inch pie plate. Place a pie bird in the center (Or make a cone out of tin foil. Pie birds are good to use in liquidy pies with top crusts because they allow a channel for steam to escape without causing the crust to leak or the filling to overflow). Surround the bird with an even layer of the apple filling.

Gently fold the top pastry into quarters to find the center. Unfold. With a knife, make an X in the center of the pastry. Carefully slip the bird’s head through the X when placing the pastry over the top of the pie. Seal the crust by brushing a light coat of water around the lower pastry. Remove excess dough around the rim. Crimp the edges. I do a press and fold method – press with the right thumb, fold with the left.

Seal the bird into the pie with some of the excess pie dough. I made him a little scarf with a fringed edge. And he thought he was going someplace cold. Ah birds…

Bake in 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes until the crust is lightly browned and starts to look like pastry and not pastry dough.

Allow to cool for a 2-3 hours before slicing.

Ingredient origins: The flour came from Vermont. The salt – who knows? It was another regrettable Costco purchase not to be repeated. The label says Cargill of Minnesota, so there’s no way for a consumer to know the precise origin of this product. (Cargill is the same industrial food giant responsible for knowingly selling a slurry of slaughterhouse waste and ammonia labeled as “Chef Selection Angus Beef” frozen hamburgers to consumers, according to the New York Times.) The butter came from Maine. The apples came from a nearby orchard. To be honest, I’m not sure the origin of the sugars. I purchased them a while ago and immediately stored them in glass jars on the counter top, tossing the packaging. The honey also came from Massachusetts.