“Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly.” – St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622, Bishop of Geneva)
NOTE: I spend my Wednesdays Unplugged from appointments. It’s my day to stay home, enjoy cooking and welcome our kids and grandkids for dinner in the evening. We end our meal with quotes from the Norwegian ‘Quote Cup’ passed on to me from my grandmother. I share a quote and a recipe here each week, along with an update and photos of what has been going on in our lives. I love trying new recipes…and love getting recipes you would like to share!
It was cousins’ shared birthdays this week… Sina turned 17 and Khalen celebrated his golden 22nd birthday. For their ‘cakes’ Khalen asked for puppy chow and Sina asked for an apple pie. The streamers were from Khalen’s gift wrapping… started with a basketball, then wrapped in streamers, it was a riot watching him unravel it!
RECIPE OF THE WEEK
This week’s recipe is Sina’s birthday pie, from www.natashaskitchen.com. It was delicious, but took longer to cook than expected. I used a combination of Granny Smith and cosmic crisp apples.
NATASHA’S BEST APPLE PIE RECIPE
- 1 recipe for double pie crust
- 2 1/4 pounds apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced (about 6-7 apples)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg + 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
Make the pie crust (recipe below) and chill per instructions while preparing the filling. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in 3 tablespoon flour then simmer for 1 minute, whisking constantly. Whisk in 1/4 cup water and 1 cup sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and continue simmering for 3 minutes, whisking frequently, then remove from heat.
Peel, core and thinly slice 7 cups of apples an place them in a large bowl. Sprinkle the top with 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon and toss to combine. Pour the sauce over the apples and stir to coat the apple slices.
Sprinkle your work surface with flour and roll out the bottom pit crust to a 12″ diameter circle. Wrap it around your rolling pin to transfer it to the 9″ pie plate. Add apple mixture, mounding slightly in the center and being careful no to get the filling on the edges which would make it difficult to seal.
Roll the second crust into an 11″ round and cut into 10 even-thickness strips using a pizza cutter. Arrange strips in a woven lattice pattern over the top. Beat together 1 egg and 1 tablespoon water and brush the top with the egg mixture.
Bake at 425 degrees F in the center of the oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and continue baking for another 45 minutes (I needed an hour or more) or until the apples are soft and the filling is bubbling through the vents for at least 5 minutes. Rest at room temp 1 hour before serving.
EASY PIE CRUST
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more to dust
- 1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 pound COLD unsalted butter (2 sticks) diced into 1/4″ pieces
- 7-8 tablespoons ice water
Place flour, sugar and salt into the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few time to combine.
Add cold diced butter and pulse the mixture until coarse crumbs form with some pea-sized pieces, then stop mixing. Mixture should remain dry and powdery.
Add 7 tablespoons ice water and pulse just until moist clumps or small balls form. Press a piece of dough between your finger tips and if the dough sticks together, you have added enough water. If not, add more water a teaspoon at a time. Be careful not to add to much water or overmix as this can make the dough sticky and hard to roll out.
Transfer the dough to a clean work surface and gather dough together into a ball. Fold/knead the dough over itself just enough for it to hold together, it should not be smooth and DO NOT overmix. Divide dough in half and flatten to form 2 disks. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
MAKING A LATTICE PIE CRUST
Cut the dough into strips and loosely lay out half of the strips over the top of the pie.
Fold back every other strip. Place one long strip of dough down the center, perpendicular to the rest. Unfold the dough strips over this new strip. Next fold back the strips which are now under the new strip and lay down a second strip of dough. Repeat until both sides of the pie are completed. Cut excess strips and make a pretty border.
