apple pie

The key to making a really good apple pie is cooking the apples first.  I made two pies last night. 

mixture of 24 large apples of your liking – cored, sliced and peeled

2/3 cup of sugar

1 stick unsalted butter

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

Take the butter and melt it in a large saute pan.  When it melts add the ingredients above.  Once everything is completely melted and the apples begin to soft but not too much, take this off the heat.

Then add 2/3 cup light brown sugar, 1 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch and the juice of one lemon.  Mix this up and let it hang out until cool. 

Here is a pie crust recipe from previous posts. 

Pate Brisee (classic pie crust )

Use a cuisinart, makes life much really easier.

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, very cold, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup really cold water

Put the flour, butter and sugar in the cuisinart.  Use the dough blade.  Turn it on until the butter looks like coarse crumbs.  Now you add the water.  This is the tricky part.  I am at the beach, so the air is so full of water that you actually need more water than less.  So in the city, I use 1/4 cup but out here I use 1/2 cup water.  Pour in the water, and pulse until the mixture becomes dough.  Divide in half and roll each piece in plastic wrap, put in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.  You could actually keep it in the fridge over night or in the freezer for a month but I've never had success keeping it in the freezer.

Roll out each dough separately between either plastic wrap or parchment paper.  Makes it easier and less mess.  Then put in the fridge again, rolled out, to get cold before working with the dough again, about 15 minutes.  Put the dough over the pie crust, push down and let the extra dough hang over.  Use a fork to prick holes on the bottom. 

Pour the apple mixture in the pie and then take the top crust (already rolled out) and place over the apples.  Crimp and fold to create your pie. 

Bake at 375 until the top is browned.  I also took egg whites and brushed that over the top and some sugar about 15 minutes after the pie had been in the oven.