I was intending to post my intelligent and witty sermonette (there were six of us preaching so we only got 4 minutes each, and I had to follow directly on Matt which is always unfair) from last night's Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service, however, a very tiny, very old woman pinched my cheek at the end of the service and said, 'I loved your cute little talk.' So that's gone in the garbage bin of my computer.
Instead, here's my secret to perfect Apple Pie.
Crust: 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1 Tb white sugar, 1 tp salt sifted together
1 cup cold unsalted Butter. Don't fuss around with shortening or anything else. Go for the full butter. Freeze it, take it out and cut it laboriously by hand into the dry ingredients. Then, By HAND, flake the butter into the flour until its a course crumb consistency.
Get a small pitcher of water and add ice. Add the iced water gently with a fork and then go in by HAND to form the dough as gently as possible.
Wrap the dough tightly in cling film and bung it in the fridge.
Filling: 3 enormous granny smith apples or 6 small ones, or a combination of apples (make sure at least two are firm and tart), the juice of a lemon, liberal smattering of cinnamon, fresh grated nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon all spice, and at least 1/4 cup sugar but more like a 1/2 or a full cup, 1 Tb flour.
Slice the apples thinly into the same bowl you used to make the dough. Squeeze over the lemon, add the sugar and spices. Let it sit and meld together wonderfully while you roll out the dough--top and bottom. Fill the pie. Cover the Pie. Poke the top of the pie with a knife. Bake the pie at 350 for 50 minutes or until golden and bubbling.
Let it rest for at least 10 minutes or as long as you can stand it and then, don't fuss around with icecream, just pour full fat cream over the top and eat it as quietly as you can without telling anyone.
Happy Thankgiving!
3 comments:
You incorporate the butter BY HAND??
I can't live without my pastery cutter.
And by the way, since I'm hours ahead of you here in Nairobi, my pie came out of the oven in great glory about an hour ago.
I swear it makes all the difference, really. I am now going to begin on my pies. I let my stock bubble all night so I have stuffing and pies and muffins to make and then it will be Matt's turn in the kitchen. We really need a second oven.
*laughs* That really is too funny- I would've loved to have seen the 'cute little talk' comment. Given that it was a very tiny old woman, she probably meant you were cute, and not the talk (though I'm not sure that makes things better).
We used to have a second oven above the stove in our old house. It was incredibly useful! Unfortunately we had to nix the whole lot as the temp regulator on the hob was shot and it had a habit of attempting to melt our pans. I still have a large aluminum souvenir from the time it succeeded.
~R
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