Apple Pie

To bring a loved one home, bake an apple pie with them in mind and place it near a window to cool.

Apple Pie

 My mom says just use the apples you have, and the best apples for pie were from Granny's old apple trees near Lake Simcoe. MacIntosh have good flavour but get mushy in a pie. Try a combination of MacIntosh with Cortland or Granny Smith apples.  We like a pie crust made by hand from the recipe on the box of Maple Leaf Tenderflake lard, see the recipes listed under "Pie Dough"

• 5-6 large or 6-8 medium apples
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 3/4 to 1 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• dash salt
• 1 Tbsp butter
• Pastry for 2-crust, 9-inch pie

1. Wash, core, peel and thinly slice apples into large bowl.
2. If apples are sweet or bland-tasting, toss with lemon juice.
3. If apples are very tart, don't use the lemon juice.
4. In a small bowl combine sugar, flour, spices, dash of salt.
5. Mix dry ingredients with apples.
6. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
7. Line a 9-inch pie plate with rolled-out pastry.
8. Fill with apple mixture.
9. Dot with butter.
10. Add top crust and seal, fluting edges with fingers.
11. Cut slits in top to allow steam to escape.
12. Sprinkle top crust with sugar (optional, I usually don't).
13. Bake in preheated 400 degree F oven for 40 minutes or till done.

Blue Ribbon Apple Pie

Boston pastry chef Louise Miller published her first novel in 2016. The City Baker's Guide to Country Living is about a Boston pastry chef who goes to Vermont, develops the perfect apple pie recipe, and finds love. The character dyes her hair different lurid colours with Manic Panic hair tint, while I'm really hesitant to do anything about my now-white hair.

 I read the book sitting beside Norm, who is recovering from mouth cancer surgery,  while he scrolled on his phone while watching the Montreal Canadiens being eliminated from the 2026 Stanley Cup playoff finals.

I would really like to bake this pie, an interesting recipe because you briefly cook the apples first. But I'll wait until I can share it with him. And anyway I see that I have only a few large apples left from the 8 pound bag I bought to make pie. 

Here's the recipe, shared at the end of the novel. I've edited the instructions for brevity.

Use a 9" deep-dish pie pan and 4 lbs of "mostly Cortland and McIntosh apples, with 1 or 2 Granny Smith thrown in for tartness and texture."

Double Crust Pie Dough

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp white granulated sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 12 Tbsp (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 3 Tbsp solid vegetable shortening (like Crisco)
• 6 Tbsp (or more) ice water

1. In a food processor, pulse together 3 cups flour, 1 Tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 12 Tbsp unsalted butter, 3 Tbsp shortening until mixture looks golden and resembles coarse cornmeal.
2. Pour flour mixture into a large bowl.
3. Add  the 3 Tbsp ice water a tablespoon at a time, lightly fluffing the mixture with your fingers, until the dough just begins to come together. Squeeze a little dough in your hand and if it clumps do not add more water.
4. Gather dough into a ball, divide into two pieces, flatten into 2 discs, wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
5. Roll out dough 1 disc at a time. Don't use too much flour (add a bit more if the dough is sticking to the table, but once added you can't take it away.) Never roll pastry dough using a back-and-forth motion, always work from the centre and roll out to keep from working the gluten too much.
6. Use one rolled out dough disc to line a 9" deep dish pie pan.
7. Place the second rolled-out dough disc on a cookie sheet.
8. Place both discs back in the refrigerator to rest.

Filling

• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 4 pounds apples (Cortland & McIntosh + 1 or 2 Granny Smith)
• 3/4 cup white granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 egg white, beaten (for the crust bottom)

1. Arrange oven racks or remove one to fit a tall pie.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
3. Remove rolled dough from the refrigerator and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together 3/4 cup sugar, 2 Tbsp cornstarch, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg. Set aside.
5. In a large skillet, melt 2 Tbsp butter. (If your pan isn't big enough to accommodate all the apple slices at once, cook the apples in 2 batches using 1 Tbsp butter in each.)
6. Toss in peeled, sliced apples and stir so they are coated in butter. Cook about 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
7. Leaving the liquid in the pan, remove the apples from the skillet (use a slotted spoon) and put them in the large bowl with the sugar mixture. Toss to coat apples. Set aside.
8. Brush the inside of the bottom pastry crust with beaten egg white.
9. Pile the sautéed apples into the crust, then cover with the remaining rolled-out pastry disc.
10. Trim the crusts, then pinch them together using your thumbs and index fingers.
11. Slice air vents into the top crust.
12. Leave the top crust plain but if desired, for a shiny crust brush the top crust with an egg wash OR for a brown and soft crust, brush it lightly with milk.
13. Turn the oven down to 375 degrees F.
14. Place a cookie sheet inside the oven and place the pie pan on the sheet.
15. Bake about 50-60 minutes until the crust is a deep golden brown and the filling is bubbling.
16. Let cool completely before serving.

Note from the story: A blue-ribbon pie doesn't have a soggy bottom crust.

American Honey Apple Pie

The Salem Cross Inn, a 1705 farmhouse in West Brookfield, Massachusetts, hosts the New England Beehive-Oven-Baked Apple Pie Contest. The pies are baked in the Inn's 300-year-old brick beehive oven. This recipe was the winner in 1993 and was on the Inn's Thanksgiving menu in 1995.

Use Granny Smith apples, or if you can find them: Rome Beauty, Jonathan, or Winesap.

• 1/3 cup honey
• 2 Tbsp white granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• dash salt
• 2 Tbsp margarine or butter, melted
• 6 to 8 medium cooking apples (7-1/2 cups) peeled and sliced.
• 1 recipe rich pastry for double-crust pie
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 Tbsp coarse sugar

1. Line pie plate with pastry
2. Mix together honey, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, salt.
3. Toss sugar mixture with peeled and sliced apples.
4. Put apple mixture in pastry-lined pan.
5. Top with pastry.
6. Prick pastry top with fork to make vents.
7. Brush pastry top with beaten egg and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
8. Bake pie in bottom third of preheated 425 degree F oven, 15 minutes.
9. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F, bake 40 minutes or until pie crust is golden, apple filling is bubbly, and apples are soft when pierced with knife through vent.
10. Remove from oven and cool pie in pan placed on rack.

Sugar Crust Apple Pie

A recipe from Canadian Living magazine.

Filling:

• 8 cups (2-1/4 lbs) peeled, thinly sliced tart apples
• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Pastry:

• 3/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 3 Tbsp softened unsalted butter
• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup ice water

Glaze:

• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 Tbsp water
• 2 tsp white granulated sugar

Make Pastry:

1. In a bowl, beat shortening and butter together until smooth.
2. Stir in flour and salt to make a coarse mixture.
3. Pour in 1/2 cup icy cold water at once, stir until a loose dough forms.
4. Flour your hands.
5. Gather dough into 2 equal-sized balls.
6. Pat each ball into a round 2 cm (3/4 inch) thick.
7. Wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour or until chilled.
8. On a well-floured surface with a well-floured rolling pin, roll out a round of dough to a 13" diameter circle, lifting pin at edge to maintain thickness.
9. Loosely roll dough around rolling pin, unroll over a 9" pie plate.
10. Use a sharp knife to trim dough even with edge of pie plate.

Filling:

1. In a bowl, mix together cinnamon, flour, sugar.
2. In a larger bowl, toss peeled and sliced apples with lemon juice and sprinkle the cinnamon mixture over apples, toss to coat.
3. Scrape apples into pastry-lined pie plate.
4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Finish Pastry:

1. Brush trimmed edge of pastry with water.
2. Roll out second round of pie dough to same-size circle.
3. Using rolling pin, without stretching, drape pastry over apples.
4. Trim, leaving 2 cm (3/4 inch) overhang, then fold under rim of bottom pastry.
5. Press together to seal.
6. Using thumb and index finger, twist rim to form a raised scalloped edge.
7. With sharp knife, cut steam vents in centre of pie.

Pastry Glaze:

1. Whisk egg yolk with 1 Tbsp water.
2. Brush egg mixture over top of unbaked pastry crust.
3. Sprinkle with 2 tsp sugar.

Bake Pie:

1. Bake pie in bottom third of preheated 425 degree F oven, 15 minutes.
2. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F, bake 40 minutes or until pie crust is golden, apple filling is bubbly, and apples are soft when pierced with knife through vent.
3. Remove from oven and cool pie in pan placed on rack.

Crumble-Topped Pie

Crumble-Topped Apple Pie

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Roll out a round of pastry, line a 9" pie pan.

Fill the unbaked pastry shell with a mixture of:

• 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 tbsp. white flour
• 1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 6 large, Granny Smith apples (washed, cored, peeled, sliced)

Sprinkle on crumble topping. Combine: 

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter (cut in with a pastry blender or two knives).

Dab on top of the crumble topping:

• 2 tbsp butter

Bake in preheated 400 degree F oven for 30 minutes or until crumble top and pastry look golden.

Let the pie cool before slicing. Serve with vanilla ice cream or a sprinkling of icing sugar.

Apple Pie

Lake Simcoe Apple Pie

The best apple pies I've ever had were made with apples from the trees planted by my great-grandparents near Lake Simcoe. These trees weren't sprayed or pruned for easy picking.

One of us would climb a tree and gently shake a limb to make the apples fall. The rest of us would gather them from the ground. The wormier windfall apples were raked into a pile and composted, which would attract a lot of bees and wasps.

Nobody wanted to gather the wormy apples, and my grandmother Mary had to remind everyone to come pick them up each year.

We'd cut out the parts with worm holes and peck marks made by the birds, before peeling and slicing the apples. My sister Sandra and I once spent an entire day in the small kitchen, making pies to freeze. 

The old apple trees started being less productive, so Sandra's husband Karl decided to prune them, but that didn't help. Eventually he cut most of them down. 

My mom planted a new apple tree where the weeping willow used to be, near the house her grandfather built. Update 2022: The apple new apple tree didn't survive and is gone now. This year, I bought some Gravenstein pie apples from Old Homestead Orchard farm but they were small so we ate them. The best pie apples are large, for easy peeling, and have dense-textured pulp. Braeburn and Northern Spys are  good pie apples.

Update 2024: This year I picked some large Cortland apples from an orchard near Stouffville, and everybody wanted to just eat them. It was hard  keep some apples for Thanksgiving pie.

• Pastry for a double-crust pie
• 1/2 - 3/4  cup sugar (more sugar if apples are tart)
• squeeze of lemon juice (if apples aren't tart)
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• dash of grated nutmeg
• 6 cups peeled, sliced apple
• 2 Tbsp. very cold butter, cut in pieces

Line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry.  Roll a 12-inch round for a 9-inch pie.

Dough made from lard can be rolled very thin. If you roll on a floured, flowered cloth the dough should be thin enough that you can see the flower pattern through the pastry dough. I roll pastry on floured parchment paper now and just imagine the flower pattern. 

 

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F.

In a bowl, mix flour, sugar and cinnamon.

Toss the apples in the sugar mixture, then place apple slices in the pastry-lined pie plate. 

Dot with butter.

Top with a round of pastry and flute edges.

For a sweet crust, sprinkle the pastry top with sugar before baking. (My mother never did this.)

Cut vents into the top of the pastry so that steam can escape. Vent an apple pie by pricking an "A" in the top crust with a fork. When she was little Lauren said the "A" on an apple pie was really for Arthur, because her grandpa liked apple pie the best.

Bake 10 minutes in preheated 425 degree F oven.

Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake 30 minutes or so, until pie crust is golden.

Baking perfect pastry comes with experience because you have to know your oven.

When my mom's oven was getting old, she started baking pies at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes and turned it down to 375 to finish baking. She says if you don't have a very hot oven you might have to bake a pie at 400 degrees for 40-50 minutes. And if you don't get good results baking pastry, maybe you need a new oven, "You used to get an oven when you got married and you'd use it for life, now you might need a new one every 5-8 years."  For some people that now seems to apply to husbands, too.

Put a cookie sheet on the rack below the rack the pie is on, in case hot juice spits out and spills over, to avoid having to scrape burnt pie filling off the oven bottom.