Autumn in Washington State mean apples, and lots of ‘em. So, when we moved back a few weeks ago, one of the first things I purchased was an apple corer/ slicer/ peeler in hopes it would help me take advantage of the bounty of apples grown in my home state. This weekend we headed over to one of the apple farms and picked up some cherry apple cider and apples of the Jonagold and Granny Smith variety for pie making and I finally had a chance to use my new doodad. I discovered it now takes approximately a minute and a half to prep an apple to go into an apple pie. Plus, it’s really fun to use, in a nerdy homesteading kind of way.
However, none of this would have even happened if it weren’t for Hudson. See, my friend Vanessa, who has been the cutest preggers lady for the last nine months, finally graced us all with her son Hudson’s presence. And he is a cutie. Normally newborns have that “I’m an alien prune and I look like I need these wrinkles ironed out of me” look about them, but not Hudson. So on our way back from the apple farm, my wife and I got to go take a peek at the cutest six hour old I’ve ever seen, and I knew right then who I would be making a pie for. Before I laid the top crust on the pie and popped it in the oven, I pulled out my trusty cooking stamping set (that my awesome friend Ruth in Germany sent me) and stamped “Hudson’s Humble Pie” and “Apple of Our Eye” into the crust as a sentimental bitch slap to Martha Stewart. Boo-yah!
Crust:
3 cups sifted flour
¼ tsp ground ginger
1-cup vegan shortening (I used the Earth Balance shortening, but coconut oil at room temp works well too)
½ cup ice-cold water
Sift flour into mixing bowl and cut in half the shortening in until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Then cut in the other half of the shortening until the mixture until it resembles peas. A spoonful at a time, add the water and mix with a fork until your dough has formed. Split in half, wrap in waxed paper and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Word to the wise: I made this pastry dough with organic whole-wheat flour, but that was a terrible mistake. I highly suggest a 50/50 white/ whole wheat blend if you are going to insist on whole wheat because you are making a pie for your super organic yoga lovin’ friend. I used the 50/50 blend last time I made a pie, and it did not crumble all over the counter like the 100% whole wheat crust I made for this pie and I didn’t yell “fuck you, you fucking pie crust!” nearly as much.
Filling:
5 1/2 cups apples (I used a deep dish pie pan. 4 cups will suffice for a normal sized pie pan) peeled, cored, and sliced. Toss them in 2 tbs of lemon juice so they have less of a chance to oxidize
½ cup packed brown sugar
2 tbs flour
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground clove
¼ cup margarine
Heat the oven too 400 degrees. Mix together the dry ingredients. Roll out one of your dough halves to ¼” thick circle and place in bottom of pie pan, letting the edges hang over. Layer half the apples into the crust and cover with ½ of the sugar mixture. Lay the other half of the apples down and cover with the rest of the sugar mixture. Drop dollops of the ¼ cup butter over the filling. Roll out the remaining dough to ¼” thick circle, place on top, make steam vents in the middle, crimp or flute the edges and bake for 50-60 minutes.
YUMMO! My folks have like a zillion apples so I want to make this.
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