279901 Thu Sep 22 12:05:31 -0700 2005 22 31 Home Cooking 0 1485439 Hello Hounds! Does anyone have a favorite apple pie recipe? I've never made a pie before but may want to try for the holidays... TIA! Thu Sep 22 12:05:31 -0700 2005 0 javagurl 1 1485442 My absolute favorite is Sour Cream Apple Pie with Strusel Topping. You will need an unbaked 9" deep dish pie crust. Peel and core 6 mid sized apples. MacIntosh or Cortlands work best for this. Do not use those nasty Red(not)Delicious things. If you can't get macs or corts find an apple that is on the tart side. Mix the cored, peeled and sliced apples with 1/2 C. raisins, 2 Tbs. flour, 3/4 C. sugar, 3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon, and a dash of salt. Then stir together 1 egg, lightly beaten, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, and 1 C. sour cream. Fold this into the apples and spoon into the pie shell. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 F and bake 30 minutes. While the pie is baking blend together 1/3 C. flour, 1/3 C. sugar, 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon and 1/4 C. cold butter until it resembles coarse meal then mix in 1/4 C. chohpped toasted walnuts. Increase the oven heat to 400 F and sprinkle on top of the pie and bake an additional 10 mnutes. I prefer this pie cold but room temperature is good too. Thu Sep 22 12:39:34 -0700 2005 1485439 0 Candy 2 1485445 that sounds awesome! thanks so much. btw, do you make your own pie shell or do you buy it? if you buy it- is there one you recommend over the other?? thanks again! Thu Sep 22 13:02:13 -0700 2005 1485442 0 javagurl 3 1485459 I make my own crust. I find the pre-made crusts have a very plastic flavor. Combine 1 1/4 C. flour with a good pinch of salt and 1/8 tsp. baking powder (I use Rumford) iin your food processor. Give it a whirl to combine and then add 1 stick (cut into pieces) very cold unsalted butter. Pulse until it resembles coarse meal. Add about 3 Tbs. iced water and pulse until it just holds together. Turn out on to a sheet of plastic wrap and form into a disc. Wrap and chill for ablout an hour or over night. Spray your pie plate with Pam or whatever brand cooking spray you use. Roll the dough out on a floured surface and then fit into your pie plate. That makes a single crust. Double for 2 crust. It is a very forgiving dough and easy to work with. I used to make a Crisco crust but with trans fats etc. I use butter. Thu Sep 22 14:08:59 -0700 2005 1485445 0 Candy 4 1485490 I thought Crisco came out with a non-trans-fat version of their shortening. If so, would you recommend that or butter? Thu Sep 22 17:13:57 -0700 2005 1485459 0 Funwithfood 5 1485493 I know Crisco brought out a non-trans fat product but have not tried it. If I were going to change from butter I would go to lard. It is better than butter and better for you but I do like that butter crust. Thu Sep 22 17:57:35 -0700 2005 1485490 0 Candy 6 1485510 Not to nitpick, but lard is better for you than butter? I am woefully uneducated in these matters (and spent my childhood ingesting a lotta lardy things), but isn't lard, like, pretty unhealthy in that saturated fat way? Somehow butter has always seemed to me more wholesome. But I could be wrong. Thu Sep 22 21:26:36 -0700 2005 1485493 0 Sir Gawain 7 1485512 Non-hydrogenated lard actually has a decent amount of monounsaturated fat, and much less sat fat than butter. The hydrogenated supermarket stuff is another story, what with the trans fats. Thu Sep 22 21:38:22 -0700 2005 1485510 0 Caitlin McGrath 6 1485545 I prefer a 1/2 butter, 1/2 lard crust, because I feel that the butter gives flavor, while the lard gives a shattering crispness. I prefer the mix to crusts made exclusively with either ingredient - lard-only is dull, butter-only I find a bit soft. If you can't get real lard (and I haven't been able to buy non-transfatty lard lately), the non-transfat vegetable shortenings I've tried have proven a good, though not ideal, substitute. (The best was one with a name like Earthwise? Can't remember.) Link: http://seasonalcook.blogspot.com Fri Sep 23 10:16:25 -0700 2005 1485493 0 curiousbaker 2 1485450 Does this work with Gala apples? Thu Sep 22 13:24:57 -0700 2005 1485442 0 yayadave 2 1485528 are the types of apples you listed all red? I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the names. And do you have any idea whether I could substitute buttermilk for the sour cream? It's just that I've got a whole carton of the stuff in the fridge, and it IS tangy/sour... I'd appreciate your opinion. Thanks. Fri Sep 23 03:45:13 -0700 2005 1485442 0 Kate 3 1485542 Yes, red apples but you could use Granny Smiths or any tart firm apple. Buttermilk will not work, it is too thin and would not taste right either. Fri Sep 23 10:08:15 -0700 2005 1485528 0 Candy 1 1485446 The most recent issue of Cook's Illustrated had a tremendous recipe for deep dish apple pie. It was not overly sweet and sugared, very nicely balanced between tart and sweet. Plus, it neatly solved so many of the problems I've had with baking apple pies before. It includes a recipe for pie crust. I baked two of them for a recent picnic at work, and the feedback was fabulous. Thu Sep 22 13:04:06 -0700 2005 1485439 0 Jacquilynne 2 1485489 It was a great article. (Glad to hear it came out well, I may have to give it a go.) Thu Sep 22 17:10:16 -0700 2005 1485446 0 Funwithfood 3 1485883 Is there a link to it? Woudl like to give it a try. Mon Sep 26 14:02:36 -0700 2005 1485489 0 Michele Cindy 1 1485476 Replying to two Javagurl posts in one here: I have used the Joy of Cooking's apple pie recipe for 20 family Thanksgivings so far. Always gets a rave from my foodish family, and is remarkably simple. True confession: I rarely make the crust. Look in the freezer near the frozen fruits for Oronoque Orchards brand deep dish crusts, they're fine. Thu Sep 22 15:31:23 -0700 2005 1485439 0 neighbor 2 1485477 cool! thanks! you hit two or three birds (questions) with one reply! =) Thu Sep 22 15:36:25 -0700 2005 1485476 0 javagurl 2 1485478 a second on the store-bought crust . . . the Pillsbury one in a red box in the dairy cooler (not freezer) is totally fine and is soft and now comes in a long roll . . . you can do a basket weave top on the pie just like homemade . . . Thu Sep 22 15:51:07 -0700 2005 1485476 0 pitu 3 1485481 That is exactly the one I find to taste like plastic. Real pie crust is not hard. Thu Sep 22 16:07:25 -0700 2005 1485478 0 Candy 1 1485486 Last week I tried the apple filling from The Pie and Pastry Bible that's been mentioned on this board before; it involves macerating the apples, draining off the juices, and reducing them before baking. I added a T of cider vinegar to the filling and made a standard crust. It was a swell apple pie and an interesting technique. Link: http://www.ochef.com/r126.htm Thu Sep 22 16:47:48 -0700 2005 1485439 0 petradish 2 1485503 Thanks Petradish. I use her similiar recipe for peach pie and it is superior. One of my favorite pie recipes is below. I cut down on the sugar and spice in the filling but the overall effect is HOLIDAY. Link: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/827 Thu Sep 22 19:08:28 -0700 2005 1485486 0 JudiAU 3 1485505 The cornmeal and buttermilk in the crust sounds fantastic. Thanks for the link. Thu Sep 22 19:23:48 -0700 2005 1485503 0 petradish 1 1485580 you have to try the one in julia childs' 'mastering the art of french cooking' (vol 1) it's the best! Fri Sep 23 14:19:28 -0700 2005 1485439 0 furryabdul