Apple & Pear French Tart

Let's play two truths and a lie. I like most things geekery. I don't like math. Math was my worst subject in school.

What did you guess? If you said geekery…. EEEEEEHHHH. WRONG. Guys, my iPhone cover is a TARDIS, I saw Star Wars when it was rereleased in theaters in elementary school, Mark Hamill was my first crush, I make "A" see the Star Trek movies with me and I celebrate Pi Day every year.

Which brings me to my lie. Math was not my worst subject in school, but it was my least favorite. Writing aside, math was an anomaly that made its way to the top of my standardized test scores. To this day, I have no idea why. But secretly? I think I'm a math genius who will solve the world water crisis with a math equation I casually doodle on the back of a letter I have yet to open. Apathetic enough for you?

While my prophecy hasn't come true yet, I'm prepared for the day it does by celebrating Pi Day every year. Last year I made some mini vegan roasted apple pies. The Year of the Epic Cherry/Apple Venn Pieagram crowned my first March in Seattle. This year? I christened my new Nordic Ware tart pan by making "A's" pie of choice: an apple & pear French tart.

Math isn't ever going to be something you see me begging to do, but I will keep up appearances by making a pie every March 14th.

Apple & Pear French Tart

Adapted from La Fete Blog

Ingredients:

• 1¼ cups flour, plus more for dusting
• 12 tablespoons unsalted goat butter, cubed and chilled
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 baking apples, peeled, cored and slices
• 3 Bartlett pears, peeled, cored and sliced
• ⅓ cup sugar with a shake a cinnamon combined
• ½ cup apricot jam
• 2 tbs. rum

Directions:

1. Combine flour, 8 tablespoons goat butter, and salt in a food processor and pulse until pea-size crumbles form. When properly (not over!) mixed, it should feel like wet sand.
2. Drizzle in 3 tablespoons ice-cold water and pulse until dough is moistened, about 3-4 pulses.
3. If dough seems too dry, drizzle in additional water 1 teaspoon at a time until dough is the correct consistency. 
4. Transfer dough to a work surface and form into a flat disk; wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
5. Unwrap dough and place between two pieces of parchment paper.
6. Using a rolling pin, flatten dough into a 13″ circle and then transfer to a 11″ tart pan with a removable bottom.
7. Using fingertips, lightly press dough into the bottom and sides of tart pan.
8. Using a rolling pin, gently press down on top edge of tart pan to trim excess dough.
9. Chill for 1 hour.
10. Meanwhile, heat oven to 375°F.
11. Gently move the slices to the crust and make a pattern with the apples overlapping so there are no gaps of crust showing through.
12. Once tart shell is completely filled with apples, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and dot with remaining 4 tablespoons of goat butter.
13. Bake until golden brown, 60-70 minutes.
14. Meanwhile, heat apricot jam and rum in a small saucepan until warmed and thin.
15. Transfer tart to a wire rack; using a pastry brush, brush top of tart with jam rum glaze.
16. Let cool completely before slicing. Serve with ice cream of choice!

Apple-Blackberry Cake

To quote Titanic: "Hello! Is anyone alive out there?" Well yes, yes I am and my, oh my, is it mighty fine to see you again.

I read once that the worst thing a food blogger can do is "apologize" for not posting frequently enough and that it’s annoying to readers. Internet, I’m going to go against you for one second here and say I’m sorry. I haven’t been completely away from my kitchen, but I’ve definitely been neglecting it. “A” and I still cook a few times a week, but his apartment is a little dark and I always forget my camera anyways. Then the food my girlfriends and I make at Tuesday Girls Night usually is consumed with such fervor that I wouldn’t have a shot at a photo anyways.

Heck, I ate kale chips and Bing cherries for dinner the other night. While it was delicious and fulfilled my cravings, it’s not really a meal I should brag about.

Excuses… excuses… but hey, I’m back! At work, we’ve been having a series of “Iron Chef” bake-offs. The first round was marshmallow. That Sunday I had a 10-hour adventure from Texas back to Seattle and was in no mood to get down in the kitchen. Pass on that round.

Second round? Cinnamon. I ended up making some cinnamon ginger snap cookies and toasted pecan and cinnamon ice cream sandwiches. While I failed to take a photograph, I was victorious and won a spot in the finals.

This past Monday was round 3 and the challenge was berries. I had been flirting with a few recipes but I ultimately decided on apple-blackberry cake. I didn’t want anything that was loaded with sugar or overly complicated. The dough is easy to put together; a simple whisking of the dry ingredients into the wet, fruit is pressed in and it’s good to go in the oven. Simple, delicious and impressive – my kind of recipe.

A few things to note though, I found myself having to put the cake in for a little longer than the recommended baking time but I wasn’t paying attention and ended up over baking it by a minute or two. If anything, next time I make this I would under-bake it slightly as let it firm up more in the pan.

Either way, this is a great dish to bring to a potluck either as a ‘healthy’ dessert or a side dish at a brunch.

Apple-Blackberry Cake

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living

Ingredients:

Granulated sugar, for coating pan

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons goat butter, melted
• 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/2 cup goat milk
• 2 large eggs
• 4 McIntosh apples (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled, cored, and cut into 8 wedges
• 1 cup (1/2 pint) blackberries

 Simple Topping:

• 2 tablespoons packed light-brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons goat butter, cut into pieces

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter a 9-inch springform pan, and dust with granulated sugar.  I used a 9.5″ springform pan and it worked well, but I wouldn’t recommend using one any larger, as the cake will be thin.
3. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.  Whisk together melted butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar, milk, and eggs in another bowl.  Whisk into flour mixture.  Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.
4. Arrange apple wedges over batter, and sprinkle with blackberries.  Gently press fruit into batter.  Combine remaining 2 tablespoons brown sugar and the cinnamon, and sprinkle over fruit.  Dot with remaining 2 tablespoons butter.  Bake until top is dark gold, apples are tender, and a cake tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 55 minutes.  Let cool.  Serve with whipped cream if desired.

Vegan Mini Roasted Apple & Pear Pies

I haven't taken a math class since my senior year of high school; beyond reason, I was able to count Astronomy 111 as a math in college. However, I've been an avid fan of Pi Day for as long as long as I can remember. Never having been mathematical groupie, my love of Pi Day has been called into question, Maury-style, more than a few times. Maybe I'm a fan of puns (I also celebrate May the 4th), pie or have an appreciation of people who actually do and enjoy math. While it's probably all of the above, I think my love of food trumps my aversion to math. Give me a set of analogies or tedious word problems, but I'd rather walk around a Möbius strip for all eternity than figure out the tip on a bill.

Yet wouldn't you know, I think yesterday was the first time I actually made a pie on Pi Day. Sure, I've made a pie somewhere within the confines of March and called it good, but I've never baked and subsequently eaten one on 3.14. Good thing yesterday was a day of firsts and I finally made some cute little mini pies. A day of firsts you ask? Why yes, it was. I cooked fish, in fact a filet of salmon, for the first time in my entire life, started editing photos for my first ever professional(ish) photography assignment and went for a long walk in the rain… on purpose.

At the end of the day, I felt pretty proud of myself. I was noshing on a delicious salmon dinner with 'A' and eagerly awaiting my first homemade Pi Day pie. As most readers know, I'm allergic to cows milk but am deathly afraid of Crisco and as such, am usually at a perilous crossroad when it comes to making pastries. While I guess Earth Balance 'butter' is sort of like Crisco, its yellowy, stick-like, buttery appearance convinces me otherwise. So after some successful Googling, I found a vegan pie crust that was in compliance with my standards and seemed as though it would be flaky enough.

While the dough was a little wet, the crust baked up wonderfully crispy. If you aren't vegan or don't feel like using this pie crust recipe, I found that halving a recipe for a double crust resulted in enough dough for two mini pies and a little bit to spare.

Vegan Pie Crust

Adapted from Someday Spoon

Ingredients:

• 1 stick of vegan butter, cubed and chilled
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/8 cup pastry flour
• 1/4 cup water, chilled
• 1/2 tbsp. white sugar
• Flour for the rolling surface

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and grease two 4 in. ceramic ramekins.
2. Pulse the flour and salt in a food processor.
3. Add the vegan butter and pulse the mixture together into beads of dry clumps. If you do not have a food processor, alternatively you can use a large fork to mix the ingredients together.
4. Pour the pre-chilled water into the food processor a little at a time while pulsing the mixture.
5. When about half the water has been transferred, also add a pinch of white sugar.
6. Transfer the dough onto a well-floured cutting surface. Roll into a ball.
7. Wrap the ball in plastic wrap and freeze for at least an hour. Dough can be frozen for up to 12 hours before continuing making the pie.
8. Remove the dough from the freezer and roll out with a rolling pin on a floured surface to 1/4″ thick.
9. Cut dough into 4 circles; two larger ones for the bottom and two smaller ones for the top. Freeze until ready to fill pies.

Roasted Apple & Pear Pie Filling 

Ingredients:

• 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and diced
• 1 pear, peeled and diced
• 1/8 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice

Directions:

1. Spread apples onto a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with brown sugar and spices.  
2. Bake in an oven preheated to 400 degrees for 35-45 minutes.   
3. Remove the apples from the oven. Carefully place the pie crusts in the bottom of the ramekins.  Fill generously with the apple/pear pie mixture.  
4. Top with smaller circles of dough and cut slits for venting. Place ramekin on a clean cookie sheet, return to oven and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes, or until the pie crusts are golden brown.  Allow to cool before serving.

Maple Walnut Apple Crisp

A few months back I mentioned how either my camera or computer ate the photos for a recipe. Well, a combination of a miracle and my genius (ha) computer skills brought a few of the photos back to life. Don't ask me how I found them or what skill set I used to convert them from .NEF to .JPEG files but I did it. Dear blogging gods, I thank you. I'll dedicate my next meal to you.

Sad to say, but I made this recipe for Halloween. HALLOWEEN! It was a whole 25 degrees warmer and 2011 ago. It's basically ancient in recipe land but fret you not, it is worthy of a revival from the Mac Trash Can Heaven. It's your basic apple crisp but with a little less cane sugar and a little more maple sugar. This past fall I was really on a maple kick and would throw syrup or extract into just about anything. Don't believe me? Ask my friends, they probably were sick of it after the first week. I know apples aren't really the first thing on peoples' minds right now, especially now that Seattle is coated in a blanket of snow (more on that later), but I am always up for a warm apple crisp. I have even more right to demand this dessert year round; I'm from a premier apple growing state (Michigan) and now live in the apple capitol of the world (Washington).

In reference to what I mentioned earlier, you read right, Seattle is smothered in snow. Okay, I don't know if you could call it a "smothering" but this is Seattle and anything over a dusting sends the settlers into a tizzy. Wait, even a dusting does that. I've been stranded in my apartment all day and have been watching a whole two inches accumulate outside my window. That is more than I (sadly) ever saw and stick when I was back in Michigan! People are even making the trek out to sled in it….

Maple Walnut Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

Filling:

• 4 Apples, cored and sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup 

Topping:

• 1 1/4 cups rolled oats
• 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cups walnuts, chopped
• ~1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
• ~1/8 cup maple syrup
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon
• A dash or two of nutmeg and apple pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) goat butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Place the cut apples in an ungreased 8- or 9-inch square baking pan. Mix together with the white sugar and maple syrup.
3. Mix together the topping ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Distribute the mixture over the top of the apples, and pat it firmly in place.
4. Bake uncovered for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top is crisp and lightly browned and the fruit/juice is bubbling around the edges. I recommend serving this hot, but it tastes just as yummy at room temperature.

Apple Spice Blondies

The reviews are in on yet another fall-themed apple dessert and there are more than a few sticky thumbs-up in the crowd. Keep in mind there might have been a slight error in tallying the votes as I'm pretty sure a lot of the ladies at girls night were licking their fingers. I know I was constantly licking spoons and stealing apples out of the batter when I was mixing up the dough. Tell me, what is better than apples coated cinnamon-y fall-flavored batter? Nothing? Nothing. That's right - you found my Achilles heel. So anyone who is trying to trick a favor or a slice of cake out of me… use this piece of information wisely.

I came across the recipe when I was trying to look for an alternative to baking a whole apple pie. Don't get me wrong, it's one of my favorite desserts out there and little is more rewarding than seeing a homemade pie emerge from of the oven. But you see people, it's a lot of work and waiting. The dough, the baking… the resisting of eating apples covered in spices and sugar straight out of the mixing bowl. Sometimes a girl just needs a break. Good thing these apple spice blondies are a pretty good pie substitute without sacrificing flavor.

Before I leave you to the recipe, a piece of wisdom: don't ship your sister these blondies 3,000 miles wrapped in only some tin foil and enclosed in a measly flat rate envelope.  It's true, they will show up on her door room stoop flattened like a sheet of paper and virtually inedible.  At least she got a sassy card with the package…

Apple Spice Cake with Maple Goat Milk Buttercream

Do you ever have those times where you think "we'll, I'm just sitting here on my couch and the Netflix instant streaming queue is a little subpar right now… I should probably write a blog post." You keep thinking this over and over but alas, no blog post.  Story of my life right now.  I think in the time I thought I wanted to write a blog post I: watched some movies of questionable quality, ate a bowl of popcorn, did my laundry and cooked a whole bunch of things but failed to take photographs of them.  Though I have been catching up on emails and planning a camping trip like my life depends on it.  I mean, it kind of does but really I'm just procrastinating.

Remember above how I mentioned I've been cooking a lot but failing to take photos?  I would like to blame 4 of my best girlfriends, but in reality I continually forget to bring my camera to Tuesday night girl's dinner.  That's right, every Tuesday we gather at Katrina's house to drink wine and cook an (according to all her roommates) extravagantly gourmet meal.  So far we have made roasted butternut salad with fried sage/goat cheese crostini; whole wheat pizza with caramelized onions, figs & goat cheese; pumpkin cashew coconut curry and last night this delicious fall vegetable galette.  I can feel the disappointment and resentment from my parents from the other side of the country; they always urge me to post more "real food."

I'll just set a goal for myself of, no matter what, no excuses, I will bring my camera to dinner next week. Until then, as an act of mid-20's rebellion, I will blog about cake.  At least it's a small cake that I made for a boy on his birthday.  I think you get negative good karma points if you hate on a birthday cake, especially one for a boy that you think is cute.  Disregarding shame and karma points, this cake was perfect for two people and I imagine it would work even better for a small gathering. The boy and I each had a small slice and I sent him off with the rest wrapped up and ready to be frozen.  From what I understand, he ate a couple slices for breakfast the next day and polished it off not much later.

While is he a guy and this doesn't mean much because it is common knowledge that all guys are human garbage disposals, this cake was pretty good.  A simple spice cake with the addition of grated apples made the cake incredibly moist and light and the maple goat buttercream, as usual, provided an interesting and complex tang.  While you can obviously make this cake larger or divide the batter up into cupcake tins, the recipe below works perfectly for two layers of a 5 or 6 inch cake. I used the largest ramekins I had on hand, I'm not exactly sure how large they are.

Cherry & Apple Venn PIEagram

This recipe has been simmering on the back-burner for a while now and it’s finally ready to claim its place in the spotlight.  I made it the week I found out I couldn’t eat gluten or dairy and I knew that I wanted my next few posts to be for food that I could eat and drool over without feeling guilty.  Now, my masterpiece is ready (I also feel like this would be an appropriate time for an evil laugh, too) for general consumption.  Welcome to my deliciously geeky creation: a venn PIEagram.

There is a little bit of a backstory with this culinary creation and I need to give credit where credit is due.  A few months back (sometime during March Madness) my boss sent me a picture of a of a venn pieagram and I never turn down a challenge.  Ever.  Seriously.  Ask all my old co-workers at the Bivouac and Michigan Radio.  Ask my friends.  Ask anyone who I beat and is not crying in a corner with their inferior biscotti (not that I’m implying anything *wink wink* Lester).  Cut to the end of March Madness and I made this pie as a celebration for both the championship game and the fact that men of the world suddenly had a lot more free time on their hands.

Evidenced by the photos, I chose to make an apple pie with a crumble top and a tart cherry pie with a lattice crust.  I wanted to have two pies that would both contrast well and taste good together when they inadvertently mixed in the baking process.  Anyways, aren’t apple and cherry pie the definition of American?

If you want to make this (and if you want to impress people, I recommend you do), you’re going to have to use a few special and cheap supplies.  In hindsight, I should have taken pictures to show you how I jiffy rigged two disposable cake pans together but hopefully this (incredibly poorly drawn) picture will help:

I know, you wonder why I didn’t go to art school.  I ask myself this too.  Just call me the queen of MS Paint instead.  So as you can obviously see, get yourself two disposable cake pans, cut out a section from one of them and then tape them together.  Tada!

Guest Blog Post: Caroline's Apple Pie

Hello all!  Step right up to my second guest blog post, but make sure to keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle and unbutton your pants for your gluttonous pleasure!  The honor of this guest blog post goes to my younger sister, Caroline.  She hasn't had a chance to really cook and bake yet, but I have high hopes for my young culinary padawan learner.

She too encountered the same dilemma as I, you know, with the power outage and all.  But lucky her, she hadn't started cooking yet!  Instead she opted to make the pie the following Saturday and we ate it with Grandparents that same night.  Even though we told our Grandpa the treats he'd be getting in a card, he was still surprised.  He was even more delighted to take home the rest of the pie at the end of the night... with us refusing to keep any for ourselves.  And editors note, I must say, this apple pie was amazing.  It was the perfect balance of sweetness in the filling and savory in the all-butter crust.  And I've had many apple pies in my 22 years, and sometimes I'm disappointed to find that the apples are too watery and the bottom crust ends up mushy - none of this happened in her apple pie!  Now, I'm sorry for deterring you from the recipe for so long.  Now, without much further ado, Caroline's Guest Blog Post:

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Guest Blogger Caroline in Rome Last Summer

This pie was supposed to be for my grandpa for Father’s Day, but like my sister I was stalled by the power outage and was not able to make it until the next weekend.  I didn’t set any records for length of time to bake an apple pie; the power went out a few minutes before I planned to start the crust.

I know my sister already posted an apple pie recipe of her own but I have been using this apple pie recipe since I was ten, and I still love it.  At first I used store bought crust, but I have since realized how much better homemade crust is.

Delicious Apple Pie

Adapted from Family Fun’s Cookbook

Pie Crust

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 ½ (or three sticks) cups cold, unsweetened butter
•  4 tablespoons ice (cold) water

1. Mix flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl
2. Cut butter in to chunks
3. Scatter butter into flour mixture and blend together with a pastry blender (or two forks)
4. Add water and mix together, you might want to use your hands
5. Separate into two balls and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least a half an hour or over night

Pie

• 5 cups apple slices (make sure you peel the apples)
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon allspice
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• juice of half a lemon or 1 tablespoons real lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons butter

1. Preheat oven to 400°
2. Roll out half of the crust dough and line the pie tin make sure it covers the entire rim
3. Mix the apple slices, sugar, flour, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, and lemon juice in a large bowl, make sure that the slices are well covered
4. Spoon apple slices into crust lined pie tin
5. Cut butter into small pieces and scatter over the apple slices
6. Roll out the rest of the crust dough and carefully place it over the pie
7. Use a fork and push to crimp the crust around the edges and remove excess crust that is over hanging the pie tin crust
8. Bake pie for 40 minutes

Crockpot Applesauce

I had a bunch of apples sitting around from my trip to the farmers market last Saturday.  I bought (and used in this applesauce) Empire Apples.  The reason?  They are a good apple for eating & for cooking with, and when I bought the apples I wasn't totally sure what I wanted to use them for.  If you've never had homemade applesauce and own a crockpot, I really recommend you try making this.  You can either have your crockpot on high for 4 hours (what I did) or on low for 8 to 10 hours.

Ingredients:

• 1 peck of apples (about 10 to 12 apples)
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• dash of nutmeg
• 2 TBPS (more or less to taste) of ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup of water
• 1/3 cup apple cider
• a dash of salt

Directions:

1. Peel and core the apples, cut into quarter inch slices.  Put in crockpot.
2. Pour sugar, water, apple cider, and spices over top of the apples and combine with a spoon.
3. Let cook for desired amount of time (3-4 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low).
4. After done cooking, mash with a potato masher if you want to have a "chunkier" texture or mash the apples, wait for them to cool, and puree in your food processor or blender (I just did this).
5. ENJOY!

Spiced Apple Pumpkin Muffins

Here is the second pumpkin puree inspired recipe!  These muffins are absolutely fantastic!  I over processed the streusel a little bit too much, so it wasn't as crumbly as I wish it'd be.  But it still baked well and firmed up nicely.  A tip for baking muffins - don't ever beat the batter!  Fold in the ingredients lightly until their just combined.  This will ensure that the muffins come out light and fluffy.  While that is a general tip for all muffins, for these muffins I fill the tins 3/4 of the way full.

Spiced Apple Pumpkin Muffins

Adapted from Inn Cuisine

Ingredients:

• 2 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup cooked or canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cups canola oil
• 2 cups peeled apples, finely chopped

For the streusel topping:

• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup and 1 tsp. flour
• 4 tbsp. butter, cubed
• 1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. In a small bowl, combine eggs, pumpkin and oil; stir into dry ingredients until just moistened, taking care not to over-mix. Gently fold in apples. 
2. To make the streusel topping, combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Mix together with a pastry blender or two forks until crumbly.
3. Fill well-greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. 
4. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the top of the batter.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes, or until muffins test done (toothpick inserted near center comes out clean). Cool for 10 minutes before removing muffins from pan.

Apple Crisp

I promised to post this recipe a few days ago... oops.  Here is the recipe for Apple Crisp.  As I mentioned earlier, this past week I couldn't decide between making apple crisp and apple pie... so I just made both!  I have had and used this recipe forever - it's been a staple in my 'fall recipe' collection for years.  This is a relatively easy dish to make - the the only real labor intensive this about it is waiting the 45 minutes for it to get out of the oven!

Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

Filling:

• 4 Apples, cored and sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
• 1/2 cup white sugar

Topping:

• 1 1/4 cups rolled oats
• 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon
• A dash or two of nutmeg and apple pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Place the cut apples in an ungreased 8- or 9-inch square baking pan. Sprinkle with the white sugar.
3. Mix together the topping ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Distribute the mixture over the top of the apples, and pat it firmly in place.
4. Bake uncovered for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top is crisp and lightly browned and the fruit/juice is bubbling around the edges. I recommend serving this hot, but it tastes just as yummy at room temperature.

Apple Pie! It's Finally Fall!

If you ask anyone who knows me, I live for fall flavors.  I wake up early in the morning just to get the best gallon of apple cider at the farmers market, I dream about going to the Dexter Cider Mill, and I get excited for fresh picked apples for fresh baked fall treats.  I'm posting two recipes, one for apple pie (with an all butter crust) and one for apple crisp.  I couldn't make up my mind for which one I wanted to bake, and when asking people which one they'd rather eat, the results were split down the middle.  Nick gave me some Jonathan apples that he picked from his grandfathers farm!  They were absolutely amazing; so fragrant, crisp, and a perfect balance of tart/sweet.  I also had some New Zealand Pink Lady's at my fridge, so I used one of those in the apple pie (because I needed just one more apple) and the others were used in the apple crisp.

I also always make an all butter crust; the concept of shortening just freaks me out.  We have been using butter churns much longer than shortening-making factory equipment.  And butter just tastes better!  What also made making this crust so much easier is that I got to use my "new-used" food processor for the first time!  My grandma gave me her old one that she barely used and it works like a dream… and it's 20 years old!

Oh yes, and this recipes, I can't even remember where I got them.  I have been making apple pie since I was 16 and the recipes are fairly engrained in to my memory.  However, I did forget how long to cook the pie for, so I referenced Smitten Kitchen for that.

All Butter Pie Crust:

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks cold unsalted butter
• 2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoon yogurt
• 6 tablespoons cold water 

Directions:

1. Cut the butter into 1/2" prices and freeze the pieces for at least 10 minutes.
2. In a food processor, combine the flour, salt, and sugar. Process for a few seconds to combine.
3. Mix together the yogurt and cold water in a small measuring cup.
4. Into the food processor, add the chilled butter pieces. Give the flour/butter mixture 6 to 8 one-second pulses. You want some pea-sized pieces of butter remaining for a flaky crust (over-processing will result a shortbread-like texture).
5. Pop the liquid ingredients into the freezer for a couple of minutes.
6. Drizzle in half of the liquid into the food processor. Give the mixture 3 one-second pulses.
7. Drizzle in the remaining liquid and repeat the 3 one-second pulses.
8. Check the consistency of the dough. The texture should be similar to wet sand. Pinch a bit of the dough together with your fingers. If it holds together on its own, it has enough moisture. If it doesn't hold together, drizzle in an additional tablespoon of water and repeat the 3 one-second pulses.
9. Turn the dough out on a work surface. Split into two balls and wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour (or up to a couple of days).
10. If refrigerating the dough for more than a couple of hours, let stand at room temperature to soften a bit (15 to 30 minutes) before rolling out.
11. Roll the dough out into a circle and fit into a pie pan, make sure to press the crust down firmly into the corners of the pie pan!
12. Place the crust in the refrigerator while assembling the apples.

You can see the butter and liquid chilling (and in the tupperware my no-bake cookies that will not firm up)

Apple Pie:

Ingredients:

• I used 3 medium and 1 large apple
• 1 tablespoon juice and 1 teaspoon zest from 1 lemon
• 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 egg white, beaten lightly

Directions:

1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat rimmed baking sheet and oven to 500°F. 
2. Peel, core and cut apples in half, and in half again width-wise; cut quarters into 1/4-inch slices and toss with lemon juice and zest. In a medium bowl, mix 1/2 cup of white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, flour, salt and spices. Toss dry ingredients with apples. Turn fruit mixture, including juices, into chilled pie shell and mound slightly in center.
3. Roll out second piece of dough to 12-inch disk and place over filling. Trim top and bottom edges to 1/2-inch beyond pan lip. Tuck this rim of dough underneath itself so that folded edge is flush with pan lip. Flute edging or press with fork tines to seal. Cut four slits on dough top. If pie dough is very soft, place in freezer for 10 minutes. Brush egg white onto top of crust and sprinkle evenly with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.
4. Make a ring of tin foil (see picture) around the crust of the pie - it protects the edges from burning and keeps that nice and flakey! 
5. Place pie on baking sheet and lower oven temperature to 425°F. Bake until top crust is golden, about 25 minutes. Rotate pie and reduce oven temperature to 375°F; continue baking until juices bubble and crust is deep golden brown, 30-35 minutes longer.
6. Make sure to let the pie sit to cool for AT LEAST 30 minutes!  This is crucial!  During this time the insides of the pie firm up and make it a lot easier serve/eat/enjoy.

Apple Puff Pastry Tarts

I adapted this recipe from Alton Brown's Good Eats episode "Puff the Magic Pastry." I finally was able to use the apples I bought at the farmers market a good 2 weeks ago. I used a "Prime Red" apple - it's a type that the farmer created though experimentation with cross pollination. I must say... Prime Reds are probably one of my favorite apples now. They are a cross between a jonathan and something else that I forgot. The apples are bright red while having a pure white inside... and they are always crisp but not too tart.

Caroline - I know you are reading this way over in Oregon and your care-package is on the way... complete with some baked good that is posted on my site.

Apple Puff Pastry Tarts

Adapted from Alton Brown

Ingredients

• puff pastry
• Sugar, for dusting
• Prime Red Apples, cored, and quartered
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Apricot jam

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Crimp seams of puff pastry together with fingertips. Dust both sides of pastry with sugar. Using a rolling pin, roll pastry in each direction to close seams. Using a sharp pizza cutter, cut out rectangles. Place pastry circles on a chilled sheet pan and let cool in the refrigerator for a few minutes.
3. Using a vegetable peeler cut wafer thin apple slices. Put apple slices in lemon-juice-spiked water.
4. Flip pastry circles over on the sheet pans and poke them with a fork to provide an outlet for steam. Put parchment paper on the pan underneath the pastry circles. Sprinkle pastry with sugar and arrange apple slices on top.
5. Bake in the middle of the oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Poke the crust; if it feels soft it needs more time in the oven.
6. Microwave some apricot jam for 30 seconds. Dab (don't brush) the jam on the tarts. Cool tarts at least 4 hours and seal in a resealable plastic bag. Serve at room temperature.