The Pie Hole

davegan:

After this evening’s news about Steve Jobs, I thought I’d post my favorite apple pie recipe as an homage to the late visionary. 

Ingredients

• 6 large apples (Granny Smith are great), cored and sliced
• 3/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 -2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 pie crust (to save time, there are some vegan store-bought ones if you look)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Core and cut apples into chunks.
• Boil water in a large pot and add apples
• Turn down heat to medium and simmer apples for 8-10 minutes or until soft.
• Save 1/4 cup of water used for cooking apples for later use.
• Drain apples and place in large bowl.
• Mix apples with maple syrup, cinnamon, and lemon juice and set aside.
• In a saucepan, add “applewater” and corn starch.
• Stir continuously until mixture is very thick, then add cornstarch mixture to the rest of the ingredients.
• Mix well and pour into the pie crust and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Adapted from: How it All Vegan - I really recommend this book because the recipes are great and there are a lot of basic, staple recipes in it that I come back to time and time again!

cuteyummyyummy:

Last week, I got a bug to make pie.  First, I should tell you: I read cookbooks.  I read them as you would a novel. At the end of my day, when I am in bed and doing my late-night reading, very often I bust out a cookbook.  Food porn, you know?  I found myself reading the whole pie section in my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook.  It occurred to me that I had not made a great foray into pie-making.  When I was in high school, and obsessed with baking, I was obsessed with cakes.  Although there were about two times that I tried out pies, I remember that they did not turn out as well.

So I made the decision that I would start with the most sought after: amazing apple pie.  I’ve never had apple pie that was amazing.  My mother isn’t big on baking so we were more into store-bought pies, which are fine (microwave it and it’s pretty good!).  But most of the time, I could do without apple pie.  It really made me wonder what I was missing out on.

So I did a bunch of research.  Best crust recipe, best apple pie recipe, etc.  And I came up with this: A crust recipe from my favorite food blog, Smitten Kitchen.  I’m on her site, like everyday.  I also found a highly recommended apple pie recipe on allrecipes.com.  Coincidentally, I don’t usually like to use recipes on that site because they are usually not what the cook originally sent in (allrecipes.com edit the recipes) and you have to read comments to get the best out of the recipe.  But, I was gung ho on making the pie, so I did it!

The end result?  Heavenly, mind-blowing, buttery, flaky, sweet pie.  My tiny apartment was filled with the scent of cinnamon.  It was like the pie made everything sugary and tender.  I couldn’t wait until it was completely cooled off.  After 15 pie dreaming minutes I cut into it.  The best pie I’ve ever had in my entire life.  My dinner guest and I ate our dessert in silence.

As soon as you can, make this pie.  It’s a bit of tedious work, but it is certainly worth it.  It’s excellent cold too (yes, there were several late-night sneaky bites).  It’s good with cake batter ice cream.  And, the third piece is just a delicious as the first.  Fuck, I ate a lot of pie.

All Butter, Really Flaky Pie Dough
From: Smitten Kitchen

Makes enough dough for one double-, or two single-crust pies.

I didn’t have a pastry cutter, so I ended up using a fork and then my fingers.  I was putting my pastry in the fridge or freezer frequently because it was a hot day and it kept losing it’s cool.

STUFF!

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks (8 ounces, 16 tablespoons or 1 cup) unsalted butter, very cold

MAKE IT!

1. Gather your ingredients: Fill a one cup liquid measuring cup with water, and drop in a few ice cubes; set it aside. In a large bowl — I like to use a very wide one, so I can get my hands in — whisk together 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 tablespoon of sugar and a teaspoon of salt. Dice two sticks (8 ounces or 1 cup) of very cold unsalted butter into 1/2-inch pieces. Get out your pastry blender.
2. Make your mix: Sprinkle the butter cubes over the flour and begin working them in with the pastry blender, using it to scoop and redistribute the mixture as needed so all parts are worked evenly. When all of the butter pieces are the size of tiny peas — this won’t take long — stop. Yes, even if it looks uneven; you’ll thank me later.
3. Glue it together: Start by drizzling 1/2 cup of the ice-cold water (but not the cubes, if there are any left!) over the butter and flour mixture. Using a rubber or silicon spatula, gather the dough together. You’ll probably need an additional 1/4 cup of cold water to bring it together, but add it a tablespoon as a time. Once you’re pulling large clumps with the spatula, take it out and get your hands in there (see how that big bowl comes in handy?). Gather the disparate damp clumps together into one mound, kneading them gently together.
4. Pack it up: Divide the dough in half, and place each half on a large piece of plastic wrap. I like to use the sides to pull in the dough and shape it into a disk. Let the dough chill in the fridge for one hour, but preferably at least two, before rolling it out.
5. Do ahead: Dough will keep in the fridge for about a week, and in the freezer longer. If not using it that day, wrap it in additional layers of plastic wrap to protect it from fridge/freezer smells. To defrost your dough, move it to the fridge for one day before using it.

Apple Pie by Grandma Ople
from: Allrecipes.com

I did do some modification. The point of the recipe below is that it’s different from a traditional apple pie.  But, what I wanted was traditional so I added cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla to the heated batter.  Also, I sliced my apples super thin.  My biggest complaint about applie pies is that the apple slices are just too big and chunky.  The slices I made were mandolin-thin.  I also covered the edges with foil while I baked it.  I was a bit paranoid that I would burn it.  Finally, I used simplyrecipes.com’s lattice tutorial.

STUFF! 

• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie (see above :)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

MAKE IT!

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.

 Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.

 Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

 

pushingdaisiesworld:

-The Pie Hole

-Muffin Buffalo

-Now & Ladle

-Der Waffle Iron

-Rest in Pizza

-Shaved Meats

-Colonel Likken’s Southern Fried Chicken

-Balsam’s BitterSweets: Taffy & Sweets Emporium

kneadedlove:

There are many food preferences that I can deal with without any grumbling or judgements, but I just do not understand people who don’t like Pie. During a drive from the Thousand Islands region back to Brooklyn a couple years ago, I delivered a diatribe that lasted for probably twenty minutes about Pie. It may have featured my belief that baking a cake is all well and good, but if you want to tell someone you love them, you make Pie. Even if the situation isn’t as extreme as that, Pie is still more meaningful. Pie is sincere, heartfelt, comforting, unpretentious, and delicious. Pie is the best dessert treatment for most seasonal fruit. Pie makes people happy. My father called my mother the Pie Queen, possibly his highest compliment. This is a man who never gave false praise, especially when it came to food. 

Today marks six months since my father died. It is cold and rainy and my driveway is still not usable. I’ve spent hours listening to Ray Charles and then switched to Richard Thompson, all while wearing my apron and doing the one thing that is most likely to make me feel better: baking. 

These apples may not be the prettiest and most perfect, but they are fresh and real, grown without anything strange ever done to them: I picked them at my mother’s house. And when I was done picking apples, I walked behind the barn and harvested elderberries. 

The apples and elderberries together made an amazing color— the berries started to stain the apple slices almost immediately, and this intensified after I added the sugar and stirred up the filling. Because this filling is a mix of apples and berries, I used a combination of cornstarch and tapioca granules as thickeners. The only other ingredients in the filling are the juice of one lemon and some cinnamon. 

This is not an I Love You Pie, it is a Thank You Pie. Yesterday morning a friend went to Whole Foods in Boston with a list, then drove to Vermont and delivered groceries to me. He was coming up anyway, but his grocery shopping for me was a huge help. He even bought parrot food for my mother. Beginning to restock my fridge after having to throw out so much food because of losing power for days feels great. I once again have dairy, which means I can make some gelato base and begin to build up my inventory.

So here I am, in the woods, on a cold, rainy, and sad day. But I have pie. It’s a start. 

(Source: kneadedlove)

Unable to catch Chuck when she fell, the Piemaker was
forced to step aside allowing another man to catch her.

(Source: calcifires)

chippedbowl:

I love peaches.  They are my favorite fruit, and this is my favorite pie.

The crust has the perfect level of sweetness, and is super easy to make. Feel free to use this crust for other pies, too.

What I love about this recipe is that you don’t have to peal the peaches before you add them to the filling.  The skin adds a great flavor and color to this pie.

The hardest part of this pie is rolling out the crust topping and making slices to put on top of your filling.  But trust me, you can handle it.   

And even if your pie does not look perfect because you are not an artist, it will still taste amazing.

Peach Pie, adapted from Healthy Happy Life

Ingredients

• Pie Crust:
  
  • 2 cups white flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 Tbsp sugar
  • 1 cup vegan butter, cubed
  • 1/3 cup soy milk
  • 1/3 cup water
  • extra flour for dusting/pressing out
  Filling:
  • 4 peaches, roughly diced and sliced 
  • 1/3 cup soy milk
  • 1 Tbsp corn starch
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup lemon juice
  • 2 tsp real vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup melted vegan butter - cubed (optional)
    

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease the bottom of a pie dish.
2. Crust. Combine flour, baking powder and sugar.  Add butter and blend well with a hand mixer.  Add water and milk 1/4 cup at a time.  Knead mixture by hand on a floured work area until a nice consistent dough forms.
3. Divide crust dough in half. Place half in the fridge to cool.
4. Press other half into pie dish.  Bake in oven for 10 minutes.
   
5. Peaches. Fold the peaches into the filling ingredients.
6. Pull the crust from the oven and pour in peaches. Dot with your 1/4 cup cubed butter (if using). Grab chilled dough (other half) and roll out. Slice into strips. Arrange in a grid on top.
7. Bake at 350 for 55 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes. Serve warm.

(Source: azorahai)

leepaceisawesome:

I made ice-cream cup-pies. Ned may or may not be amused. XD

Recipe adapted from this. I used rich tea biscuits for the crust. I didn’t have a mixer or a rubber spatula so I basically used my fingers and a teaspoon to mix the crumbs and butter together and press on to the muffin tin. I also put the crust in the freezer for 30 minutes so the it would harden and won’t break off into many pieces when I scoop the ice-cream in.

On the left, yellow peaches with toasted almond ice-cream. On the right, blueberries with blueberry ice-cream. Both flavors of ice-cream are of the ready-made buy-at-your-local-supermarket variety because I’m lazy and I haven’t attempted to make homemade ice-cream before.