Wheeler Cowperthwaite
As we head into fall, normally I would write a column that somehow involves apples. Apple crisps, crumbles and cobblers.
But none of those are the classic, the apple pie, which doesn’t fit the cranky alliteration.
A good apple pie is welcome at Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, and uses all those apples that you may have or those that still need to be picked off your trees.
While things are said to be as easy as pie, I find that to be a lie. The only thing easy as pie is a pie made with a pre-made crust. I’m not a purist and along with buying big containers of chopped garlic at Costco, I make my pies with pre-made dough.
I have not included a dough recipe, as those who are want to make the dough themselves, I know will seek out better sources than I can provide and everyone else will, like me, turn to the freezer aisle.
Many recipes call for specific types of apples, usually Granny Smith. However, I’m going back to my roots, when I first started making things with apples and instead suggest using whatever you can find.
Growing up, there was a giant apple tree in my backyard and one of the first things I learned how to bake was anything involving apples: pies, crisps, crumbles, etc.
The apples were a little tart and firm. While my dad sprayed them with pesticides for a year or two, he eventually decided it wasn’t worth the hassle to spray the tree and apples to prevent the bugs from burrowing into them.
That meant I learned early on to tolerate imperfection in my fruit, cutting around the worm and discarding the contaminated parts of the apple.
When I moved to Germany to be an au pair, there was an apple tree where I lived. Once again, I wanted to do something with the apples and once again, I turned to baking, although this time, I had to climb a rickety ladder to get most of them, as there was no apple picker to aid me.
As a young man in a foreign land, I found making something as American as a baked apple desserts a comfort.
When it comes to the pie filling, it is often as simple as tossing the apples with a little butter and letting them bake in their own juices. Other times, it can be more involved and you can either baking them down a little first (to really get a gooey consistency) or toss them with a few spices, like cinnamon or ginger and maybe a little butter.
Others call for making a caramelized sauce that gets ladled on top of the pie.
Ingredients
Around 5 lbs. crisp, tart apples
½ cup white sugar
1-2 tsp. cinnamon
3 tbsp. flour
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup unsalted butter
¼ cup water
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Peel the apples if desired and then thinly slice.
In a small saucepan, melt the butter and then add the flour, stirring for about a minute. It should form a paste. Add the sugars and water, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Press some of the pastry into the bottom of a 9” pie pan. Roll out the other pastry and cut into eight 1” strips.
Put the apples over the crust in the pie pan. Pour half of the sauce over the apples.
Create the lattice crust by laying two longer strips over the center and two shorter strips on the sides. Fold the first and third strips back, lay a strip perpendicular over the second and fourth strips, then fold the first and third back. Repeat this process until a lattice is complete. Pour the remaining sauce over the lattice, allowing some to seep into the apples.
Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
Reduce the temperature to 350 and bake for another 35 to 45 minutes.
Recipe adapted from AllRecipe’s “Grandma Ople” pie.
