Seasonal Recipe: Festive Apple Pie
It’s officially the holiday season, and you know what that means–seasonal celebrations, family cheer, and a bounty of winter fruits to include in your festive menus! While many delicious tree-ts come ripe at the end of the year, none is more a staple than the humble apple.
Though apples are available in grocery stores year-round, there’s something extra special about apples from your backyard or local orchard that takes winter recipes to the next level. Whether you have your own fruit trees, source them from local farmers, or just pick up Granny Smiths from the market, we’ve got an employee apple pie recipe to help you take your holiday cheer up a notch.
So break out the egg nog and let’s get cooking!
Thomas’ Apple Pie
Ingredients:
Pie Crust:
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tbsp granulated sugar
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 cup cold unsalted butter diced into 1/4″ pieces
- 7 tbsp ice water
Pie Filling:
- 2 lbs (6-7 apples, 7 cups) Apples of your choice (we used Fuji!), peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
- 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
- 8 tbsp unsalted butter
- 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup water
- 1 cup granulated sugar
Egg Wash:
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbsp water
Instructions:
Pie Crust:
- Place flour, sugar, and salt into a food processor and pulse to combine.
- Add the cold, diced butter and pulse the mixture until coarse crumbs with pea-sized pieces form. The mixture should be dry and powdery like fresh-fallen snow.
- Add 7 tbsp ice water and pulse in the food processor until moist clumps or small snowballs form. Press a piece of dough between your fingers. If the dough sticks together, you have added enough water. If not, add more water a teaspoon at a time. Be careful not to add too much water or the dough will be sticky and difficult to roll out–no one likes a slushy snowman!
- Transfer dough to a clean work surface, and gather dough together into a ball (it should not be smooth). Do not knead the dough. Divide the dough in half and flatten it to form two disks. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before using.
Pie:
- Preheat the oven to 425˚F.
- Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat–don’t we all like a good fire going when it’s cold outside? Whisk in 3 tbsp flour, then simmer for 1 minute, whisking constantly. Whisk in 1/4 cup water, 1 ½ tsp cinnamon, and 1 cup sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and continue simmering for 3 minutes, whisking frequently. Remove from heat.
- Peel, core, and thinly slice 7 cups of apples and place them in a large bowl. Pour the sauce over the apples and stir to coat the apple slices.
- Snowflake sprinkle your work surface with flour and roll out the bottom pie crust to a 12″ diameter circle. Transfer it to a 9″ pie plate. Add in the apple mixture, be careful not to get the filling on the edges which makes it difficult to seal.
- Roll the second crust into an 11″ round and cut into strips. Arrange the strips in a woven lattice pattern over the top of the pie–you can also choose to figure out your own special seasonal decorations, but we like it classic!
- Optional: Replace steps 4 and 5 with a store-purchased pie crust. It’s easier!
- Beat together 1 egg and 1 Tbsp water and brush the top with the egg mixture.
- Bake at 425˚F for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350˚F and continue baking for another 45 minutes or until apples are soft and filling is bubbling through the vents. Rest at room temperature for 1 hour before serving.
With that, we hope you enjoy this apple pie recipe from one of our very own employees! ‘Tis the season for holiday cheer, family fun, and oh-so-yummy food, and you can’t go wrong with this special treat!
Check out more seasonal tips, tricks, and to-do’s on our blog!
