When the white frost sculpts the windows and the cold winter air is knocking to the door, there is nothing more 'warmifying' to me than a smell of spicy cinnamon and baked apples coming out of the oven.
My craving calls for a buttery sweet pie with cinnamon spiced apples and I blame Quincy Coleman for that after listening to her pie song :)
"When the world is gray and bleak, baby don't you cry
I will give you every bit of love that is in my heart
I will bake it up… into a simple little pie,
Baby don't you cry, gonna make a pie, gonna make a pie with a heart in the middle." ♪ ♫ ♪
Apple pie is a bit of time consuming, and it may first seem a little complicated. Nevertheless, if you have one of those lazy afternoons, you're in a mood of spending some time in the kitchen, and you’re up for the challenge, pie making is so worth the effort.
So here it is - an apple pie - "with a heart in the middle," because literally speaking, by giving so much effort, you’re going to put your heart in the middle ;-)
To make a crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cups almond or coconut flour
1 cup unsalted butter, very cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
4-6 tbsp ice-cold water
Combine flour, salt and sugar in a food processor. Pulse to mix.
Add butter and pulse few more times until mixture resembles coarse meal with pea size pieces of butter.
Add ice water, 1 tbsp at a time, pulsing until mixture begins to clump together. The dough should hold together and looks like a ball rotating in your food processor. If it doesn't, add a little more water and pulse again.
Remove the dough and divide it into 2 parts. Knead each into the ball shape but do not over-knead it.
Don't be surprised, if you see the chunks of butter in the dough. It actually allows the crust to be nice and flaky. Sprinkle a little flour around each part and wrap it in a plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour (you can store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days).
Take one "ball" of dough out of the refrigerator and let it sit in room temperature for 5-10 min to let it soften. On a lightly floured surface, roll out to 12 inch circle, 1/8 inch thick, just enough to cover the pie dish. Place the dough to pie dish and press it to the bottom.
Don't clean your pastry board yet. The 2nd "ball" is still waiting for you in the fridge :)
You can actually take it out while preparing the filling.
Now, time for the pie filling, and to do that, you will need fruit and butter mixture.
Fruit:
-6-8 Granny Smith apples
- 2 tbsp cinnamon (if you're a cinnamon lover, add more)
- 1 tsp apple spice (optional)
Peel the apples. Remove the cords and slice them into small cubes, triangles.
This time, I actually shredded them in my food processor just to catch up on some time :)
Sprinkle apples with cinnamon.
Butter mixture:
½ cup unsalted butter
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup water
Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add both, white and brown sugar, and water. Bring it to boil. Reduce the temp., and let it simmer for few minutes.
Next, take the pie plate with the crust and fill it with cinnamon spiced apples.
Pour half of the butter mixture over the apples.Preheat the oven to 425 F.
Now, you can choose one of two pie tops: simple pie top, or lattice pie top.
Decisions, decisions, decisions ... :)A simple crust top:
Roll out the second ball of dough to form a circle, just like you did with the first one and gently place onto the top of the pie filling pressing it gently. Flute edges using thumb and forefinger or press with fork. Score the top of the crust with a knife, right in the middle, making 2 inch cuts. It will allow the steam from the pie to escape.
The Lattice top:
After rolling out the second ball of dough, cut the it into even strips, less more 1/2 inch wide, depend on how thick you want your lattice strips to be. Work on the strips the way you want it to form an impressive pie everyone will admire.  |
| Apple pie with a lattice crust |
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| Remaining butter mixture over a lattice crust |
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| Ready :) |
Pour the remaining butter mixture on top of the pie crust top.
Bake the pie for 15 minutes at 425 degrees F.
After 15 minutes, reduce the temperature to 350 F and continue baking for 35-45 minutes until the apples will bubble and the crust is crisp and golden.
Cool it before eating.
Have a piece, preferable with scoop of vanilla ice-cream.
Heaven :)
Annotation: This recipe is a combination of two different recipes which I found on the web with a bit of my own experimenting :)
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