Pie, baby, pie!
Oh boy oh boy I love pie. Anything I can cut into triangles and share with people is definitely up there on my list of ‘things I love to make’ and ‘tis the season! This week I had a handful of apples I needed to use so I decided to make some Cheddar Crust Apple Pie to add a touch of savory to the mix!
This pie does require you to make your crust from scratch (since we are incorporating cheese) but it’s honestly very doable! Here’s what you’ll need:
For the crust:
2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour (I try to use unbleached)
a teaspoon of salt
a spoonful of sugar
16 tablespoons of chilled unsalted butter (yeeeees we are going hard, as you should with baked goods :D)
1/2 cup of cold water (cold is important in this recipe)
about half a cup of shredded cheddar cheese ( I used sharp cheddar and if you shred it yourself it will just taste that much better!)
one beaten egg for a wash on your crust
For the filling:
5 apples of your choosing (honestly, whatever apples you fancy)
a couple dashes of cinnamon (to taste)
a couple dashes of nutmeg (to taste)
a couple dashes of allspice (to taste)
a spoonful of sugar
Tools:
a pie dish
a big ol’ bowl
a pot
a place to roll out your dough
Okeydokey. Let’s get baking! So the first thing we need to start with is the crust. Grab your big ol’ bowl and add your flour (try to be as specific as possible with your measurements for the flour), salt and sugar and give it a good mix. Now you want to cube your butter into nickel sized chunks and add it to the bowl. Once all your butter is added, work the butter through the flour mix, creating a crumbly pre-dough. I will often break up the butter with my fingers and massage it into the flour. You can stop when it the bits and bobs in the bowl looks pretty well crumbled (more pea sized, not much smaller than that). Add your cheese to the mix and fold it in nice and proper (try not to over mix it). Now, measure out your 1/2 cup of cold water and add it about a tablespoon at a time to the bowl, giving it a good mix every time. Once you’ve poured all your water in, you want to start bringing all the ingredients together by hand until it forms a nice, smooth ball. Once it does, split the dough in half, flatten each piece into little cake shapes about an inch thick and wrap in plastic wrap tightly. Stick those buddies in the fridge for two hours!
Now you’ve got a wee bit of time to kill. Perhaps read a book! Clean the kitchen! Watch something on Netflix (I just re-watched Schitt’s Creek for the umpteenth time)!
About twenty minutes before the two hour mark, let’s make your filling! Peel your five apples and slice them into thin pieces (imagine the classic apple pie filling wedge). Now heres my wee trick—I usually throw them into a pot of water and let them boil for a couple minutes to soften them up ever so slightly so they cook more thoroughly in the oven. This is how I get away with using any apple. There are definitely certain types of apples that cook down better in the oven, but sometimes you gotta use what you have on hand and this little trick helps me out. Just make sure after they’ve cooked a bit you drain them good and proper, you don’t want too much extra moisture getting into that crust!
Once your apples are done, put them in a bowl and toss in your cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and sugar, giving them a good mix after. Throw your oven onto 400 degrees F while your at it as well!
Ok, nows the fun part. Rolling out that DOUGH. Grab one of your little dudes from the fridge and let the other stay in there for now. You can either generously flour your counter and roll it out there or do what I do (because I don’t have counters that will clean easily) and take two big pieces of parchment paper, flour one well and put your unwrapped dough in the center. Now sprinkle a good amount of flour on top of your dough and place the other part of parchment paper on top and get rolling. And if you are rolling straight on your counter, flour your rolling pin and get to it! And if you don’t have a rolling pin (like me) you can improvise! I used a bottle of wine! You want to roll your dough out enough to make sure your pie dish will be covered. Make sure you are picking the dough up and flipping it, flouring when needed. Once you’ve rolled it out enough, grease up your pie dish (I used butter) and lay your dough in it. Make sure you press all the corners down and all the walls are covered.
Spoon your apple mixture into the dish, spreading it evenly!
Now get that other dough dude out of the fridge and repeat the rolling out process. Once it’s big enough to cover the top of your pie, you can explore decoration if you’d like! I did a classic lattice top, but you can easily just place the sheet of dough on top, cut off the excess, press the edges together and call it good! If you do this, cut a few little slits in the top to allow breathability.
Once your pie is constructed, beat one egg and brush it over the crust to give it a nice golden, crunchy finish!
Pop that baby in the oven at 400 degrees F for 25 minutes and then reduce the temp to about 325 degrees F for 30 more or until the pie is golden brown.
Allow to sit for a couple hours an voila!! Apple Pie!
Warm it up a bit before eating for optimum yum factor, perhaps with a scoop of vanilla ice cream as well!
Love you lots, nourish your sweet body and be well, lovely <3
