apple pie forever

I make apple pie a lot, more than almost any other baked good. I always forget to post about it though.

Probably because I’m too busy eating pie.

However, last night I was making pie with some old friends and I decided that enough is enough. It is Time for Pie.

favorite pie apron

Crust

(for 1 8-9 inch pie crust)

• 2 cups flour
• 2/3 c shortening or butter* (cold)
• 1 tsp salt
• approximately 1/4 cup ice water
• something like 1 tsp sugar, though I need to check

Times it by two to make a double crust, which i recommend.

*Shortening is good for flakeniess, butter for flavor. There are many theories about the ideal combination for maximum deliciousness

Pie crust is much easier than people seem to give it credit for. Now, to have a masterful, gorgeous pie crust is harder, but a tasty made-from-scratch pie crust is fairly simple.

First, mix flour, salt and sugar together. Then “cut” the shortening in. Personally, I think the easiest way to do this is to simply crumble the butter (or what have you) into the flour with your fingers, until the whole thing looks like small grains of sand. Then, press it all together and fold it for a few minutes. After folding it so it looks marbly, shape it into a disc, cover it in plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge for about an hours.

It should look like this

Pie Filling

• 6 apples, 1-2 granny smith
• 1tbs butter
• ~2tbs sugar, to taste
• 1/4 cup sugar
• cinnamon to taste
• optional: nutmeg, other spices
• ~1-2 tbs Lemon juice

Now core, peel and chop the apples into quarters (or smaller). Add the sugar, flour and cinnamon to taste. Note: it should taste delicious. Add lemon juice to taste if it’s too sweet.

Construction: roll out the pie dough into a circle on a floured circle. Take your time – if it doesn’t work at first, reroll it. (Pro tip: If you don’t have a rolling pin, you can use a wine bottle washed and with the label removed)

for a 8-9 inch pie pan, it needs to (probably) be about 13 inches in diameter, but don’t stress about it. To put the dough into the pan, fold it in half and then in half again. Put the dough in the pan and unroll it. Fill it with apples (and pour in the juice at the bottom). Roll the second pie crust for the top. to make a lattice, cut the rolled out dough into strips approximately one inch wide and weave them over the top.If you are doing a solid top, make slits in it

(I had a picture of this but I lost it when I replaced my phone. Here is a different photo instead.)

here is a picture of a fuzzy alpaca

Bake at 400 for about 40 minutes, or until the top crust is golden brown and the apple interior is kind of bubbly.

instagramin’ around

Serve warm with cold icecream or homemade whipped cream.

Or eat it cold for breakfast. It’s the best way to do it.

Lemon bars: part one

I made some lemon bars a few days ago. (and then I ate all of them, there aren’t any left now.)

I’m fasting today while I wait to get my cholesterol tested and writing about this is making me so hungry. torture!

Anyway, I used Betty Crocker’s classic recipe

She rarely lets me down. This was almost one of those times.

Lemon Squares

Ingredients

•  1 cup of flour
• 1/2  c butter, softened (one stick)
• 1/4 c powdered sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 c sugar
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp lemon peel
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

the eggs at the farmer’s market are so pretty
farmer’s market, oh how i have missed you

Heat oven to 350 right away. Then mix butter, flour and powdered sugar (weird right?) together. It will be a very soft dough. Press it into the bottom of an ungreased 8x8x2 or 9x9x2 pan. Bake it for about 20 minutes, until it starts to be a little bit golden brown. Mine turned out extremely flaky, maybe too much so. (If anyone has fixes for that… let me know)

Meanwhile, make the lemon curd. Beat the remaining ingredients for about three minutes, until they are light and fluffy. I probably did not do this for long enough.

probably because I tried to do it by hand

I also added extra lemon juice. Pour over the hot crust and bake for another 25 minutes, at which point there will be “no indentation if touched light in the center” (thanks betty c!)

let it cool. I highly recommend freezing these, since they are exponentially better.

VERDICT: okay but disappointing

Me, excited for lemon bars. how quickly that smile would fade. also i was making a thumbs up, you just can’t tell

They were just not as good as I remembered. And definitely not zingy enough. I thought about making a very tart frosting for them from powdered sugar and lemon juice (to taste) but I am not a fan of frosting on bar cookies (eg, frosted brownies and i are NOT FRIEND). So i let it be, and ate them anyway, since they were still quite tasty. They just weren’t what I wanted to bake.

Now, I am not a person who knows when to quit. So expect an update soon, entitled LEMON BARS: PART TWO, the LEMONING

okay sorry that was a REALLY bad joke

 

I’ve been lazy with photos recently, so today i am going to town

Pie Update & Blog update

Last week I made a peach pie. It turned out well, but not as well as it would have if I’d been more than 60% awake when I made it.

(It got a little burnt, and the crust was flatter than I like them to be.)

I reccomend going to smittenkitchen’s site for the ingrediants and instructions, but here they are anyway:

Crust
2 1/2 cups (315 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting surfaces
1 tablespoons (15 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
2 sticks (225 grams, 8 ounces, or 1 cup) unsalted butter, very cold
1/2 cup water, very cold

Filling
About 3 1/2 pounds peaches (approximately 6 large, 7 medium or 8 small)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, from about half a regular lemon
1/4 cup granulated sugar (see note up top; use 1/3 cup for a sweeter pie)
1/4 cup light brown sugar (ditto)
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Few gratings of fresh nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons minute tapioca, ground to a powder (see note up top), or 3 tablespoons cornstarch or potato starch

To finish
1 tablespoon milk, cream or water
1 tablespoon coarse or granulated sugar

Make your pie dough: Whisk together flour, sugar and salt in the bottom of a large, wide-ish bowl. Using a pastry blender, two forks or your fingertips, work the butter into the flour until the biggest pieces of butter are the size of small peas. (You’ll want to chop your butter into small bits first, unless you’re using a very strong pastry blender in which case you can throw the sticks in whole, as I do.) Gently stir in the ice water with a rubber spatula, mixing it until a craggy mass forms. Get your hands in the bowl and knead it just two or three times to form a ball. Divide dough in half. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and flatten a bit, like a disc. Chill in fridge for at least an hour or up to two days. Slip plastic-wrapped dough into a freezer bag and freeze for up to 1 to 2 months (longer if you trust your freezer more than I do). To defrost, leave in fridge for 1 day.

Meanwhile, prepare your filling: Bring a large saucepan of water to boil. Prepare an ice bath. Make a small x at the bottom of each peach. Once water is boiling, lower peaches, as many as you can fit at once, into saucepan and poach for two minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to ice bath for one minute to cool. Transfer peaches to cutting board and peel the skins. In most cases, the boiling-then-cold water will loosen the skins and they’ll slip right off. In the case of some stubborn peaches, they will stay intact and you can peel them with a paring knife or vegetable peeler and curse the person who made you waste your time with poaching fruit.

Halve and pit the peaches, then into about 1/3-inch thick slices. You’ll want 6 cups; it’s okay if you go a little over. Add to a large bowl and toss with lemon juice. In a small dish, stir together sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and cornstarch until evenly mixed. Add to peaches and toss to evenly coat.

Preheat: Oven to 425 degrees.

WHICH is basically what I did! My peaches mostly worked out. The slightly less ripe ones had to be peeled though.

Okay that’s really all i have bout that.

more later, since I’m making lemon bars.

BLOG UPDATE:

I’m going back to school soon, at which point it will (hopefully) be easier to keep up a regular post schedule. I’ve been moving around a lot lately which makes it hard to a) cook and b) write about it.

PIE COOKIN’

For weeks now, I have been promising to make peach pie

WEEKS

 

Tonight I bit the bullet and went for it. I’m so tired, and of course, there were endless mishaps.

I love baking – it’s what got me started in the first place. I didn’t start cooking until much later.

Anyway, coincidentally, smittenkitchen posted a peach pie recipe recently, and it’s many of my friends’ last day here… and so… it just seemed like the right time.

I’ll post the recipe later. So far, it seems very promising. it smells really good.