All season apple pie

4 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
For the pie crust:
2½ cup Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
2 tablespoons Sugar
12 tablespoons Chilled butter cut into 1/4
To 3/8 inch cubes cup chilled all-vegetable
Shortening
7 To 8 tablespoon ice water
For the Filling:
4 Granny Smith and 4 Macintosh
Apples cup granulated sugar
1½ tablespoon Lemon juice
1 teaspoon Grated lemon zest teaspoon freshly grated
Nutmeg teaspoon cinnamon teaspoon allspice teaspoon salt
1 Egg white, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon Sugar for topping

Directions

Pulse flour, salt and sugar in food processor fitted with steel blade.

Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture, tossing to coat butter with a little of the flour. Pulse machine 5 times in 1 second bursts. Add shortening and continue pulsing until flour is pale yellow and resembles coarse cornmeal, with butter bits no larger than small peas, 4 to 6 more 1 second pulses. Turn mixture into medium bowl. If you don't have a food processor, grate frozen butter and shortening into flour mixture and mix with your hands for 1 minute, rubbing flour and shortening between your fingers. Flour should turn very pale yellow and become coarser in texture.

Sprinkle 6 tablespoons of ice water over mixture. With blade of rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix. Press down on dough with broad side of spatula until dough sticks together. Shape into ball with hands, divide the dough into two balls one sightly larger than the other. Dust lightly with flour, wrap separately in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Remove dough from refrigerator. The dough is ready to be rolled when it is still cool to the touch but you can push your finger halfway down through the center. If the dough has been chilled for more than 1 hour, it may have to sit on the counter for 10 to 20 minutes to soften.

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Roll larger dough disk on lightly floured surface into a 12-inch circle, about ⅛-inch thick, the depth of a quarter. Transfer and fit dough into 9-inch Pyrex pan, leaving dough that overhangs the lip in place. Refrigerate dough while preparing the fruit.

Peel apples, quarter, and remove core. Slice each quarter into thirds, about ½-inch thick. Toss with lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, sugar, spices.

Turn fruit mixture, including any juices, into pie shell. Roll out the remaining ball of dough and place it over the top of the pie. Trim top and bottom edges to ½-inch beyond pan lip. Tuck this rim of dough underneath itself so that folded edge is flush with pan lip.

Flute dough in your own fashion, or press with fork tines to seal.

Cut four slits at right angles on dough top to allow steam to escape.

Brush egg white on top of crust and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar evenly over the top.

Place pie on bottom rack. Bake until crust is lightly golden, 25 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees and continue to bake until juices bubble and crust is deep golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes.

The bottom crust should be golden and the juices from pie bubbling.

Transfer pie to wire rack: let cool to almost room temperature about 4 hours. Pie is best eaten after it has completely cooled, even the next day.

Variations:

CRYSTALLIZED GINGER APPLE PIE

Add 3 tablespoons of chopped ginger to apple mixture.

DRIED RAISIN, CHERRY OR CRANBERRY APPLE PIE Macerate 1 cup dried fruit (chopped coarse if large) in the lemon juice and 1 tablespoon liqueur Apple Jack, brandy or cognac. Toss with apple mixture.

FRESH CRANBERRY PIE

Add 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries to apples, and increase sugar to 1 cup from ¾ cup.

COOKING LIVE SHOW #CL9042

All recipes courtesy Christopher Kimball, Cook's Magazine

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