Autumn Apple~Currant Pie

Autumn is literally around the corner--Thursday, September 22nd, and I couldn't help but think about autumn in the Pacific Northwest where we lived for 12 years.  Apples were so abundant and there were so many new varieties than what I was used to in the East.  Apple Pie was always on the menu for this season, along with Pumpkin, Apple Cranberry,  and Pear; why not start the season off.

Apples are not indigenous to North America, but rather were brought to our country by colonists (aren't we happy for immigrants!). Originally they were cultivated in central Asia and brought to Europe by explorers.  Of course, as children we all heard the story of Johnny Appleseed (aka John Chapman) who introduced apple trees to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ontario, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana from September 26, 1774 to March 18, 1845.  There are more than 7,500 cultivars of apples, but today, Granny Smith was my choice.

Autumn Apple~Currant Pie
1 cup currants (or raisins)
1/4 cup bourbon, whiskey, or apple cider

Slightly warm the "booze" or apple cider in the microwave and pour over the dried fruit in a small bowl.  Cover and let stand 30 minutes or even overnight.

Prepare your favorite 10-inch pie crust, or a 9-inch deep dish crust.  I did the deep dish. Place in the refrigerator while you peel the apples.

6-7 Granny Smith apples (depending on how small/large they are), peeled, cored, and sliced

In a large bowl, mix:
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup King Arthur all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground cardamon
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 375F-degrees. Add the apples to this mixture, then using a slotted spoon, add the currants.  Mix well and spoon filling into the unbaked pie pastry.  Drizzle evenly with reserved Whiskey/Bourbon/or Cider.

Streusel Topping:

1 cup King Arthur all-purpose flour

2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Mix the flour and brown sugar together in a medium bowl, then use a pastry blender to cut in the butter.  You can also rub with your fingers until small lumps develop.

Sprinkle topping over filling.

Very Important--set pie on a baking pan and bake in the preheated oven for 55 to 65 minutes.  Cover loosely with foil if the pie crust browns too quickly.  Pie is done when apples are tender and juices bubble on top.

When I bake pies, I use this ingenious pie baking round that I purchased at Sur La Table, but you can also find it at Williams~Sonoma.  As you can see, the juices bubble over and it's much easier to clean up a baking sheet rather than your oven! I love that the bottom of your pie plate still gets the direct heat it needs to brown your crust.

 Harvest time has begun and I'm sure you'll be seeing lots of apples at the farm stands and grocery stores.  My mother always said, "an apple a day, keeps the doctor away."  I don't know about that, but I do know this is one great pie! Enjoy!

Patriotic Pie and June's Give Away Apron Winner

July 4th was always a special holiday growing up.  My mother spent a few days cooking and planning a picnic, not just for family, but as years went by, friends too were part of the celebration.  My dad would buy Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs and mom would add fried chicken, an assortment of salads, corn on the cob, rolls, and many desserts--pies, cakes, brownies.  I miss those picnics.

It was a rainy day yesterday, but that didn't stop me from preparing a very patriotic dessert I had seen on the King Arthur Flour recipe website.  The only difference is that my "Red" section was strawberries and raspberries (instead of Strawberries and Rhubarb).  I made a Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and this dessert was spectacular.  My mother would have been impressed.

Patriotic Pie
Pie Dough:
2 3/4 cups King Arthur All-purpose Flour
1 tsp. salt
4 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup cold butter-flavored shortening, cut in 1/2-inch pieces
6-8 T ice cold water

In a food processor, pulse the dry ingredients together.  Then, add half of the butter and shortening pieces and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse sand.  Add the remaining butter and shortening and pulse again.  Pour mixture into a large bowl and add 4-6 T ice cold water and using your hands start to bring the mixture together, adding more water as needed.  Turn dough out onto a board and divide in half.  Wrap each half in plastic wrap and chill about an hour.

When dough is thoroughly chilled, roll out and place in a 9-inch pie plate.  Return to the refrigerator to chill while you prepare the fruit.

Fruit:
Strawberries 4 cups
Raspberries 1 cup
Blueberries 2 cups

Wash, dry and slice the strawberries.  Wash and dry the raspberries and blueberries.  Place the Strawberries and Raspberries in one bowl and add:

2/3 cup granulated sugar
2-3 T Cornstarch (or Instant Clear Jel)
juice of 1/2 lemon

Blueberries in another bowl and add:

1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 T Cornstarch (or Instant Clear Jel)
juice of 1/2 lemon

Preheat oven to 425F-degrees.  Use a piece of aluminum foil to create a barrier for the red and blue.

Add the blueberries in the upper left corner and the strawberries/raspberries in the larger section.

Take out the second half of dough and roll out.  Create stripes and stars to decorate the top of the pie.

Yes, I made sure I had "13" stripes of dough and berries!  Brush the top dough with water and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake pie on a baking sheet, to prevent spillage. Place pie in the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes.  Lower temperature to 375F-degrees and continue baking 45-60 minutes or until the berries have released their juices and the pie is browned and bubbly.  If the edges start to brown to quickly, make an aluminum foil "collar" to protect it.

Now, all this pie needed was a good vanilla ice cream.  My recipe has only 5 ingredients and is easy to do.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
3/4 granulated sugar
2 large eggs
3 vanilla beans

In a medium saucepan, heat the cream, milk, and sugar. Scrape the 3 vanilla beans and add to this mixture.  Bring to a boil.  In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs.  Add hot milk mixture to the eggs, a small amount at a time to temper the eggs, whisking well after each addition.  Add the egg mixture to remaining milk and cream mixture and heat until the temperature is 170F-degrees.  Remove from the heat and pour into a bowl, using a strainer to catch any pieces of cooked egg.  Chill mixture about 3 hours, then pour into an ice cream freezer for about 20 minutes or until thickened.  Place mixture into a container to chill thoroughly in the freezer until ready to use. Enjoy!

Now, for Winner of June's Apron...Optimistic Existentialist!  Please email me your address and I will send this apron off to you ASAP.    July's apron will be up by tomorrow and you will have a chance to win it by posting a comment on any of the posts.  Good Luck~

Autumn Pear~Cranberry Pie

A few years ago, I had a fetish for collecting pears to the point of one Christmas I made over fifty in paper mache' to decorate our tree (they're packed away!)  I even baked gingerbread pears, along with some partridges, and placed them on this beautiful platter my daughters gave me for the holidays.

Today, I was having a yearning for something pear and a pie was my choice--actually, my hubby's who loves pie, even better than cake.

It's another one of those fall fruits that often takes second place behind apple and pumpkin, but I think it deserves it's rightful place, right along side. My grandson, Ari agrees;

from the time Ari was big enough to eat pears, it's been one of his favorites.  Here he is at almost 8 months...

...and enjoying one as a snack with the last hike he took with his mama, April 2010.

When I joined him and his dad for apple picking a few years ago, Ari headed right for the pear tree! He's definitely as much a pear lover as I am:-D

Perfect Pie Dough
4 cups King Arthur all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. Kosher salt
1 tsp. granulated sugar
1 3/4 cup shortening
1/2 ice cold water
1 large egg
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
In a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, first mix all the dry ingredients.  Then, add the shortening, while the mixer is running, a tablespoon at a time.  Finally, mix all the wet ingredients together in a 2 cup measure and again, while the mixer is running add them slowly.

 Transfer all the dough to a lightly floured board and knead until smooth.

 Shape into a log and cut in half, then half again.

Flatten each one to a disk and wrap in plastic wrap.  Place in the refrigerator to chill several hours, but the best thing about this dough (besides no matter how many times you roll it out, it remains so flakey!) it freezes beautifully for up to 6 months.

You can make up pie dough now and have plenty on hand for Thanksgiving and the holidays.

Autumn Pear~Cranberry Pie
8-10 pears (I used a mixture of Bartlett and Bosc)
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup Pie Filling Enhancer
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 tsp. ground cardamon
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

Peel, core and slice pears.  

This is my favorite Pear Slicer I got free by sending in a sales receipt a few years ago to the National Pear Organization.

 Place in a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients (you can substitute the Pie Filling Enhancer for 3 Tablespoons of cornstarch (cornflour). Mix gently with a spatula.

Preheat oven to 400F-degrees.  Roll out one of the disks of dough and place in a 9-inch pan.  Flute edges if desired, then add the filling.  In lieu of a top crust, I cut out leaves and a pear to top the fruit with.  I also sprinkled some green sugar on top, but honestly, it looks a little weird and I think next time, I'll stick to my usual plain sugar:-D

My latest gadget...wish I had thought of it.  The perfect under the pie shield.  The center keeps the pie plate elevated so heat is distributed evenly...and it catches the spills of all your fruit pies!

Place in the oven and cook for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 375F-degrees and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes more, covering the edges with a shield if they're browning too quickly.

Bubbling juices and the intoxicating aroma of vanilla and pear, made it hard to wait for it to cool completely.  Now, if I just had some vanilla ice cream--oh well, I'll savor the simple enjoyment of warm pie on this cool night. Enjoy!

Strawberry~Rhubarb Lattice Pie

For Mother's Day, I decided to bake one of my favorite pies--Strawberry~Rhubarb.  My Grandma Gladys introduced me to rhubarb, a misunderstood vegetable that longs to be a fruit ;-D  It's a perennial rhizome that is harvested mid-Spring thru early Summer and every year I awaited that first picking knowing grandma would make stewed rhubarb or rhubarb cobbler.   Their strawberries weren't ready yet, so it was just rhubarb, which was fine with me. (I started adding strawberries when we lived in California and I could get both of them at the same time.)

Rhubarb is primarily grown for its petioles (stalks) as the triangular leaves are toxic.  When we bought out home in Connecticut, you can imagine how thrilled I was that the previous owners had planted several rhubarb plants.  Our first spring-time harvest gave me so much rhubarb that even after several pies and a couple dozen jars of jelly, I was still able to freeze several bags for winter when I had a craving for it.

Strawberry~Rhubarb Lattice Pie
Pie dough for a double crust
4 cups fresh rhubarb, washed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 cups fresh strawberries, washed, hulled, and sliced
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 T. Instant Clear Jel (or Cornstarch or 5T all-purpose flour)

1/2 tsp. ground cardamon
1/2 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. Tahitian ground vanilla bean (or 1 vanilla bean split and scraped)

 Pinch of Kosher salt
2 T unsalted butter


Preheat oven to 400F-degrees.  Remove 2 discs of chilled pie dough from refrigerator.  Roll out one disc and place in a 9-inch pie dish.

Roll out second disc and using a pastry wheel cut 1-inch strips.  Form the lattice on a piece of parchment-lined baking sheet.

Return the pie dish to the refrigerator to chill and place the baking sheet, with the lattice, in the freezer.


Wash and cut up the rhubarb and strawberries.

Add all the ingredients to the bowl and stir gently to combine, making sure you coat all the fruit.

Remove pie dish from refrigerator and spoon the fruit mixture into it.  Dot with the butter.

Remove the lattice top from the freezer.  Pick up the parchment sheet, turn it upside down and lay the lattice top over the fruit.  Remove the parchment.

Pinch up around the edges to seal, adding a decorative edge.  Brush the entire surface of the dough with some heavy cream or half & half.  Sprinkle with Turbinado sugar.

Place pie dish back on the baking sheet with parchment paper under it.  Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, then, lower the temperature to 350F-degrees and continue baking 35 to 45 minutes until golden brown and the juices are flowing.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before serving...if you can wait.  I could only wait about 30 minutes before I cut into the pie and scooped up some strawberry ice cream to accompany it.


Today, has been a difficult day; missing my mother, my grandmother, and my daughter, Kelly.  I wanted to bake so I could share with all of you some memories that bring back some happy times.  Wishing all of the beautiful mothers, in this blogging community, a Happy Mother's Day. Enjoy!