Apple Pie

Hello!

I baked an apple pie recently and as you can tell from the photos it was delicious!!!

I wanted to share the recipe I used with my edits. It's basically Alton Browns recipe but without the Grain of Paradise you probably don't have lying around your kitchen, the tapioca flour (I never have a bag laying around) or applejack.....lets face it...this is a "I bought a bag of apples and I felt like making a pie so I used what I just had in my house" recipe.

Maybe it will help you see how to be creative with missing ingredients too! My husband and I do this all the time...its called experimenting and most the time comes out more amazing than the original recipe. Now, this is not to encourage you to just randomly pick something that is substitute in other recipes...that doesn't work!! You will need to know some basic spice and culinary knowledge.

For a good example, Alton uses Grains of Paradise...which is described as being in the ginger family and has a peppery spicy and citrus-y taste. So I took ginger, cayenne and citrus to substitute it and it worked out great.

For a bad example:

Someone I know did not have this basic food knowledge and ended up with a tuna walnut apple salad sandwich. The apples were a substitute for celery (from a completely different food recipe that said you could substitute apples for celery for a sweet version of whatever it was), the walnuts somehow through a chain of substitutes, were a substitute for onions.....I heard from the poor soul who ended up having to eat it that this is not a tasty creation.

Please don't be this person. For the sake of all that is....don't.

Feel free to check out the real one at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/super-apple-pie-recipe.html?oc=linkback

Oh and I do not have a pie bird. I want a pie bird, but do not have one so I just made a few vents in the crust (small cuts only about 3 of them around the top of the pie).

I would highly suggest investing in a pie bird though, they are so cool and helpful for pie baking!
https://www.google.com/search?q=pie+bird&espvd=2&biw=1358&bih=702&tbm=shop&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjc5oTD3ufRAhUDw4MKHVuxCvEQ_AUIBigB&dpr=1


Ingredients

Crust:
6 ounces unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 ounces organic coconut oil, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
5 tablespoons of apple juice and one tablespoon of tequila (or vodka)
12 ounces all-purpose flour, (approximately 2 3/4 cups) plus extra for dusting
1 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Filling:
3 to 3 1/2 pounds apples, (I used all Pink Lady's, you can do whatever apple or apple mix you want)
1/2 cup sugar, divided
3 tablespoons rice flower
2 tablespoons apple jelly (I made my own with the spare apples, 100% apple juice, all spice, cinnamon, ginger and sugar)
1 tablespoon apple cider (before the jelly finished I pulled some of the spiced apple juice for this)
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ginger mix=== mixture of 1/8 teaspoon of powdered ginger, a shake of all spice, a shake of cayenne pepper, and a few drops of lemon extract (1-2 drops).

Crust:

Place the butter, shortening and apple/tequila into the refrigerator for 1 hour.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, salt and sugar by pulsing 3 to 4 times. Add the butter and pulse 5 to 6 times until the texture looks mealy. Add the shortening and pulse another 3 to 4 times until incorporated.

Remove the lid of the food processor and sprinkle in 5 tablespoons of the apple/tequila. Replace the lid and pulse 5 times. Add more as needed, and pulse again until the mixture holds together when squeezed. Weigh the dough and divide in half. Shape each half into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.

Filling:
Peel and core the apples. Slice into 1/2-inch thick wedges. Toss all of the apples with 1/4 cup of the sugar, place in a colander set over a large bowl and allow to drain for 1 1/2 hours.

Transfer the drained liquid to a small saucepan, place over medium heat and reduce to 2 tablespoons. Set aside to cool. Toss the apples with the remaining sugar, rice flour, jelly, cider, lime juice, salt and ginger mixture.

For assembling and baking the pie:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove one disk of dough from the refrigerator. Place the dough onto a lightly floured piece of waxed paper. Lightly sprinkle the top of the dough with flour and roll out into a 12-inch circle. Place into a 9 1/2 to 10-inch tart pan that is 2-inches deep. Gently press the dough into the sides of the pan, crimping and trimming the edges as necessary.

Place the apples into the unbaked pie shell in concentric circles starting around the edges, working towards the center and forming a slight mound in the center of the pie. Pour over any liquid that remains in the bowl. Roll out the second pie dough as the first. Place this dough over the apples. Press together the edges of the dough around the rim of the pie. Brush the top crust with the reduced juice everywhere except around the edge of pie. Trim any excess dough. Place the pie on a half sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake on the floor** of the oven for 30 minutes. Transfer to the lower rack of the oven and continue to bake another 20 minutes or until the apples are cooked through but not mushy. Remove to a rack and cool a minimum of 4 hours or until almost room temperature.

**If you're using an electric oven with coils on the bottom of the oven, place the pie on the sheet pan on the lowest rack over the coils, NOT directly on top of them.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/super-apple-pie-recipe.html?oc=linkback