Thanksgiving Apple Pie

Did I also mention I'm thankful for apple pie? Fresh out of the oven, just in time for Thanksgiving!

Pies, Pies, Pies, Yeah.

Still no luck finding my memory card! It's been 3 weeks since I've been desperately searching for it and nothing.... I'm sure I'll find it soon, but on to pies in the meantime. On Saturday morning, I got the call asking for an apple pie or two Father's Day on Sunday. I was given the option to buy pies... but for me, that is never an option. So, Saturday morning, I began my day's work.

I began work on the crusts, while I sent Brian to the store on an apple mission. I found myself with some extra time and decided to make an extra little open faced pie for my niece's little recital after party. I got a little creative with this crust and decided to throw in some culinary lavender, in addition to the vanilla that I always add to my pie crust dough.

It gave the crust a nice spotty lavender look.

A few days earlier, my mom gave me a carton of blackberries, which Brian and I still hadn't got our hands into. So, I threw those in, along with some of the apples Brian had brought back from the store.

Since I went with a lavender crust, I decided to be very minimal with my fruit filling. I kept it simple by only adding sugar and fresh lemon juice (using lemons fresh off of my dad's lemon tree). And, of course, more butter.

The result was a cute little pie.

And since there wasn't much left of it, post party, I like to think it was pretty tasty too. After the party, I came home to prep the other two pies for Sunday's Father's day celebration at Brian's family's house. Since I had prepared my crusts early on, all I had to do was prepare my apple filling, assemble the pies, then freeze them until the morning.

The apple mix included a mix of Jazz, Fuji, and Granny Smith apples. I normally use a lot more apples, but Brian reported back that there were slim pickings in the apple isle. I also added cinnamon, freshly grated nutmeg, lemon juice, sugar, and flour. And, of course, butter.

I topped it off and made a few slits for the heat to escape, then pressed the edges down with a fork. I added an egg wash made of one egg yolk and some heavy whipping cream, then sprinkled the top with sanding sugar. When it was all done, I let it chill in the freezer overnight (which was only for a few hours, since I was done around midnight and woke up at 6am to start baking). It still looked nice and pretty in the morning.

I couldn't find my other pie dish, so I made pie #2 in a tart dish. Instead of making a decorative edge using the fork, I used my rolling pin to round the edges off, to go with the dish's natural shape. I think that worked out pretty nice and clean.

I baked them both for 20 minutes on 400, then reduced the heat to 350 and baked for another 40-50 minutes, turning the pie once during that time. Baking them at 400 gives them that nice golden brown color.

I love that color.

But, my favorite is the flakiness of the top crust. I love the little dough bubbles formed with the sugar.

All that, and I still had extra dough left! And apples too! So, what else to do, but make another mini pie?

It was mini and cute.

And we ate it quickly.

We also ate it with vanilla ice cream (not pictured).

Thanksgiving Apple Pies

What's better than Thanksgiving dinner? How about two Thanksgiving dinners? That's right friends, I went to Thanksgiving twice this year, so besides eating two times more food, I had to bake two times the pie! Ever since this whole diet business, I haven't baked much. Lots of low-calorie cooking, but very little baking. So, I was a little excited about getting to bake again. Making pies is fun! Though, it can be quite a time consuming process - especially when you have to bake two.

I made the crusts the night before, and chilled the discs of dough overnight. That made it a little easier in the morning. I don't have pie weights (yet), so I usually end up with a somewhat sloppy process of fitting the dough into my pie plate, but I think it came out okay? I used a fork to add some texture to allow the top of my pie crust to adhere a little easier.

While the pie crusts chilled in the fridge for a little longer, I worked on the apple filling. Mr B made the process go a lot quicker by helping me peel all the apples! After the apples were all cut, I added some lemon, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, flour, and a few cubes of butter. Then, in the pie crusts they go.

Next, it's time for the top crust. I always use little cookie cutters for the vents. I almost went freestyle with some autumn leaves, but totally chickened out, since we were a little tight with time. I think the stars worked out just fine though. After adhering the two crusts, I brushed on my egg wash and poured a generous amount of sanding sugar on top.

I let the whole pie freeze for about 30 minutes, then into the oven they went. Here is pie number one:

And pie number two:

I got to sneak a taste of each pie, and I do think pie number one was the winner.

I used an actual pie plate to bake this one, which ensured even baking. For pie number two, I ran out of pie plates, so I used a vintage pyrex dish that was somewhat pie shaped. Now, I love my vintage pyrex, but I gotta say, the baking was a bit uneven with this one. I might have to experiment again with an actual pyrex pie plate, but from now on, my little pyrex will go back to making casseroles and looking stylish.
Now, what will I be baking for Christmas....???

Let The Holiday Baking Begin!

Although baking holiday goods is difficult, while I am on a diet... I can't resist!

I should also mention that I'm still in denial that it's November. November! Already! No! It came way too fast. While I usually have all of my Christmas shopping done by now, this year has been a whirlwind and I've still got lot to shop for. Busy, busy. Did I mention I also got a new job? I'm officially a librarian! It's pretty great! Oh, and there's also that wedding we're planning... and the thought of starting to look for a new home together... it's all very time consuming, but all very exciting!
So, what's in the kitchen today? It's the start of two apple pies! I'm not the biggest pumpkin pie fan, so I'm going with an old favorite. Tonight, I'm preparing the crusts. Bright and early tomorrow, Brian and I will be chopping and peeling approximately 20 apples and making one of my favorite types of pie!
Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! What are you baking this holiday?

Pie, Pie, Pie

Has anyone else been keeping up with the The Kitchn'spie contest? Well, not only have I been keeping up with it, but I also submit two pies! For the classic category, I submit my favorite Apple Pie and a classic quiche, Quiche Oignon & Cumin.


Now, the other pies submitted on the page are fabulous. I mean, fabulous! But, I'd really love those pie dishes, so please vote for me! Voting ends Friday, so get those votes in!

Coconut Tarts

I think I should rename the subtitle of this blog to "adventures of a girl with ADD". I don't actually have ADD (that I know of), but I wouldn't be surprised if I did. I really can't give myself a break. Tonight I spent the entire night cooking and cleaning. It wouldn't be so bad, but I had a little frustration in the kitchen.

Was it the tart crust?

Nope. That actually baked quite well.

I also made mini tartlets too! It was what went inside the crust that caused the frustration.

Sure they look fine now, but I went on another low-fat rampage and tried to bring non-fat whipping cream to form medium peaks. Friends, let me save you the trouble, it just doesn't happen. It didn't for me anyway. I also mixed in a can of sweetened condensed milk, coconut extract, and sugar, but I got nothing. I had to bring out the big bad full-fat heavy whipping cream to get that extra fluff. It was quite a mess actually. I still have bowls of thick liquid coconut filling in my fridge that I'm not sure what to do with. Perhaps an ice cream? For now, I just want a break from the kitchen, but if you know me at all.. that feeling will pass soon. I suspect I'll be baking again in no time.

The Apple Of My Pie

A good apple pie needs good apples. I used Gala, Empire, Jazz, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Braeburn, and Granny Smith.

While preparing the filling, I tasted each apple chopped to ensure a sweet apple. I then added lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, salt, and some flour.

My favorite part of almost any pie is the crust. I added a bit of cinnamon to the crust, just to give it that extra something. Though, I think the 2 sticks of butter for each batch do quite well on their own too.

I didn't realize how time consuming this little baking project was going to be. I went from rolling the dough, chilling the dough, cutting the dough, molding 24 shells, filling the shells..

... making cute pie tops for each pie, brushing the tops with egg wash....

...baking, letting the pan cool, and doing it all over again 3 times!

I ended up submitting 4 dozen to the baking exhibit today. And the rest of the mini pies? Well, I passed a few out at work, and kept a small batch of the "reject" pile for a whole new baking project (more on this tomorrow)! The exhibit had the baked goods of over 60 people! I was worried that no one would even eat my mini pies with all of that other delicious food around. So, I went over and checked out the pies about an hour after they were put out and somehow, they were all gone! A friend told me that they heard a large group talking about them and soon after that there was a buzz about the lil' pies! At that moment, the 15 hours of work made it all worth it. Though, these little pies weren't the only treat keeping me busy in the kitchen. Kim gave me the prettiest little anchor necklace after I made her a blueberry pie, so to thank her, I made her an apple pie!

I've always wanted to make a lattice pie top, but never have. They usually break and get too complicated for my patience level, but I tried it out and it came out okay?

Well, there are a few mistakes in the lattice top, but I'm willing to overlook it. I think it looked pretty cute after it was all baked! I just hope Kim likes it!

Tomorrow, I will show off what else I worked on in my 15 hour bake-a-thon. It's a tasty way to handle the "reject" pile of your baked goods.

Blue Run Run Run

What's with me and all the blueberry pies, right? It's odd. I think my blueberry loving nephew rubbed off on me, because blueberries have suddenly become one of my favorite fruits. And it really is my favorite pie to make. Making pies is so much more fun with my new food processor. It really cuts dough making time by eighty percent.

And I still get all the hands-on fun with blueberry mashing.

I made 2 pies today. One for the lovely Kim, who just gave me the cutest sailor girl pin, ever. She sells the most amazing vintage jewelry on ebay here.

The little dough star melted a bit, emphasizing the wonderful use of butter.

And another pie for a birthday party at work tomorrow.

Lots of stars and dots of butter on this pie.

I left it a little light, so I could reheat it without burning in the morning, fresh for work.

I start class again this week, so I imagine life is going to be a little busier. I've been really lucky to have an independent study so far this summer, which has given me a lot of freedom to craft and pursue new projects, while keeping up with homework at my own pace. During the past few months, I've picked up a few extra curricular activities, such as buying a new bike, trying to learn how to DJ, and probably the most time consuming of them all.. I am training to run a 10K run at the end of August. The running has been pretty great. I've been averaging on about 10-12 miles per week for now. If all goes well, I hope to do a marathon someday.