Apple Pie Variations by bettina

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Apple Pie Variations
Submitted by bettina on October 18, 2004 at 1:52 pm

DESCRIPTION
Apple pie variations

SUMMARY
Yield 0 File under Misc. Recipes & Requests

INSTRUCTIONS
These are all little tidbits of information I've found here and there...some from the internet, some from books I've got. I'd heard my Dad say that my aunts, and his mother always used the cores and peelings, cooked with spices, to add some extra oomph to their pies. It certainly does!

Another tip I found, from Carole Walter, is to NOT add any sugar, when you initially mix the apples, spices, flour, etc...but to wait until just about 15 minutes or so before you place the filling in the pie pan...this way not so much of the apple's moisture is leached out, and you won't have a large amount of spiced juice. I always cooked this down, to a syrupy consistency, and poured it back over the apples, but why have an extra step? I've been using her method, and it works beautifully.

Apple Pie

Wash enough good cooking apples to fill your pie dish; then peel and core them and cut into thick chunks. Simmer the peelings and cores in a saucepan with a tumberful of water for half an hour; then strain and cool. Mix with the sugar a little grated lemon rind, a pinch of ground nutmeg, cinnamon or cloves, and a pinch of salt. Pile the apples in a round pie dish making them high in the centre, and sprinkling spiced sugar between each layer. Pour the cold apple liquor over all. Cover with good short pastry rolled out to quarter inch thick, making a hole in the centre, and decorate with a border of pastry apple leaves, leaving the domed centre plain. Brush with beaten egg or milk. Put into a hot oven, but when the crust begins to brown, lower the heat to cook the apples. An hour, in all, should be ample. Serve with cream or creamy custard.

Each pie pan was lined with a hand-rolled crust; a light, eggy recipe that held up well and didn't toughen despite heavy handling. The recruits filled the crust with the fruit, which had been peeled and roughly chopped, then sprinkled the fillings with sugar, cloves, lemon peel and mace.

"Mace isn't a popular spice today," said Crown, "but it was very popular in the 18th century" and shows up in many recipes from the period.

Made from the dried, waxy covering of the nutmeg, mace has its own distinctive, aromatic flavor.

Crown then took the pear and apple peels and cores and dropped them into a pot. Following the 1787 directions of cookbook author John Farley, she boiled them in some "fair water, with a blade of mace, till it has a pleasing taste."

After straining out the peelings, the liquid is returned to the fire with sugar and more lemon and cooked down to a syrup that is poured over the fruit. The second crust is put on top.

Reminding us that in the 18th century "nothing was wasted," Crown said the leftover peelings would not have been thrown away, but would have been fed to the hogs.

When the pies and loaves of bread went into the oven, each recruit got a

Mix the nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon with the sugar. Sprinkle the sugar with a few drops of pure vanilla extract. Work the butter and 2 Tablespoons flour or other thickener into the sugar. Slice the apples into thin wedges and place apples into pre-rolled out and fitted pie crust, packing apples in tightly, since they will cook down significantly. Mound apples higher in center. Sprinkle over the apples the juice of 1/2 lemon, then sprinkle the sugar-spice mixture over the apples evenly. Roll out and place top crust, fluting edges to seal tightly and creating several vent holes to allow steam to escape.

Brush top of crust with a mixture of one egg white and one tablespoon of water or with a little cream. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar.

Variation: One method of making a nice base for your apple pie is to peel a portion of the apples, placing the skins, cores, lemon peels, cinnamon sticks, and fresh grated ginger, into a saucepan with sugar and half cup of water or apple juice. Simmer over low heat for about an hour and strain, reserving the liquid. Thicken 1/2 cup of the strained liquid with 1-2 tsp cornstarch or arrowroot and cool. Add 1/4 tsp vanilla, the sliced and peeled apples, and pour into the pie shell. This is a nice variation when you don't have cortland apples to mix in with the granny smiths because it keeps the pie from being too dry. The liquid is enough for one 10-inch pie about 4 inches tall at center. Adjust according to your pie size.

I've found that freshly grated ginger much improves the flavor over the ground type in this recipe.

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