It’s the KAF bakealong #4! Kind of. I ended up modifying it a bit.
I used to make apple pies a lot. For a while, I was known as that girl who would make pies. I still like making pies, but I just haven’t been making that many recently. Cookies are generally less work and I can make so many of them using the same amount of effort as in making one pie.
But anyway, the bakealong challenge was for that of an apple pie. So I decided to try it. Except since I was bringing this pie to a Thanksgiving dinner with family friends and I didn’t want to arrive empty handed and I wanted to bring something fitting of a giant festive dinner, I ended up making it into an apple rose pie instead.
I used the Serious Eats pie crust recipe as I’ve decided that I like this one the best in terms of payoff to effort. I had extra crust because this ended up being a one crust pie and because I used my 9.5″ round tart pan, which is shallower than my normal pie pan. Incidentally, putting pie crust into a tart pan is so much easier than pounding a shortbread crust or Oreo crust into a tart pan.
I used a bunch of granny smith apples for the filling and substituted the spices for all cinnamon (2tbsp), because I’ve mentioned before that I really like cinnamon, right? And I changed the sugar from all granulated sugar to 0.5c brown sugar and 0.25 granulated. I like the molasses-y undertone of brown sugar and I think it works really well in apple pies.
As it turns out, this is my favorite apple pie filling ever. EVAR. It’s sweet, but not too sweet, and tart, but not too tart, and spicy and still apple-y. I think the boiled cider really makes it. Also, if you’re making your own boiled cider (slow cooker FTW!), it makes a big difference of the quality of the cider you start with. I’ve had the best results with Trader Joe’s seasonal cider. Whatever it was called. I can’t remember and since it’s seasonal, I can’t get it anymore until next fall. I did end up picking up an extra gallon and making boiled cider with it so I would have some until next season.
Because this was a one crust pie, I did cover the pie for 30-40min in the beginning to bake (at 375F the whole time) and then removed the foil for the last 15-20min. If it’s not enough color for you and the pie is already nice and bubbly, you can stick it under the broiler for a few minutes.
In order for the pie to keep its shape and not leak filling everywhere, you will have to let the pie cool pretty much completely so the starches have time to gel and set properly. If you notice that the apple slices are falling forward while the pie is cooling or that you didn’t use enough apples, just take the back of a spoon and gently brush the apples back from the center to circumference.
The resulting pie is really pretty.
Also, since it was a one crust pie and only a 9.5″ tart pan, I had extra crust and apples left over. So I made me some giant personal pies. And they were delicious.
I made three smaller apple rose pies later on with my 4.5″ tart pans (can’t find a picture, but they’re just a smaller version of the big one) and a very sparse lattice pie with the leftover crust and apples. Still delicious.
Random moosages as I see fit. 