| | Published November 12th, 2008
| Try the Whole Apple Pie!
| | By Susie Iventosch |  | |
For the past couple of years, I've been involved in a harvest recipe contest in the Auburn area. It is loads of fun, and so interesting to see the creations people come up with. Last year, I submitted crepes made with caramelized apples and onions with chicken and extra- sharp white cheddar cheese. My family loves them and they were awarded a ribbon for the savory category. Now, I'm not sure if there were any other "savory" entries, but still, I was like a kid with my orange ribbon prominently displayed in the kitchen! But, the first place grand prize went to the Elizabethan Harvest Apple Pie created by an Auburn local, Judy Barth. The recipe calls for whole Golden Delicious apples, raisins, sugar and spice, and it makes an impressive presentation with apple leaves cut out for the top crust. Since she offered up the recipe, I've made it three times, and each time, it does get easier and ... prettier! And, while I normally serve pie on ordinary salad plates, I found these fun tempered glass apple leaf plates at Madison in Lafayette that are especially perfect for this pie! They come in three sizes, and the smallest is just the right shape and size for a slice of pie ...with a little (or big) scoop of ice cream.
Madison
3518-B Mt. Diablo Blvd.
Lafayette, CA.
925.299-1024
Apple leaf plates by Tag
Three sizes @ $7.50, $9.95 and $12 each. |
Elizabethan Harvest Pie
Pastry for a double crust pie (recipe below)
7-8 medium Golden Delicious apples, peeled and cored
1/2 cup raisins
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves
7 tsp. butter
1 egg white
1-2 tablespoons additional sugar for sprinkling over crust
| | Line a 9-inch pie plate with 1/2 of the pastry. Refrigerate other half. Flute crust edges and place apples in crust (you may have to slice some of the sides off to make them fit. If so, save and chop.).
Put a few raisins in each cored out apple. Scatter rest around the apples. If you have saved chopped apples, scatter them around the apples as well.
Mix sugar with cinnamon and cloves. Spoon a tablespoon and a half of mixture into the apple centers. Place a teaspoon of the butter on top of each apple.
Roll out rest of pastry into a large circle. Using a sharp paring knife, cut apple leaf shapes out of the pastry. Mark veins of leaves with tip of knife. Place the leaves over the apples in groups of 3-4 to create a pleasing pattern. (Find an apple leaf on a tree or on the Internet, print it and cut it out as a template … or just freehand it!)
Beat egg white until frothy. Brush the leaves and the crust with the egg white and sprinkle all with sugar.
Bake at 375 degrees in a preheated oven for 1 hour. | | Pie Crust Pastry
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into cubes
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
½ cup ice-cold water
In a large bowl, mix flour and salt. Using a pastry cutter, or your fingertips, integrate butter until crumbly. Sprinkle vinegar over and mix in with a fork. Slowly add ice water, a little at a time, until dough is moist enough to form into a ball, but not too sticky.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA