As American as Apple Pie

It's day 10 of the Federal Government shut down and although I was doing well, I dropped the ball again. BOOOO on me, but in fairness congress is doing far worse then I am and keeping thing running so I don't feel so bad. Anyway, since I've been feeling less then patriotic these past 10 days and I am sure you folks (at least my USA readers which I am assuming most of you are) are looking for a little bit of a reminder as to why AMERICA is awesome. I did the only logical thing when  The Box gave me apples. I made apple pie. Actually Apple Hand Pies.

This recipe has been floating around the web since Deb at Smitten Kitchen first gave them to the world October of 2011. They had gotten a little more action in the blogosphere and since it looked both complicated and delicious I figured I would give it a try. Deb says her recipe makes 24-30 pies. She is a lair and a thief, ok maybe not, I got 8 out of this recipe but also I decided to make pie on a hot humid 80 degree day which any novice pie maker will tell you was a stupid idea. So do yourself a favor and if you attempt this recipe, do it on a crisp, dry 50 degree day where you won't sweat through your T shirt and feel like you have to race against time while watching the butter in your pie crust turn into a droopy mess.

First step is to make the pie crust. I have to admit, I don't have a recipe for pie crust because my good friend Becky is the pie baker in the friend group and I have never had a desire to try and usurp her prowess. So I used Deb's recipe which calls for 2.5 cups of flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar, a teaspoon of salt,  2 sticks of butter and a half a cup of ice water.

Here's the deal, making yummy pie crust is dependent on how cold your ingredients are. The Flaky deliciousness that is a pie crust is dependent upon layers of cold  unincorporated fat. So start with butter straight from the freezer cut into cubes and incorporate it into the dry ingredients as quickly and efficiently as possible. One of the best ways to do this is in a food processor. But I feel the result is too uniform, and I like a little variety in the falkyness of my crust so I use a pastry cutter that you can buy at any home-good store for like 5 bucks. Mine has been with me for at-least 5 years and used to double as a terrible potato masher. If you don't have either of these items in your kitchen then THEORETICALLY you can do this with two knives. but WHY.... it's so not worth it.

After the cutting the butter in I added the cold water and separated the dough into two balls for a rest in the fridge for an hour or so. This step is not where the heat became a problem for me. It became a problem for me when I tried to roll out the dough. the room was hot and humid, I was sweaty, and despite working as quickly as I could I could see my butter melting in the pie dough. It was quite a work out. I cut out 8 rounds from the first ball of dough and placed them quickly onto a waiting cookie sheet to be thrown quickly into the fridge while I rolled out the second round of dough and got another 8 rounds. Theoretically, if your apartment isn't a boiling inferno, you can gently reincorporate the dough scraps and re-roll the pie dough. But by then the butter on the scraps had melted, turning my pie dough into an elastic monochromatic mass. and frankly, I already had to turn on the oven, I was SO not going to continue the whole dough rolling out work out. Ick.

Once I had my circles cooling in the fridge I got to work breaking down the apples. This is the perfect time for me to show you that I'm not afraid of the mandolin anymore. LOOK new!!!!

I cut the apples in thin slices and set up my assembly area to assure I could move quickly. The process is easy and mechanical. Wet the "bottom" dough rounds, dip the apple in the cinnamon sugar, pile onto the dough round, top with another dough round and crimp with the fingers and a fork, cut vent holes, and paint with an egg-wash. If I wasn't racing against the heat this may have been a fun process.

Bake for the final result.

THE VERDICT:
Grandpa declared these the best apple pie he had ever had, and he's almost 90 so that is saying something. The Husband bemoaned the fact that I only made 8 and I, I thoroughly enjoyed this recipe, I thought it was going to come out far uglier then it did, although still tasting delicious. I thought the pies were gonna split and bubble over in the oven and burn. I thought there was no way I could replicate this "pintrest perfect DIY" but lo and behold. I did. Look at that. how cool is that.

The Recipe
Recipe Credit goes to Deb over at Smitten Kitchen and can be found HERE.
Crust

• 2 1/2 cups (313 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting surfaces, dipping fork
• 2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar (doubled from my standard pie dough to make this more cookie-like)
• 1 teaspoon (4 grams) table salt
• 2 sticks (225 grams, 8 ounces, 16 tablespoons or 1 cup) unsalted butter, very cold
• 1/2 cup (118 ml) water, very cold (I pour 1 cup and add ice while I work, then measure 1/2 cup from it when I need it)

Filling

• 3 medium apples, whatever you like to bake with
• Squeeze of lemon juice (optional)
• 1/3 cup (67 grams) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon (2 grams) ground cinnamon
• Few gratings fresh nutmeg
• A pinch of any other spices you like in your apple pie

To finish

• 1 large egg
• Coarse or granulated sugar for garnish

1.  Whisk together flour, sugar and salt in the bottom of a large, wide-ish bowl. 
2. Using a pastry blender, two forks or your fingertips, work the butter into the flour until the biggest pieces of butter are the size of small peas. 
3.  Gently stir in the ice water with a rubber spatula, mixing it until a craggy mass forms. Get your hands in the bowl and knead it just two or three times to form a ball. Divide dough in half. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and flatten a bit, like a disc. Chill in fridge for at least an hour or up to two days. 
4. On a well-floured counter, roll out the pie dough to an 1/8 of an inch rotating as you go to ensure the dough isn't sticking. Using a 2 1/2 inch - 3 inch circular cutting implement of some kind you can from the dough. Peel and slice your apples into 1/8 inch slices and place in a small bowl with a few drops of lemon juice if they are browning.
5. Line up five small dishes. In the first one, pour some water. Second one, mix the sugar and spices In the third, place a little bit of flour to dust your surface and dip your fork for crimping. In the fourth, whisk an egg with one teaspoon of water until smooth. In the last one, add some coarse or regular sugar for decorating the tops of the pies. 
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
7. Grab your first disc of chilled dough and lightly dampen it on one side with the water. This is to help it seal. Layer on some apple slices cutting them to fit and tossing them in the spice/sugar mixture,  you need about 1/4 of an inch round the edge of the pie round for crimping.  and toss it in the cinnamon spice sugar. Place a second disc of dough on top and pinch to seal.  Cut decorative slits in your “pies,” I used scissors for this part. Dip your fork in the flour and use it to create a decorative crimp on the sealed edges. Brush your cookie with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Replace on baking sheet and chill while you prepare the others. 
8. Bake your apple pie cookies for 20 minutes or so, or until puffed and bronzed and very pie-like. 
9. Allow to cool... or don't who cares.