American As Apple Pie

Many of my regular readers know my husband, Stephan, grew up in Europe, and is a Ferrrner (aka foreigner.) Well… not any more. This Saturday, at the ungodly hour of 7 am, my husband became an American Citizen.  The swearing in ceremony was a bit like a bad televangelist sermon. I got a very good chuckle when they started the program with Hero by Mariah Carey and ended with Proud To Be An American whilst waving American flags.  I could just imagine my husband rolling his eyes… :P  Poignant moment, but loaded with cheese.

When Stephan came here, he was a young 20 year old with a few thousand dollars in his pocket and a drive to succeed.  Now he’s the Principal of his own company, Maloman Photographers. I’m so proud of him and dedicate this post to him.  I know he will never be as American as Apple Pie because he takes immense pride in his European heritage, but now he’s officially home.  Of course, if the upcoming election doesn’t turn out like he hopes, we may move to Canada… just kidding, well, maybe not.

This apple pie is very easy and pretty foolproof. I like to saute the apples just a little before baking because it helps to avoid crunchy apples and soggy bottom. Goodness gracious, no one likes a soggy bottom. :P  If you use a more mealy apple, you should definitely skip this step.  Also, I prefer to use a Pate Brisee, which is made like regular pie dough, but uses butter instead of shortening… you just can’t beat the flavor of butter.


Apple Pie Recipe

11 oz all purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
pinch salt
5 oz butter, cold, cut into cubes
6-8 tbsp ice water

6 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
3 oz sugar
1 lemon, juiced
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
pinch salt
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour

1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp turbinado sugar

1. Make the dough: Combine the flour, sugar, and butter in a food processor. Pulse 4-5 times, until the butter resembles crumbs. Add 6 tbsp water to the bowl and pulse several more times. Press the mixture together and see if it will form a ball. If it is too dry, add another tablespoon of water and test again. When the dough comes together into a ball, scrape it onto a lightly floured surface and shape into two equal sized disks. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour, but up to 2 days.

2. Combine the apples, sugar, lemon juice, spices and salt in a large bowl. Stir around until all of the apples are coated.  Let sit for 15 minutes.

3. Heat 2 tbsp of the butter in a saute pan large enough to hold the apples.  Add the apples and any liquid to the pan and saute, turning constantly  with a spatula for about 3 minutes.  Spoon apples (leaving the liquid in the pan) back into the large bowl and let cool.  Simmer the liquid for another minute or two until thick. Add this to the bowl of apples. Taste and add more sugar or cinnamon if needed.  When cold, add the flour and stir well.

4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Roll out one disk of dough and cover the pie plate, leaving 1/2 inch overhang. Add the cold apples to the pie plate, mounded in the center.  Dot with the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter.  Brush the edges with water and then roll out and top with the other half of the dough.  Crimp the edges together and either press with a fork, or shape into a decorative edge with your fingertips. Cut a few vent holes with a small sharp knife.

5. Brush the top of the pie with beaten egg and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.  Bake the pie on a foil covered sheet pan for about  35-45 minutes. If the crust starts to get brown too quickly, cover with foil.  You can usually tell when the pie is done because it will smell heavenly and won’t be bubbling as much.

Makes One 9 inch pie, about 10 servings.

Critiques & Opinions

26 Critiques to “American As Apple Pie”

  1. Alicia on October 22nd, 2008 7:39 pm

    He’ll always be your APFEL STRUDEL ;) Congratulations! And that pie looks DELICIOUS!

    hahaha my anti-spam word is “sushi” How funny

  2. VeggieGirl on October 22nd, 2008 7:47 pm

    OOOOOOH, scrumptiousness at its finest :-)

  3. Aran on October 22nd, 2008 8:38 pm

    congratulations to him!!! nothing more american than apple pie for sure!

  4. ashley on October 22nd, 2008 8:59 pm

    we keep joking that if the election doesn’t go as we plan we’ll move to europe and spend the next four years doing our tour of europe. :-) congrats to him.

    and as usual - you’ve baked up another delicious treat!

  5. Shawnda on October 22nd, 2008 9:41 pm

    Congratulations to your husband!

  6. Dana McCauley on October 22nd, 2008 9:42 pm

    Congrats to your hubby!

  7. Rachel on October 22nd, 2008 11:10 pm

    You don’t want to move to Canada…our government just spent $300 million on an impromptu election (Stephen Harper actually broke his own law by calling it) that resulted in the same government that we had before. So frustrating!

  8. peabody on October 23rd, 2008 12:21 am

    That is a perfect looking apple pie!

  9. Irene on October 23rd, 2008 1:09 am

    Congratulations, and yum! I remember becoming an American citizen. It’s true, it’s so cheesy, but it’s wonderful at the same time.

  10. Rosa on October 23rd, 2008 8:30 am

    Oh, yummy! Congrats to your husband!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

  11. sara angel on October 23rd, 2008 8:42 am

    that’s such a cute idea for your husband! and congrats to him!

  12. food librarian on October 23rd, 2008 9:34 am

    Congrats to your husband!! There are still playing Proud to be an American? Was it accompanied by the video with lots and lots of bald eagles? I went to my mom’s ceremony over 20 years ago and they played it! But it is something I’ll always remember! Congrats to our new American (now go register to vote! :)

  13. Tusk on October 23rd, 2008 9:58 am

    Lengthen step 2 about another 45-60 minutes and you won’t have the dome at the top. It makes the apples collapse before they cook.

    Or do what I do after it cools and fill the empty dome with either marshmallow creme or instant cheesecake mix. I know it isn’t exactly home made, but it pipes in there really nice.

    Congrats to the hubby too.

  14. Lindsay Beyerstein on October 23rd, 2008 10:21 am

    Congratulations, Stephan! Welcome to Team America. F@$$ yeah!

  15. Candace on October 23rd, 2008 11:13 am

    Thanks!

    @food librarian… yes there was quite the video montage.

    @Tusk… Thanks for the tip of macerating the apples, but I would definitely pass on the marshmallow fluff or cheesecake filling.

  16. Olga on October 23rd, 2008 11:56 am

    lol: I became a citizen about 12 years ago (or or maybe 10?) and I totally agree: the ceremony was the cheesiest thing ever. Too bad I did not think about making the apple pie to mark the occasion :)

  17. Jescel on October 23rd, 2008 12:43 pm

    i became a citizen myself a few months ago. you’re right, the ceremony was full of cheesiness, but there were definitely significant moments there that I say would surely make an American proud… Congratulations to Stephan… and of course, yummy apfel pie…

  18. Kristel on October 23rd, 2008 1:25 pm

    Mmm…I love apple pie….with some vanilla ice cream, yum!

    Congrats to Stephan!

  19. miaexile on October 23rd, 2008 1:33 pm

    great blog! congrats to the latest member of the crazy American community!
    now one question - how much in cups is 11oz of flour? seriously, I can’t make anything without following a recipe and am stumbling when thinking about measuring out 11oz of flour..is that like 2 1/2 cups?

  20. Patricia Scarpin on October 23rd, 2008 1:40 pm

    You are so sweet, what a lovely and loving post!
    The pie looks delish, too (I’m a sucker for baked goods with apples).

  21. Maria on October 23rd, 2008 3:08 pm

    Congrats to your husband! The pie is a great way to celebrate, it looks wonderful!

  22. Mrs Ergül on October 23rd, 2008 10:36 pm

    congrats to Stephan! This pie looks way great, thanks for the tips!

  23. Dawn on October 24th, 2008 8:39 am

    Congrats to Stephan!

  24. Suzana on October 24th, 2008 10:26 am

    Beautiful apple pie! If there’s something I envy America for (amongst other things!), is apple pie.

  25. Pam Arendall-Arnais on October 24th, 2008 2:07 pm

    That is a really good looking pie!!! It’s beautiful! I just learned how to make pastry dough last weekend so I will have to break in the William-Sonoma pie dish we got for the wedding last year.

  26. Jude on October 28th, 2008 12:44 am

    Looks so cute.. I’m with you on all-butter pipe doughs.

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