Pats Rose Apple Pie Food

CLASSIC APPLE PIE

Steps:

• Peel and core the apples; slice 1/4 inch thick. Transfer to a bowl and toss with the granulated sugar and lemon juice. Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the apples and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 12 to 15 minutes. Add the flour, cinnamon and salt and stir until the juices thicken, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool completely. (The filling can be made up to 2 days ahead; cover and refrigerate.)
• Roll out 1 disk of dough into a 12-inch round on a lightly floured surface. Ease into a 9-inch pie plate. Add the cooled filling and dot with the remaining 2 tablespoons butter.
• Roll out the remaining disk of dough into a 12-inch round. Lay the dough over the filling and press the two crusts together around the edges. Fold the overhanging dough under itself and crimp with your fingers. Brush the top crust with the beaten egg and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Cut a few slits in the top crust to let steam escape. Chill 1 hour.
• Put a baking sheet on the bottom oven rack and preheat to 425 degrees F for at least 30 minutes. Put the pie directly on the hot baking sheet and reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees F; bake until the pie is golden and the filling is bubbly, 1 hour to 1 hour, 10 minutes, rotating the pie as needed. (Cover the edges with foil if they are browning too quickly.) Transfer to a rack and let cool until the filling is set, about 3 hours.
• Pulse the flour, shortening, sugar, vinegar and salt in a food processor until it looks like fine meal. Add the butter and pulse until it is in pea-size pieces. Sprinkle in 1/4 cup ice water and pulse until the dough begins to come together. Pinch the dough with your fingers; if it doesn't hold together, add up to 4 more tablespoons ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse again.
• Divide the dough between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and pat each into a disk. Wrap tightly and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or preferably overnight, or freeze up to 2 months.

PAT'S APPALACHIAN APPLE PIE (FROM SCRATCH)

Steps:

• Use about 1 teaspoon of the Crisco to grease a 9 or 10-inch pyrex (glass) pie pan.
• Preheat the oven to 400°F.
• On a flat working surface, dust the area with 1/4 cup of the flour.
• In a large mixing bowl, pour in 3 cups of the flour (this leaves you with 1/4 cup of flour). Add the salt and mix it in with the flour. Add the remaining Crisco and the butter and work it with your hands until you get peas-sized "grainy" flour. Add 1/2 cup of water to the flour and blend it (with your hands or a fork) until it forms a good pie dough. Add any additional water a Tablespoon at a time if it is needed.
• NOTE: If the dough gets sticky, you've added too much water, just add a little more flour until the consistency is right.
• Next, cut the dough in half and make a fat pancake out of each with your hands. Place one hunk of dough back into the mixing bowl and place a slightly dampened towel down over it. Lay the second one on the floured working surface.
• Use a rolling pin to carefully roll out the dough, making it as much of a circle shape as possible. (Never roll back and forth -- I start from the center and carefully roll out to the edges mostly) Roll it out, dusting the top with a little of the remaining flour as needed to avoid it sticking to the rolling pin. (You can also wipe down and dust your rolling pin occasionally). When the dough is about 1/16" thick, it's done. Dust the top with a little flour and then carefully pull one side back and lay the dough on itself to form a half-moon. Dust the half that's now exposed, flip it over and lightly dust the second half.
• Lay the dough into the greased pie pan, still folded in half, and once it's in the pan, carefully unfold it to cover the entire plate. Carefully ease the dough into the pan without ever stretching it. Use a sharp paring knife or scissors to trim the dough around the pan, allowing about 3/4" to hang over the edge. After trimming, simply use the excess hanging dough by pulling it back up with your fingers and folding it along the top edge. This need not be neat, just roughly form an edge.
• Place the crust in the preheated oven and allow it to bake until the slightest bit of brown begins to show on the crust edge in one or two spots, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and set the crust off to the side for awhile.
• Peel the apples, quarter them, and drop them into a bowl of water. Cut the lemon in two and squeeze all the juice into the water before dropping the peeled apples in (this keeps them from browning).
• Having a second bowl ready at hand for apple slices, cut the core portions from each apple quarter and slice up the remaining apple piece, I usually get about 4-5 slices from each quarter.
• When all the apple slices are in the second bowl, pour on the sugar, (reserving 1 teaspoon of it) cinnamon and allspice. You can add a couple dashes of salt if you wish.
• Mix with a spoon and allow it to sit for at least 10 minutes.
• Next, fill the baked pie crust with the apple slices, adding as much syrup from the bottom of the bowl as you like. Mound the apples up in the center of the pie to about 3/4- 1" above the pie pan edge.
• Make your pie crust top the same as you made the bottom and lay it carefully over the filling. Trim it, leaving about 3/4" extra "hangover". Pull the extra crust up and, as you did before, just roughly (carefully!) form it on to the existing edge. Don't worry about making it pretty. If it sticks out here and there, that's all the better.
• Next, add 1/2 teaspoon of water to your egg white and whisk with a fork in a bowl. Use a small brush or your fingers to rub the egg white on to the pie crust top, getting the edges as well. Once you have done this, sprinkle your remaining teaspoon of sugar over the top.
• Use a sharp knife to cut some air holes into the pie crust top. I cut an "A" into my apple pies, which works well to allow steam to escape.
• Bake the pie (same temperature, 400°.) for about 30 minutes. When it is golden brown on top, it's done.
• Allow the pie to rest for 30 minutes before slicing and serve with vanilla ice cream on the side.
• TIP: Some people like the gooey apple pie filling similar to the canned pie filling. If that's the way you like it, just allow your apples to sit for 1/2 an hour with the sugar and spices on them and a syrup will form. Pour this syrup into a saucepan and heat over medium heat. Dissolve 2 tablespoons of cornstarch into 1/3 cup of water and pour it into the apple syrup and bring to a boil, Whisk until it thickens and remove from heat. You can pour this back over your apples and then fill your pie with it. Personally, I don't care for it but life's not the same for everybody!).

ROSE APPLE TART

Steps:

• Make the crust: Combine the flour, confectioners' sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pulse a few times to combine. Scatter the butter pieces on top, and pulse until the butter is the size of small peas. Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract, and pulse until incorporated. Pulse in the water, about 2 teaspoons at a time, until the dough starts to hold together. It will appear to be a bit crumbly, but should hold together easily when pressed.
• Lightly butter a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom, and pour the dough mixture into it. Press the mixture evenly on the bottom and up the sides of the pan. (Use a lightly floured straight-sided measuring cup to help press the dough into the corners of the pan.) Reserve extra dough to repair any cracks after the shell is baked.
• Freeze the formed dough in the pan until completely firm, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat oven to 375 degrees.
• Line the tart shell with a piece of aluminum foil, making sure to tuck it into the corners and over the edges. Bake the shell for 20 to 25 minutes or until the dough appears dry and lightly golden. If the dough puffs up while baking, gently press it back into the pan with an offset spatula or similar tool. If necessary, repair any cracks with the remaining raw dough. Cool slightly while you prepare the apples.
• Cut the apples from their cores in 3 pieces: Stand the apples up, with the stems facing up, and, using a sharp knife, cut 1 face of the apple, then rotate the apple about 120 degrees, slice again, and finally slice the last piece from the core. You should have a triangle-shaped piece of core left and 3 pieces of apple with flat bottoms.
• Reserve a smaller piece of apple, and carefully slice all the other apples into very thin half-moons, about 1/8-inch thick. (A mandoline makes this move quickly, but, if you are using a knife and working slowly, it's a good idea to squeeze a little bit of lemon juice over the sliced apples to prevent browning.) Make sure to keep the slices together as you cut to make the assembly easier.
• Once the apples are sliced, build the tart: Sprinkle 1 tablespoon flour and 1 tablespoon sugar on the bottom of the blind-baked tart shell. Starting at the outer edge, arrange the apples in tight concentric circles, overlapping each slice about halfway over its neighbor. Take care to stand the apples up vertically, with the cut edges down and the peel edge pointing up. Pack the rows very tightly, stopping periodically to check your work.
• As you move toward the center, the apples will become trickier to bend into place. If you find the slices are breaking, slice the reserved piece of apple even thinner to make it easier to bend. Roll the last few slices into a circle and tuck it in the center.
• Sprinkle the remaining 3 tablespoons sugar and a pinch of salt over the apple slices. Take care to sprinkle the sugar between the apple slices, rather than on top. Scatter the butter pieces on top, and bake the tart for 40 to 45 minutes or until the apples begin to brown just slightly on the edges and the crust is a deep golden brown. Check the tart periodically to make sure the shell is not over-browning at the edges. If it is, cover the edges with foil.
• Cool the tart on a rack for about 10 minutes, then prepare the glaze: In a small saucepan, warm the jam and a few drops of water over medium-low heat until it is runny. Use a pastry brush to very gently brush the warm tart with jam. Avoid brushing jam on the crust, but a thin layer all over the apple slices. Serve warm or room temperature.