Delicious classic apple pie inside our easy flaky pie crust. A perfect fall combination!
This past weekend I had the amazing life changing opportunity to go down and train with Todd Porter and Diane Cu from White On Rice Couple. It was such a wonderful experience and I learned so much it’s hard to even quantify it all at this point. Here’s a few snapshots I took during the weekend.
I took the first flight out since I was catching a connection into San Francisco and I cannot for the life of me make it out of that airport without delays if I fly in later in the day. The sunrise was so beautiful.
I landed and rented my first car all by myself (I’m finally old enough that they will rent one to me!), and made my way to the friends I was staying with. We went out for some delicious sushi that night at Buddha’s Favorite….right on the water. Then we walked up the pier and checked out the entire city practically out there fishing on the pier.
The next morning bright and early we got started with the class with amazing cappuccino’s that Todd was cranking out, and a full breakfast (they fed us like royalty all weekend). And after a few chats we got to work on demos and setting up our own shots.
Diane getting right behind Todd to see the angle he is shooting from so she can style the shot better.
Just one room out of 3 amazing prop rooms…..I died and went to prop heaven here.
After class I made a quick stop at the grocery store because Mike had mentioned that he loved pie and I wanted to whip up something special for them for being such gracious hosts.
I don’t very often cook a recipe exactly as its written because I love experimenting, but at this point in the evening I was tired and needed a recipe that was tried and true. While I was at the grocery store I did a quick search on my phone on which apple varieties were best to use in pies and came upon this AMAZING series from Serious Eats and his recipe for apple pie.
The grocery store I was at only had Golden Delicious out of his recommendations so I went with that and paired it with my favorite flaky pie crust. I couldn’t resist doing a little tweaking though so I bumped up the cinnamon a tad and added a splash of my hosts homemade vanilla extract.
It turned out really really good! And Mike ate it for breakfast, lunch and the whole family had it for dessert after dinner so I’m pretty sure my job was accomplished. Beautiful pie, great friends, and an amazing weekend learning made this trip a definite success.
I learned so much this weekend and highly recommend their workshops if you ever get a chance to go to one!
Classic Apple Pie Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 to 4 1/2 pounds Golden Delicious Braeburn, or other baking apples, peeled cored, and sliced into 1/4-inch slices
- 3 quarts boiling water or enough to completely cover apple slices
- 10 tablespoons granulated sugar plus 1 tablespoon for sprinkling over crust
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 batches Easy Flaky Pie Crust
- 1 egg lightly beaten
Instructions
- 1. Make the pie crust and get them chilling in the refrigerator.
2. Preheat oven to 425 regular or 400 convection.
3. Start boiling water on the stovetop.
4. Peel and cut apples, pouring them into a large bowl or pyrex dish.
5. Pour boiling water over apples and allow to sit for 10 minutes.
6. While apples are soaking roll out pie crusts and line pie pan. Cut second crust into 10 equal strips for lattice top (you will have some short pieces on end usually)
7. Strain apples and add sugar, cinnamon, salt, vanilla, and cornstarch to the bowl and stir until thoroughly coated.
8. Pour into the pie crust and follow instructions for weaving lattice crust.
9. Quarter the 2 pats of butter and shove the pieces in between the lattice top so it will melt down into the pie as it cooks.
10. Brush crust with whisked egg and sprinkle sugar on top.
11. Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden brown then reduces heat 25 degrees. Continue baking until deep golden brown (about 25-30 minutes). Allow cooling before serving
I have never seen this technique of pouring boiling water on the apples. What is the purpose of this? Your pie looks delicious.
Hey Patty! According to Serious Eats heating them in the hot water “activates an enzyme naturally present in the apples that converts the pectin in the cell walls into a heat-stable form, very much like curing the cement mortar in between the bricks and allowing them to fully harden.” You can read more about this process here: http://sweets.seriouseats.com/2011/10/the-food-labs-apple-pie-part-2-how-to-make-perfect-apple-pie-filling.html
Hope that helps!
Dani
Hi Dani,
Your delicious recipe has been nominated as one of the “Top 100 Best Apple Recipes of 2014 for National Apple Month”. You and your readers can vote for it here: http://thefoodexplorer.com/fruit-2/100-delicious-apple-recipes-for-national-apple-month/ (position #57 – random order).
Happy National Apple Month! 🙂
I actually like golden delicious apples for almost anything I cook. Muffins, pies, breads. Perfect to me.