Foodie Fridays: Best Pie Ever – Youtube Video and Recipes

Check out my youtube video HERE of me eating pie and talking about it! Don’t forget to subscribe for more videos about food, challenges, and books!


7cd02aa7-73b9-49f7-8c8d-34120fc14e58

Pie Crust from Martha Stewart – Recipe HERE

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 2 sticks chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

DIRECTIONS

  1. To make the dough for the pie crust, mix 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour and 1 teaspoon each salt and sugar in a medium-size bowl. Cut 2 sticks chilled unsalted butter into pieces. With a pastry blender, cut in butter, working until mixture resembles coarse meal.
  2. Add 4 tablespoons ice water; work with hands until dough comes together. If dough is still crumbly, add more ice water a tablespoon at a time (up to 4 more tablespoons). Do not overwork.
  3. Divide dough in half, and flatten halves into disks. Wrap disks separately in plastic; refrigerate at least 1 hour.
  4. To form the pie shell, roll the dough on a floured surface into a 14-inch round. Wrap around rolling pin and carefully unroll over a 9-inch pie plate.
  5. Fit gently into bottom and side of plate. Use kitchen shears to trim dough to a 1-inch overhang; fold under, and seal to form a rim.
  6. Crimp rim with fingertips and knuckle. Repeat with remaining dough; wrap each with plastic, stack, and freeze.

Pie filling from Grandma Ople – Recipe HERE

Ingredients

  • 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter (can use less)
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup water (can substitute apple juice to compensate for less sugar)
  • 1/2 cup white sugar (can use less)
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar (can use less)
  • 5-8 apples – peeled, cored and sliced

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
  2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
  3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

Note – I used half the amount of sugar, half the amount of butter and substituted apple juice for the water when I made my second pie for a *healthier* version

Foodie Fridays: Apple Picking and Juicing and Bonus – Plums!

At our 4th annual Barnard Cider making extravaganza we made cider from all local apples/pears/plums. Check out the wrapup post from last year HERE.

Here are the trees we picked from:

20160828_ApplePicking&Juicing (3) 20160828_ApplePicking&Juicing (4)

Our haul of around 125 pounds of apples

20160903_193243 20160903_175648

I used my juicer on half the plums (about 175 of them to make 14 cups of juice) and the pears (3 medium sized mason jars). I also juiced some other local apples we’d picked the week prior.

20160828_ApplePicking&Juicing (5) 20160828_ApplePicking&Juicing (1)

Here is our process:

Step 1: Wash the apples and get rid of (compost) the mealy gross ones

Step 2 (Pictured Below): Cut up the apples into pieces

20160904_160728

Step 3: Vitamix the apple pieces into a puree

20160904_160724

Step 4: Place apple puree into cheesecloth and squeeze out the juice or use an apple press

20160904_160741

Step 5: funnel juice into bottles gathered over the year

20160904_195227

Apple/Pear/Grape Cider?

cider2015 (3)  cider2015 (2)

At our 3rd annual Barnard Cider making extravaganza we made cider from all local apples/pears/grapes.

Anyone in the area know a great fruit tree we can pick from for next year? We’re always looking to source good trees.

 

 

cider2015 (1)

Here is the finished product. It took us two juicers, one vitamix, and one apple press to get the job done. How do you make apple cider?

Foodie Fridays: Another From my Faves – Alpine Aire Foods: Apples

51Hsi-j5i+L._SY355_

 

I am an apples fan! These bad boys are great! My dad had a can from way back when, but they’ve since redesigned their insides and outsides. The original batches of the stuff were better, but this new can is almost as good. The apples are in pieces and great for sprinkling over yogurt or eating plain. They are sweet. I like that they are diced because more of them fit in the can. The price runs just under $30 and this #10 can is worth the spend!