A Rustic Country Apple Pie

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The typical apple pie made with apples, spices, sugar, fat and pastry dates back to the middle ages. Indeed, the combination of these ingredients were known to Medieval cooks as well as the art of pastry.

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This is a version of apple pie that comes together in minutes, rather than hours. It is meant to be a very rustic dessert, as such, I leave the peels on the apples and simply cut out the core with my chef’s knife, then dice the apples to approximately, 1/4 x 1/2 inch dice.

For the crust I roll out the pastry to about 2 inches wider than the individual pie pans. Then you just fill the pie and fold the crust over the top. If you are a fan of pie crust you’re going to love this recipe, the method creates a lot of excess pie crust over the top of the pie. Yum!

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Country Apple Pie Filling

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Remove the apple core.

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Dice the apples.

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Ingredients for country apple pie: cinnamon, allspice, ground ginger, lemon juice, grated ginger, vanilla, and butter.

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Toss the ingredients with the apples, add the sugars, butter, and flour.

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Country Apple Pie Pastry

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Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse for 20 seconds to thoroughly mix the salt and sugar into the flour. Add the butter and pulse in 4 to 5 second bursts until the butter is in pea size chunks. 

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Transfer the flour mixture to a clean bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour and add the water and stir to combine. Let rest for just a minute and transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Work the dough into a disc by pressing and turning the dough until it just comes together.

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Divide the dough into 4 to 6 pieces. Roll out each piece of dough until it is about 2 inches larger than the diameter of the pie pan.

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Line the pie pans with the dough leaving the excess pastry raging over the edges. 

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Putting It All Together

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Fill the dough with the apple filling, mounding it above the rim by about 2 inches.

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Fold the excess dough over the top of the filling meeting in the middle.

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Make certain to leave a hole in the crust at the center to allow steam to escape during baking.

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Melt the remaining butter and brush the top of the pies with it. Sprinkle a little sugar over the tops. Optionally you can also sprinkle a little cinnamon over the tops along with the sugar. Place the pie pans on a parchment lined sheet pan and bake in a 375 degree oven until done, about 35 minutes.

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An individual rustic country apple pie.

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A Country Apple Pie That Comes Together In Minutes

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• Yield: 4 individual pies
• Prep Time: 45 minutes
• Cook Time: 35 minutes
• Oven: 375º F / 190º C

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Equipment

• Individual pie plates
• Rolling pin
• Food Processor

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Ingredients

For The Filling

• 8 large apples, diced 1/4 x 1/2 inch - see notes 1 & 2
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 1-1/2 teaspoons / 7-1/2 milliliters vanilla
• 1/4 cup / 50 milliliters bourbon
• 1/3 ounce / 10 grams ginger, grated - about 1-1/2 teaspoons - see note 3
• 1 teaspoon / 3 grams cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon / 2 grams allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon / 1 gram ground ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon / 3 grams kosher salt
• 1/4 cup / 50 grams brown sugar
• 1 cup / 220 grams sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons / 56 grams all purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons / 56 grams butter, room temperature

For The Pastry

• 400 grams all purpose flour
• 12 grams sugar
• 8 grams kosher salt
• 265 grams unsalted butter, cut into small dice
• 130 grams ice water

For The Pies

• 1 to 2 tablespoons butter
• a few pinches sugar

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Method

For The Filling

1. In a large mixing bowl combine the apples, lemon juice, vanilla, bourbon and grated ginger and toss to coat the apples.
2. Add the cinnamon, allspice, ground ginger, salt, sugar, and brown sugar and toss to evenly coat and mix.
3. Combine the flour and butter and work the butter into pea size chunks using your fingers to mix. Add the butter and four mixture to the apple mixture and toss to coat.
4. Set aside in the refrigerator until ready to use.

For The Pastry

1. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse for 20 seconds to thoroughly mix the salt and sugar into the flour. Add the butter and pulse in 4 to 5 second bursts until the butter is in pea size chunks. 
2. Transfer the flour mixture to a clean bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour and add the water and stir to combine.
3. Let rest for just a minute and transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Work the dough into a disc by pressing and turning the dough until it comes together.
4. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

For The Pies

1. Preheat oven to 375º F / 190º C.
2. Divide the dough into 4 to 6 pieces.
3. Roll out each piece of dough until it is about 2 inches larger than the diameter of the pie pan.
4. Line the pie pans with the dough leaving the excess pastry raging over the edges. Fill the dough with the apple filling, mounding it above the rim by about 2 inches.
5. Fold the excess dough over the top of the filling meeting in the middle. Make certain to leave a hole in the crust at the center to allow steam to escape during baking.
6. Melt the remaining butter and brush the top of the pies with it. Sprinkle a little sugar over the tops.
7. Place the pie pans on a parchment lined sheet pan and bake in a 375 degree oven until done, about 35 minutes.

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Notes

1. When you are making apple pie, in an ideal world, you want a combination of apples. Usually I use granny smiths for their tartness, braeburns for their juiciness, and either pink lady or golden delicious for their sweetness. However, apples are one of the produce items on the dirty dozen list and because of that I only use organic apples. My point is this time I used organic gala apples because that was all that was available to me.
2. The "dirty dozen" is a list of produce that is extremely contaminated with pesticides, so if you don’t buy organic, at least try and buy these items organic.
3. When you grate fresh ginger you need to use a microplane. The fine grating allows the flavor to distribute evenly and prevents inconsistent or large pieces of ginger in your product, thus eliminating ginger hotspots.

Tags: country apple pie, apple pie filling recipe, how to cook apple pie, apple pie pastry, easy apple pie

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