Spiced Apple Pie

November 25th, 2009

granny smith apples

I’ve been making pies all day – seriously, all day. How did that happen? Time flies way too fast the day before Thanksgiving. It’s amazing how three desserts can completely consume your life for eight hours. Is it just me that this happens to? Anyways, I wanted to share a few things that I’m thankful for before going out of town for Thanksgiving. I hope you will share some of the things you’re thankful for in the comments.

apple pie fillingThis year, I’m thankful for -

1. My family.
2. An incredibly caring and thoughtful boyfriend.
3. Fancy cheese and crusty bread.
4. My slippers.
5. Body butter (cold weather totally dries out my skin. Sorry, too much information).
6. San Francisco
7. My car so I can leave San Francisco when it’s driving me crazy.
8. Our dishwasher.
9. Good health.
10. Pie.

sprinkling sugar

This apple pie recipe is simple and delicious, it’s one that I have had success with many times throughout the years. It’s packed full of apples, lightly sweet and perfectly spiced. The all butter crust is the way to go in my opinion, but do whatever works for you. I wish you all a delicious Thanksgiving and I look forward to hearing what everyone’s favorite dish was after the weekend!

spiced apple pie

Spiced Apple Pie
Adapted from Bon Appetit

Serves 8

Crust

1/2 cup ice water
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon mace (optional)
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, cut into small (1/4 inch) cubes

Filling

  • 3 pounds tart green apples (such as Granny Smith), peeled, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed golden brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground mace
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
    3 tablespoon minced crystalized ginger

1 teaspoon milk
1 teaspoon sugar

For crust:
Combine flour, salt, sugar and ground mace (if using). Add cold butter and work into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter, leaving some of the butter in fairly large, irregular pieces. This will take one or two minutes. Pour in three quarters of the water, stirring all the while with a fork until the dough begins to form clumps. Add the rest of the water if needed. Divide the dough in two, bring each part together as a ball, flatten each ball slightly and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 3 days.

For filling:

Position rack in lowest third of oven and preheat to 400°F. In large bowl, toss apples with sugar, brown sugar, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon peel, mace, cloves allspice and crystalized ginger.

Roll out 1 dough disk on lightly floured surface to 12-inch-diameter round. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter deep dish glass pie plate. Trim dough overhang to 1/2 inch. Brush edge of crust lightly with water. Transfer apple mixture to crust, mounding in center. Roll out second dough disk to 12-inch-diameter round. Place atop apples. Trim dough overhang to 1 inch. Fold top crust edge under bottom crust edge, pressing to seal. Crimp edge decoratively. Cut several slits in crust to allow steam to escape. Brush crust with milk; sprinkle with remaining 1 teaspoon sugar.

Place pie on baking sheet. Bake until crust is golden brown and juices bubble, covering crust edges with aluminum foil if browning too quickly, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer pie to rack and cool.