Apples are oddly personal. There are so many different varieties and flavors, but usually one or two types will trigger nostalgia. As a kid growing up in New England in the 1970s, the apple of choice in our family was the tart Macintosh. When we moved to Spain, I’d walk the market with my mom and eat huge tart green Granny Smiths that were stacked to perfection in the vendors stalls.
Lately, I’ve been in love with the sweeter Honey Crisp variety that I first found at the Green City Market in Chicago, and now buy by the pound at the grocery. My kids wait patiently for them to arrive every year. This year they came home and ate an entire basket full, plus an apple pie.
This particularly popular apple pie recipe is stacked with thinly sliced Honey Crisps. Leaving the skin on keeps the apples intact through the baking process. Laced with cinnamon in a sweet pastry crust, this pie is perfect with lightly whipped cream with vanilla and a cup of coffee. It with stood the time trial in our house, and vanished off the counter in 8 hours. I hope you enjoy it!
- 8 Honey Crisp Apples, washed and sliced into very thin slices
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoon butter, unsalted
- ½ teaspoon salt, Kosher
- 2½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoons salt, Kosher
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup ice water, measured after it is chilled without the ice
- extra flour, for rolling the dough
- 1 Tablespoon sugar, confectioner
- Place apple slices, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.
- Toss well and set aside
- Place flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl, mix well.
- Cut the cold butter up into ¼ inch cubes.
- Using your fingers or a pastry cutter, cut or press between your fingers until the flour is incorporated into the butter in pea size pieces.
- Add ice water, if you make this dough in the summer it will require less water (about ⅛ cup less) due to the humidity. When you add the ice water gently mix it into the butter/flour mixture with your hands until a dough is formed. Pie dough will not form a fluffy dough like cookie dough. You will need to press it into a ball. Do not overwork the pastry or you will have tough pastry.
- Using a scale or your eyes divide the pastry into 2 equal pieces.
- Wrap each piece in plastic wrap, flattening the dough into a disk.
- Allow dough to rest for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. You will only need one of the pieces of pastry for this pie. Save the other in your freezer for another day.
- Butter and flour a 8"pie tin.
- Remove the disk of pastry from the refrigerator. Unwrap and sprinkle generously with flour.
- On a clean dry surface sprinkle flour generously.
- Using a circular motion with the rolling pin, roll the pastry into a circle, adding more flour when necessary.
- With a long palette knife or spatula, loosen the pastry from the rolling surface.
- Fold the dough in half and place in the pie tin, unfolding it so it drapes over the edges of the pie tin in an even manner.
- Pile the apples high in the center of the pie tin. Dot the apples with the unsalted butter.
- Gently fold the edges of the dough up onto the apples. It will not be even; the pie is supposed to have an uneven rustic look to it.
- Place the pie in the preheated oven, preferably on top of a hot baking stone. This will help crisp the bottom layer of the crust.
- Bake for 50 minutes until the top crust is golden brown and the pie filling is bubbling. If the apples start to brown too much, cover the top of the pie lightly with a piece of foil.
- Remove from the oven and cool. Dust with confectioners sugar before serving.
