Holiday Apple Pie Recipe

I emailed my sister the other day to see what I could bring to her house for Thanksgiving, and she told me that, by some magical calculation on her part, I’m entitled to “get the day off.” Apparently, she’s roped Santa Maria into making an apple pie.

Santa Maria’s apple pies are somewhat legendary among my extended family (not, perhaps, as legendary as her chocolate sauce, a rich confection of chocolate, butter, and assorted spices as secret as they are delicious), but still mighty popular.

She plans on making a pie on Wednesday, but in case you are looking for something to bring (or serve) at your Thanksgiving, I sweet talked her into sharing the recipe today:

I like a tart pie, juicy and toothsome, with a flaky golden crust.  It’s true that lard or Crisco make for easier flakiness, but I prefer the concept of butter and stick to that.

Here are some things I don’t do, by the way.  I don’t sift the flour and salt for the crust; I don’t dot the fruit with more butter before putting on the top crust; I cut the sugar in half and increase the number of apples because I like a high fruit:crust ratio.  I do use twice as much cinnamon as other recipes.  I use tapioca instead of corn starch as a thickener (but you MUST let it stand 15 minutes before you bake if you use tapioca).

 

Santa Maria's Holiday Apple Pie

 

Crust:

• 2 c flour (don’t use the healthier kind with germ – just regular all purpose is fine)
• 1 t salt
• 2/3 c butter
• 4 T to 1/3 cup ice water

Mix flour and salt. Cut the butter into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or with your food processor until the butter is the size of peas. 

Sprinkle the mixture with 4 T ice water and blend with a fork. Keep adding more water until it holds together (sometimes I use nearly a 1/3 cup).  Gather it up into 2 balls using wax paper.  Chill in the fridge (or faster in the freezer) while you make the filling (below).  Makes a top and bottom crust for a 9” pie.

 

Filling:

 

• 6 cups peeled and sliced apples (I like to combine Macoun, Mutsu, and Granny Smith – but you can use any combination.  I also prefer to slice them very thinly. If you want it sweeter, like the way my folks like it, use a few Yellow Delicious apples in the pie).
• 2 T. tapioca
• 1/3 c sugar
• 2 t cinnamon (I like it very cinnamon-y)
• juice of ½ lemon

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix all the ingredients together.  Let stand 15 minutes.  Line a 9-inch pie plate with crust, fill with the fruit mixture, cover with top crust.  Seal and flute the edge.  Use a sharp (non- serrated) knife to slice a pattern of your choice in the top crust to let out the steam.  My kids are pleased when I make interlocking hearts.  Sprinkle with a bit of sugar on top.  Bake 45 minutes or until golden on top.

 

BONUS TWIRLS FOR YOU!!

 

Here’s something else I do: increase the crust recipe by half (i.e. use 3 cups of flour and an entire cup of butter [two sticks]) so that I have a ball of dough left over to make cinnamon twirls aka rugelach.  These are everyone’s favorite, actually much more popular than the pie itself.

Roll out the dough; slather with another 2 T softened butter; sprinkle with ½ c brown sugar and a LOT of cinnamon (I am cinnamon-crazy).  Roll it up like a log and pinch the seam shut.  You may need to cut it into two rectangles, approximately 4 inches wide, before you roll it up so that the rolls are not too large.  My goal is to have a twirl with a 1 inch diameter.  Bake in the oven until golden (much quicker than the pie – DON’T BURN THEM!! – sometimes not much more than 10-15 minutes.  Keep checking).  Enjoy with a big glass of cold milk.

My paternal grandma made these for me when I was little.  She had a little silky cocker spaniel named Dinah – I loved to pet her just like I loved to pet the cattails that grew on the edges of the lake. Fuelled by milk and goodies, we’d run for hours and hours around the grounds and finally collapse.