Tag Archives: pie

Pro Pastry, Gluten Free: Frangipane and Chef Brooks Headley’s Quick Jam

It was August, and I hadn’t made a single pie.

I hadn’t made a single batch of ice cream or sorbet, either; but the cardinal sin was with the pie.

Pie is my favorite dessert. I make one for my birthday, or when I want to impress a man, or when a man I’ve impressed breaks my heart. And this summer I hadn’t made one.

But then I saw huge stalks of rhubarb in my hometown grocers. Rhubarb that was far too girthy for its own good, and so late in the season that I couldn’t nearly call it “peak”. But rhubarb none the same. I also had some really beautiful black plums from a farmers market in NYC. And I had Brooks Headley’s Fancy Desserts on my brain.

It came out October 1st, but I had it mistakenly launching on my schedule on the 20th, so this little post is a touch late. Brooks had kindly sent it to me after we’d barely missed each other at a mutual friend’s restaurant anniversary party; a black-and-white copy with notes someone had scribbled on random pages.

Now, I’ve never worked with Brooks. I met him when he was celebrated as a 2013 Dessert Professionals Top Ten Pastry chef, where we’d been introduced by Niko of Dessertbuzz (that link is for the 2014 celebration, because I love the photo Niko took of me with my favorite sweet pea of a pastry chef, Ron Ben-Israel). I had planned to work with Brooks in my interview column, but first he was busy writing the book and then my column ended. I still have yet to work with him, as I’m saving up my “wanna work on…?” request for something meaty. But the book had landed magically in my mailbox after the post Brooks-is-walking-away-from-this-party email exchange.

And it’s f***ing awesome.

Continue reading →

{gluten-free} Maple Pear Galette for Two

Yesterday was one of the best days ever!

Being a freelancer and having a complicated chronic illness mean I’m often stressed about money, or restrictions because of the limits of my health, or both, as in a recent $634 bill for natural medication. But it also means I’m often forced to lay low, by my own discipline,my family forcing me or my body just shutting itself down. I had worked three full days in my family office and then gone out with some food media/publicity friends late into Wednesday night, meaning that Thursday had to be market a NOTHING! day in my calendar. Being Halloween, that NOTHING would include watching American Horror Story (!), buying cider from the corner store, avoiding going downtown, and catching up on some writing / blogging. Yes, writing and blogging aren’t doing nothing. But when I have space for them sandwiched by American Horror Story and rainy walks with Mitra, they’re relaxing, too.

So there I was, infuriated by my ancient computer’s incapability to work with me by loading pages and saving documents and such, when I threw up my hands, powered down and walked into the kitchen. Because freelancing and NOTHING also mean I can put my hands into (gluten-free) flour and slice fruit when I feel like it, dammit! Continue reading →

Grapefruit Sponge Pie: Burwell Recipe Swap!

Dunt-duh-nuh-naaaaaaah!

(That’s me typing out the sound of a trumpet announcing the arrival of something new!)

This morning I published this post with some whinging about being tired and un-creative. When I typed this post for the first time last night, my brain was beyond where wit and articulation are birthed. 24 hours later I’m still over-tired, but I don’t care.

Because I’ve just gone through the recipes submitted by this Burwell General Store recipe swap group, and I’m rejuvenated. I love this group of swappers. I’ve participated in thist monthly swap, organized by Christianna at the Burwell General Store, for well over a year now. But then our group got too large, so we split in two, then got overwhelmed with our own lives, then took a break, then joined up again, and now here we are!

We all write blogs for different reasons. We all read blogs for different reasons.

But if you’re looking for creativity and all-things-yummy, you’ve come to the right place this morning. Just click on that little froggy below to see variations of one simple, very old recipe from a vintage cookbook.

As I scrolled through the posts, pinning and commenting away, I met new blogging friends and reconnected with old ones.

It was a truly delicious night.

Oh, and this was my second swap today! Coincidentally my Milk Bar Mondays recipe was scheduled for today as well, and when that Grapefruit Pie didn’t turn out perfectly (one layer was perfection, the rest so not-right I couldn’t serve it to my boss family and tossed it in the trash) I wanted to give grapefruit another go. Hence this take on this recipe:

I was shocked that this worked! I just replaced grapefruit for the lemon and used the milk my boss can digest, and let some basic pastry knowledge lead to a more specific recipe than the one above. A light, spongy, fluffy layer of grapefruit-flavored custard-ness was on the table for breakfast today. It would do well for a dessert also, but on this steamy Monday with a house full of guests I’m cooking for in Amagansett, it did just fine.

Happy Double Monday, and welcome back to the Burwell Swappers,

– Jacqueline

And click on the little froggy below to check out the other Burwell swappers in their, likely, more creative variations!

Grapefruit Sponge Pie

(Lemon or lime would work perfectly too!)

1 pie crust, unbaked
2 Tbsp butter
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs, separated
2 Tbsp flour
2 cups lactose-free, 2% milk
3 Tbsp grapefruit juice
rind of one entire grapefruit

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cream the butter, sugar and egg yolks until smooth and bright yellow.

Add the flour, grapefruit juice and zest, and beat to combine.

Slowly pour in milk and stir to combine.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Fold into mixture.

Pour into shell and bake for 45 minutes, until set at the sides but still jiggly in the center. Cool completely before serving.

Rosemary Lavender Apple Galette

I was a very lucky little Dusty Baker in that I spent the majority of this past weekend surrounded by fancy food and scrumptious cocktails. The Food Network New York City Wine and Food Festival definitely didn’t disappoint in either of those categories.

But, hey, I’m not a pastry chef. Yes, I spend most of my time dreaming about alternative flours and wishing I were in a kitchen and not on a computer. And maaaaaybe I find the things actual chefs do with pastry incredibly sexy. But fancy-pants, personally, I am not.

So I was particularly at home when attending the Beekman Boys’ demo at the Grand Tasting on Sunday. Farms? Goats? 8-minute pastry? Put the kettle on, boys, I’m stopping in.

The Fabulous Beekman Boys – otherwise known as Brent and Josh – own a farm upstate. They bought it as weekend retreat before they both lost their jobs and needed to turn it into a mortgage-paying enterprise. NYC foodies by nature, they turned their inherited goats (80 of them) into a soap-making machine. Then cheese. Then the rest is history.

Now they’ve got a new book out, following their documentary-like show on Planet Green, and are cornering the heirloom recipe market in all that’s old-school and tasty.

Which is exaclty what their demo was – old-school and extremely tasty. With casual banter and a genteel charm, they made a galette with nothing more than a heaping cup of flour, a stick of butter, a fistful of sugar, a splash of milk, a rough chop of rosemary, some drizzled honey and some apples. A recipe so easy you don’t need to write it down. Which I didn’t. Until this post.

What I shared with them (as I sat with a happy smile in the front row) was a love of lack-of-recipes-recipes. Many that I’ve inherited from my family contain “a soup-spoon of butter” and “enough water to dissolve the yeast”. I’ve made pastries alongside my Tia that may be two eggs and a cup of flour away from the original… and seem to work as amounts are remedied during the eye-ball process. I love the feeling of just throwing things in a mixer, and the intuition that comes from just knowing how a basic pastry works.

It was also fitting that they described this as the perfect thing to whip together when a friend calls to say they’ll be stopping by on their way home from church… in about ten minutes. Because as I wrapped up an article this morning I was just about to strap on my apron when an out-of-town friend asked if she could stop in… and that she had just parked her car down the street. We had inherited some apples from my neighbor. I always have flour, butter and the like on hand. And I still have rosemary growing in my window-boxes. I could throw this together in eight minutes. So I did.

So this recipe is yours for the adaptation. I used my standard gluten-free cake blend as my flour, palm sugar as my crust sweetener, and the rest of the leftover lavender-honey that I had on my shelf (from my current prosciutto-cheese-basil-melon-honey obsession that’s sadly going out the window along with the summer rain). Use whatever fruit or savory ingredient you have on hand. Add or omit sweetener as you see fit. Grab whatever herbs from your garden or window box that sound exciting. And enjoy the simple, homemade creation that is truly yours for the baking.

My piece... consumed with relish...

Ingredients:

1 heaping cup flour (a basic gluten-free / gluten-free cake blend works perfectly)
A handful of sugar (I used palm sugar)
A dash of kosher salt
1 stick of unsalted butter
Milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
About 4 apples, peeled, cored and sliced (or comparable amount of fruit or savory veg)
Lemon juice (optional)
1 Tbsp finely chopped rosemary
2 Tbsp honey or however you want to sweeten the fruit
Dried lavender florets, optional
Egg white, yolk or milk to wash

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°. Line a baking sheet with Silpat if desired.
In a large bowl, mix flour, salt and sweetener.
Cut butter into thin slices and toss in.
With a fork, blend flour mixture and butter until flaky. They pointed out that most recipes say “pea-sized”, but with the fork method it’s more flake than pea.
Add enough milk, slowly, pulling together with fork until the dough just comes together.
Roll on a floured surface until thin, either into a round or somewhat rectangular shape.
Transfer to baking sheet.
Sprinkle the center (leaving about an inch on all sides) with rosemary.
Optional: toss apples with about 2 Tbsp lemon.
Fill crust with apples, leaving a lip around the edge.
Drizzle with honey or sugar.
Fold the ends in to make a rounded crust, making sure there are no holes in the dough, and press to meet.
Wash with egg or milk.
Bake about 25-30 minutes, until lightly browned.
Serve warm, preferably to drop-in guests.

Picture perfect.

My (Broken) Heart in a Pie

May 24, 2011
Jacqueline Raposo
dairy-free, dessert, easy, fruit, gluten-free, gluten-free pie crust, pie, sweet, vegan

(Broken) Heart Pie

Broken hearts are messy. As is this (Broken) Heart Pie. In my mind my submission for Pietopia’s friendly competition which asks “what does your life taste like, in a pie?” was a bit more elegant, a bit more pulled together. But I guess that’s the thing about a broken heart in a dusty kitchen. Things aren’t always going to come out the way you had hoped. And that’s okay. Just like I will be.

So, “what does my life taste like, in a pie?”

Red fruits, lots of them; rich and luscious and sweet and syrupy. Candied nuts. Ginger. Cinnamon. Molasses. Warm flavors. All things ripe and sweet and full of color and bursting with love. For as much as my heart is very much broken, it is still bursting with love. Both for the person who broke it, and for myself. I’ve never been in such a humbled position.

So, the creation. I decided to cut myself some slack and not make homemade ginger molasses cookies, as I’m not in my apartment with my arsenal of tools. I picked up a box of Ginger Cookies with Sliced Almonds from Pamela’s Products. They’re very moist and gluten and dairy free, so all I had to do was crush them, mix them with about 3 Tbsp of melted unsalted butter, press into a pie plate and bake for a bit. I should have bought two boxes, to make a fuller crust, or gotten off my tush and made a pie crust as I have dozens for times before. But again, dusty. So the crust only covers the bottom and slightly up the sides.

I guess this is more like a (Broken) Heart Cobbler. Same difference.

The recipe for the filling is below, and I suggest your favorite sweet crust – using a ginger snap or molasses cookie seems to suit these fruits perfectly. And because of the cookies I used this pie was gluten-free. And had I used Earth Balance instead of the butter in the crust, it’d be dairy-free too.

While I only had a small bite of the final product, I can promise you this pie (cobbler, whatever), is very luscious, very sweet, and almost sanguine. The cast* gobbled it down after our run-through tonight and seemed pleased, saying they were fortified with the fruit and nut combination, and it disappeared quickly.

I didn’t tell them the name: (Broken) Heart Pie.

Ingredients

3 cups fresh cherries, pitted
1 1/2 cup fresh, sliced strawberries
1 cup fresh raspberries, whole
1/2 cup dried, unsweetened cherries
1/2 cup candied almonds (I used sweet cinnamon almonds roasted from Whole Foods, but here’s a solid recipe from Food.com).
1/2 cup sugar, honey or some form of sweetener
4 Tbsp cornstarch, tapioca starch or arrowroot
1 pie crust of choice

Directions

Prepare whichever pie crust you prefer, and blind-bake it (bake it without anything in it) until done. Remove from heat while you prepare the filling.
Place the pitted cherries in a large, preferably non-stick pot or dutch oven. Bring to medium heat and allow some of the cherry juices to reduce, around five minutes.
Add the raspberries and strawberries, and continue to cook until the mixture first bubbles with juice, and then begins to reduce, about 8 minutes. You want the mixture to still have some juice, but not so much that it’s overwhelming the fruit.
Remove from heat.
Whisk together the sugar and starch, and pour over fruit. Mix thoroughly until incorporated (if you’re using honey, add that first and mix in, and then the starch).
Return to low heat and continue stirring gently until the mixture thickens.
Remove from heat and allow to cool.
When almost cool, stir in dried cherries and almonds.
Fill crust.
Set in the refrigerator until completely chilled before serving.

*Shameless plug: I’m performing in Enchanted April at the Hampton Theater Company, running from May 26th to June 12th in Quogue, New York. If you’re near the Hamptons, please come check it out. It’s a darling show with a lot of heart, and some really challenging and fulfilling moments for me onstage. And I’ll be selling garden shortbread cookies at the concessions.

Bourbon Molasses Apple Pie (with candied bacon)

Bourbon Molasses Apple Pie with candied bacon

The problem with living in the best city in the world is that you can plan a refined night for you and your significant other of theatre and a late supper at a French restaurant, and then end up going to the theatre, then a rock club, then a blues club, then an Eastern European dive bar until the wee hours of morning, all the while proclaiming “we live in the best city in the world!”

Naturally, sleeping in the following morning was required. And then the long subway ride home had me maneuvering construction-ed lines, packed by panicked tourists who ripped the bag of groceries I had been schlepping for far too many transfers.

But at least I was going home to PIE. Apple pie, with molasses and bourbon and a bit of candied bacon on top. As I was groggily hitting the elevator button, the boyfriend remarked that I had yet to bake him a pie. As fellow dusty bakers can understand, this was less of a histrionically domestic complaint and more a phrase of endearment that had me humming on my way to the grocery. My day had taken a turn to the apple world. It’s a sweet world.

This is the third version of this recipe, lovingly entitled “Punch Yo Mama Kentucky Apple Pie”. From my time on the border of Kentucky, I learned that those people do well with delicious food and honor their bourbon.

In the last two test versions the molasses flavor held its own but there was virtually no bourbon flavor. So instead of heating the bourbon and molasses to make a glaze (which I found killed the taste of the alcohol) I blended them at room temperature with a little tapioca starch to thicken the mixture. I also included bourbon into the pie crust, finding that the flavor works well baked in flours. Previously I candied thick-cut bacon with a molasses / brown sugar mixture and baked it into the pie – this time candied thinner bacon and sprinkled it on when serving to retain its crunch.

The result? The bourbon flavor came though just enough that you’d notice but not be overwhelmed by it. I had added no sugar to the apples, and they came out sweet and caramely, and the cinnamon gave them a bit of punch. The crust was a bit too crumbly on day one, but definitely didn’t distract, and was soft and manageable on day two. (For a flawless crust try my Perfect Gluten-Free Pie Crust) By far the apple/molasses/bourbon combination was killer! And the bacon was so crunchy and sweet that the crusts don’t even need sugar.

Notes: You can use regular white flour in the crust, or experiment with gluten-free flour blends you like using. This crust was a bit crumbly – I’d stick to my easy gluten-free crust or P erfect Gluten-Free Pie Crust, including the bourbon instead of water as suggested below. If going gluten-free, just make sure you have enough starch and xantham gum to pull the flour together. You can also use butter-flavored Earth Balance and omit the egg to make this dairy-free and vegan. I’m experimenting with sugars lately, and used just a tiny bit in this, but it really doesn’t matter what kind of sweetener you use. Yes, the flavor will vary slightly, but that’s one of the beautiful things about pies: make a crust and fill it with fruit and chances are you’re going to be happy.

Ingredients:

For the filling:

14 small apples, preferably of three varieties
2 Tbsp. bourbon
3 Tbsp. molasses
2 tsp. starch (I used tapioca)
2 tsp. cinnamon (preferably two different, pungent varieties – I used Indonesian and Chinese)
Freshly grated nutmeg, about 1/2 tsp.

For the crust:

1 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup amaranth flour
1/2 cup sweet white sorghum flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 1/2 tsp. xantham gum
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. sweetener – I used sucanat, crushed cane sugar, because I accidentally picked it up instead of fructose, which I was going to try using. I’m still working on which sweetener I like best for health / baking reasons.
16 Tbsp. butter, cut into cubes
2 Tbsp. bourbon
4 Tbsp. ice cold water
1 egg, beaten, for brushing on the top of the pie. You can also use egg white, melted butter or water.

For the Bacon:

5 slices of thin bacon
Your choice of sugar – brown sugar or sucanat will flavor best

Directions:

Prepare the Filling:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Peel, core and slice apples, and let them sit in a strainer.
In a small bowl, mix molasses, bourbon and starch. Blend with a fork.
Separate the apples onto two cookie sheets with high rims. Pour 1/2 of the molasses mixture on each sheet, and mix thoroughly with your hands until the apples are coated.
Sprinkle with each tray with 1/2 of the cinnamon and nutmeg
Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until just soft while you prep the crust.

For the crust: I use a standing mixer with the paddle attachment.

Place flours, starch, xantham gum, salt and sugar in the bowl and whisk together.
Toss in butter and start to mix on low speed until the butter is cut in, about 3-5 minutes.
Add the bourbon one tablespoon at a time, and then the water, using only just enough for the dough to pull together.
On a floured pastry board, roll half of the pastry into a disk to fit your pie plate. I make sure to thoroughly turn and flip my dough so that it doesn’t stick, as gluten free dough can break easily.
Fill the plate with apples, tapping down slightly.
Roll out the top crust, close pie, seal the edges with a fork.
Mix a teaspoon of water with a slightly beaten egg, brush the top of the pie, and sprinkle with sugar if desired (After sampling, the pie was sweet enough without the sugar and would have been prettier if I had omitted it).
Bake for 45 minutes, covering the edges of the pie halfway through to prevent browning, or until top of pie is slightly browned and apples cooked through.

To candy the Bacon:

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Fit roasting rack into a cookie sheet and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
Place sugar of choice in a small bowl, and thoroughly coat bacon with sugar.
Place on cooking rack and sprinkle more sugar on top of each slice.
Cook for five minutes and, if desired, turn bacon and sprinkle with more sugar.
Cook for five more minutes, remove from oven and remove bacon to a plate to cool completely before chopping into small bits.
Sprinkle on top slices of pie for serving.

Corn-and-Dairy-Free Apple Pie

Dusty Dan - the Brother

My brother Dan’s friend Matt’s fiance Marissa can’t eat corn or dairy. Dan is spending New Year’s Eve with them and some friends in Vermont. I owe Dan a baking session as part of his Christmas gift. On a snowy, cold evening in Washington Heights at the late hour of 11pm, we head into my kitchen to develop a recipe for a corn-and-dairy-free apple pie all the revelers will enjoy.

I must admit, I’m a little concerned about this assignment. Butter is the one thing I can count on in baking when my sugar and flour sources are limited. I completely avoid milk, cream, cheese and the like, but the minimal presence of protein in butter somehow makes it easy enough for me to digest without too much disturbance. Especially clarified butter, where more protein has been removed. So no matter the flour combination or inclusion/lack thereof of sweetener, I’ve always been able to rely on butter to add complexity and flavor.

Technically, butter also acts as the fat that binds the flour together in a crust.

Now, while I generally don’t use corn flour or products when I bake, I also haven’t been particularly attentive to it being in products I use. So when Dan said Melissa uses Smart Balance Light as her “butter”, I stick to it. I’m a bit confused about it’s being made with canola oil, which I assume is from corn. Or if there’s a specific reason she doesn’t use Crisco shortening, which is made from palm and soybean oils.

After some quick googling I realize that canola isn’t made from corn but from rapeseed – who knew?!?

These are all questions to ask her at another time when we make “Melissa’s Apple Pie Take Two”.

For now, here’s how this basically plays out: I use regular flour so that the gluten binds and develops the pie dough. Other than replacing the butter with the Smart Balance and only using 1 tablespoon of water, we make the Williams-Sonoma Basic Pie Crust. I also use white sugar in the dough and the filling, which I don’t usually do. I figure this pie needs to be a gentle step for those who don’t have food allergies.

So – this pie is NOT gluten-free nor sugar-free. Not a particularly alternative recipe, it just lacks corn and dairy together. For tips on making the best of your apple pie, check out my posts on Apple Pie Filling and The Best Basic Pie Crust.

Ingredients: Apples

12-16 hard, ripe apples, of three different varieties.
1/2 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon, two varieties if possible (one sweet, one spicy)
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (preferably ground fresh)
1 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions: Apples

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Peel, core and slice your apples, and spread them equally on two rimmed cookie sheets.
Sprinkle 1/4 cup white sugar, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon cloves on EACH of the sheets.
Mix with your hands until all apples are coated.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes while you prepare your crust, turning the apples once, until softened.
Remove from oven and let cool before filling.

Ingredients: Crust

2.5 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoons salt
16 tablespoons cold Smart Balance Lite
1 tablespoon ice cold water
1 egg (for washing on top)

Directions: Crust

Fix a standing mixer with a paddle attachment and pour in flour, sugar and salt. Whisk together.
Add the Smart Balance in little chunks and start mixer on low. Mix until the dough just starts to pull together.
Add the 1 tablespoon ice water and mix until the dough forms a ball, being careful not to over mix.
Separate dough into two balls, flatten into disks, wrap in wax paper and refrigerate until a bit harder.

Directions: Assembling and Baking the Pie

Turn the oven down to 375 degrees when the apples are done baking.
Flour your workspace and rolling pin, and place one disk of dough in the center (an option is rolling between two pieces of parchment paper).
Start rolling from the center out, in one direction, to stretch dough. Because we used Lite Smart Balance, which I assume means the water content is higher and fat content lower, this dough has much more of an elastic pull and a bit more oil to it. Rolling away from the center in one direction with a good amount of weight seems to help it extend.
Gently place the crust into the plate.
Fill with apples, pressing down slightly and roll the top crust.
Place the top crust gently on the filled pie and crimp edges with a fork. This won’t crimp as easily as other crusts, but as long as the edges are together, the filling will steam nicely.
Wash the crust with the egg, slightly beaten, and dust with sugar.
Bake on a cookie sheet or “pizza” stone for 40 minutes at 350 degrees or until apples are fully tender and crust lightly browned, covering edge of crust halfway through with tin foil or a pie lip.
Cool before serving and, if you can wait, don’t eat until the next day! Enjoy!

Notes: This crust doesn’t taste like much on its own. But paired with lots of apples sweetened with white sugar and scented with cinnamon and nutmeg, it’s a hearty compliment. The crust softened the day after it was baked, and continued softening so that it was still tasty (I’m told) days later, and somewhat even more so.

Punch Yo Mama Kentucky Apple Pie – Take One

“Bourbon Bacon Molasses Apple Pie”.

Until today, nothing would come up in a search engine with those five beautiful words strung together.

Now, this is not a healthy pie. Nor a medicinal pie, except in that it may have magical qualities when trying to lure lovers or tame unruly children. It blends those delirious tongue-teasers of savory and sweet, the unsuspected crunch of candied bacon embedded in folds of apples both sweet and tart. A blend of spicy and soothing cinnamon and a dash of fresh nutmeg fuse them together and they sleep contented in a flaky, free-0f-the-demon-gluten crust. This pie is work, but so worth it.

In making this recipe I combined techniques I’d learned from other kitchen explorations – par-baking apples, candying bacon, blending healthy flours for a gluten-free crust – and am very pleased with the first incarnation. But this recipe still has further to go; it’s delicious on day one but the bacon sags into an unappetizing texture if you keep eating it on successive days (but if it’s more than you and a roommate trying to wipe it out of existence and you can eat it in one go, bake on). The bourbon gives a delightfully oak-y slight to the senses, but hasn’t packed a wallop yet.

If you’re looking for a comforting, complex apple pie recipe with a twist, check this recipe out. It’s fuller-bodied than your traditional American pie, and the flavors round themselves out very well.

This recipe requires three steps: 1. Candying bacon. 2. Preparing your apples. 3. Preparing and filling crust. Refer to my BAKING BASICS posts for recipes on both filling and a variety of pie crusts.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons GOOD Kentucky bourbon (I used Blantons, one of my favorites)
3 tablespoons organic blackstrap molasses
1/2 cup light brown sugar plus more as desired
six strips very thin bacon (from a butcher)
About 18 apples, prepared (CLICK HERE for page on apple pie filling)
Unbaked pie crust, enough for bottom and top.

Directions: Bourbon Blackstrap Bacon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Lay a baking rack over a cookie sheet with high rims and spray the rack with non-stick cooking spray.
Heat small saucepan over medium/low heat. Once hot, pour in 2 tablespoons bourbon and heat until it just gets bubbly.
Add 2 tablespoons molasses and stir with spatula until the mixture starts to bubble and expand.
Add 1/2 cup light brown sugar, mixing in, and bring to heat until the mixture expands again.
Turn off heat and let cool slightly.
Prepare to get sticky: using your hands, rub each piece of bacon in the bourbon mixture until coated. By the 3rd or 4th piece the sugar mixture will be cooling and drying out a bit – don’t worry! Just drudge it as much as you can to coat the bacon.
Coat entirely with extra brown sugar until completely covered.
Lay on sprayed rack and bake in preheated oven for approximately 30 minutes, or until bacon is crispy. Set aside and cool completely.

Directions: Apple Filling. On EACH tray sprinkle:

For this recipe, I used 2 kinds of cinnamon, 1 very spicy and one mild and sweet. I love cinnamon, so I used 2 tsps. of each. Vary this to your tastes.
Sprinkle on each trap 1/4 tsp of ground cloves and 1 tablespoon sugar, preferably something light like palm sugar over regular white sugar.
Toss the apples thoroughly.
Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the apples are slightly softened.
Remove from heat and let cool.

Directions: Let’s Fill This Thing

Use a deep-dish 9″ pie plate (my favorite pie dish is my Emile Henry 9″. It’s wonderfully deep and the ceramic bakes to perfection) and fill it with your bottom crust.
Layer the apples in and pack them tightly – the apple should be piled into a very hefty dome.
In a small dish, combine remaining tablespoon bourbon and molasses, and drizzle completely over the top of the apples.
Place second crust on top, and pinch to close.
Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 45 minutes, covering the edges halfway through baking so they don’t burn.

This pie is best eaten the same day it’s made, but should be cooled completely before cutting if using a gluten-free crust (they crumble very easily).

The Dusty Baker

Tag Archives: pie

Pro Pastry, Gluten Free: Frangipane and Chef Brooks Headley’s Quick Jam

It was August, and I hadn’t made a single pie.