Cookie Chick

Last week I was talking to my neighbor, Jim. He’s a wonderful neighbor, we couldn’t wish for more. I was in the process of pruning the rose bushes in front of our place and wanted to know if he would like me prune his as well. This was my first attempt at pruning roses and my fear was that my black thumb would prevail and I would kill the roses. I was willing to risk our rose bush, but not his without permission.

He assured me that it was difficult to kill a rose bush and that he would appreciate the help. He mentioned that it has been four years since his lovely wife, Joan, had passed away. He also told me that Saturday was his 84th birthday. I asked him if was doing anything special and he said no, that those days had past.

After pruning the roses and scraping up my forearm in the process, I talked to Dave and decided to make Jim a treat for his birthday. A cake is more traditional, but my thoughts were still on the mincemeat pie I made for Lee’s birthday. I opted to make an apple pie. It’s been years since I’ve made one and selfishly, the idea of one appealed mightily to me.

I found a recipe in my King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion. It called for cider which I already had purchased for the mincemeat pie and a variety of apples. I used a combination of Granny Smith and Pacific Rose which is crisp and sweet. I used my nifty apple peeler to quickly peel, slice and core the apples.

The pie was lovely when I pulled it out of the oven after 55 minutes, however the apples were still quite firm inside. I poked them with a paring knife to test. The last time I made an apple pie for a dinner party, the apples were underdone. I covered the pie with foil and kept baking, testing every 15 minutes. I had to bake the pie an additional hour before it was done. Another indication of the apples baking long enough is that the pie will start to ooze a dark amber liquid. Make sure to have a baking sheet below the pie to catch these drippings. I used a parchment lined baking sheet and still had to soak the sheet to remove the bits of paper. I may use tin foil next time. The foil protected the crust and the pie was perfect. It is the best apple pie I have ever made.

On Saturday, we called up some of the other neighbors and made an impromptu house call on Jim. He was delighted, both with the company and the pie. His birthday is now in my calendar. We hope to have him as a neighbor for many years to come and hope to be able to celebrate those birthdays with him.

For years, my father-in-law (he hates that term, but I’m not sure what else to use) has talked with longing about mincemeat pies. His mother used to make them for him. Dave’s grandmother (mom’s side) used to make them for him. I had never eaten one myself and the thought of meat in non-savory pie did not sound appealing. Being a vegetarian did not help either.

Well after a little research, I was happy to find that mincemeat pies don’t actually contain meat anymore. They originated as a savory/sweet pie in the middle ages when meat was indeed a main component, as was suet. Suet is the raw fat from beef or mutton found around the kidneys or loins, in case your knowledge of animal fat is lacking, as was mine.

Cook’s Illustrated had a recipe for “Modern Mincemeat Pie” which contains no meat and no suet - just apples, currants, raisins, butter, cider, sugar, rum, citrus, and a generous hand with the spices. This was a pie I could make and hopefully love.

My intent was to make the pie for his birthday. His birthday is within a week of mine. I unfortunately missed that day as we were out of town. However, I thought that it would be a grand way of using his generous gift by cooking the filling in my new oval Le Creuset dutch oven.

Mincemeat pie does take some time. You have to peel and cut apples and cook the heady concoction for 3 hours before baking. I did this the day before, filling the house with the luscious scents of fall. Never mind that it’s now winter. The weather doesn’t change much in Southern California. Our winters are colder but it’s all relative.

Overall, I liked the pie. It was a little on the tart side. I used Trader Joe’s cider which may not be as sweet as the general grocery store brands. Next time I would add a little sugar to taste. The crust was quite lovely. The egg wash and sprinkling of sugar made it look very professional.

By the way, he loved it. I truly think he was touched that I made this pie just for him. I got a big hug and a thank you note.

Modern Mincemeat Pie

The pie may be served with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

INGREDIENTS

Filling

• 3 Granny Smith apples , large (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 3 McIntosh apples , large (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 1 cup golden raisins
• 1 cup currants
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar (5 1/4 ounces)
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick)
• 1/4 cup diced candied orange peel , (optional)
• Grated zest and juice from 1 orange
• Grated zest and juice from 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups apple cider , plus more as needed
• 1/3 cup rum or brandy

(I used a recipe from King Arthur flour, but it was similar.)

Crust

2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces), plus more for dusting work surface

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening

12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), cut into 1/4-inch pieces

6–8 tablespoons ice water

1 egg white , beaten, for glazing crust

1 tablespoon sugar for sprinkling over crust

DIRECTIONS

1. For the filling: Place all ingredients except 1/2 cup cider and rum in large, heavy saucepan set over medium-low heat. Bring to boil and simmer gently, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching, until mixture thickens and darkens in color, about 3 hours, adding more cider as necessary to prevent scorching. Continue cooking, stirring every minute or two, until mixture has jam-like consistency, about 20 minutes. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup apple cider and rum and cook until liquid in pan is thick and syrupy, about 10 minutes; cool mixture. (Mincemeat can be refrigerated for several days.)
2. For the crust: Process flour, sugar, and salt in food processor until combined. Add shortening and process until mixture has texture of coarse sand, about 10 seconds. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture; cut butter into flour until mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse crumbs, with butter bits no larger than small peas, about ten 1-second pulses. Turn mixture into medium bowl.
3. Sprinkle 6 tablespoons of ice water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix. Press down on dough with broad side of spatula until dough sticks together, adding up to 2 tablespoons more ice water if dough will not come together. Divide dough into 2 balls and flatten each into 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour, before rolling. (Dough may be refrigerated for up to 2 days.)
4. To assemble and bake the pie: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Remove one piece of dough from refrigerator (if refrigerated longer than 1 hour, let stand at room temperature until malleable). Roll dough on lightly floured work surface or between 2 large sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap to 12-inch circle. Transfer dough to 9-inch pie plate by rolling dough around rolling pin and unrolling over pan (see illustration below). Working around circumference of pan, ease dough into pan corners by gently lifting edge of dough with one hand while pressing into pan bottom with other hand. Leave any dough that overhangs lip of pie plate in place; refrigerate dough-lined pie plate.
5. Roll out second piece of dough to a 12-inch circle. Spoon mincemeat into pie shell. Following illustrations 2 through 5, place second piece of dough over filling. Trim edges of top and bottom dough layers to 1/2 inch beyond pan lip. Tuck rim of dough underneath itself so that folded edge is flush with pan lip. Flute edge or press with fork tines to seal. Cut 4 slits in dough top. If pie dough is very soft, place it in freezer for 10 minutes. Brush egg white on top crust and sprinkle evenly with sugar.
[ NOTE: This pie will leak. I placed a sheet pan lined with parchment below the pie. This helped contain the drips both while baking and while cooling. ]
6. Bake until crust is light golden brown, 25 minutes. Rotate pie and reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees; continue to bake until juices bubble and crust is deep golden brown, about 35 minutes. Transfer pie to wire rack and cool to room temperature before serving.

My friend, Caroline, has a lovely yard full of mature fruit trees. Last weekend, Dave was visiting her and the peaches were literally falling off the tree. He brought a sack full of tiny, luscious peaches home for us to enjoy. There were almost too many of them to eat right away, so I decided to make a fruit crisp to use up the remainder before they became over-ripe and inedible.

I looked through my cookbooks and found a recipe for Apple Crisp that I’ve used before. It had directions for peach crisp, so I decided to use that variation. I only had 1 pound of peaches left, so I used apples to make up the remainder.

It was 94 degrees here today, so I wondered if turning on the oven was a good idea. However, I love crisps and I had all the ingredients available without having to go to the store. I wasn’t sure how to peel a peach but found that quartering these little beauties and gently peeling the skin away worked very well. I had some Fuji apples in the crisper drawer, so they were peeled and diced and added to the peaches to round out the fruit component.

It turned out very nicely. I precooked the apples a bit in the microwave so that they would cook at the same rate as the ripened peaches. The natural sweetness of the peaches and apples contrasted nicely with the salty-sweet crumb topping. I’ve tried oatmeal versions of crisp toppings, but prefer this one made with nuts.

Peach - Apple Crisp

Topping Mixture

• 6 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar , packed
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled
• 3/4 cup pecans or whole almonds, chopped coarse (or chopped fine if mixing topping by hand)

Fruit

• 2 1/2 - 3 pounds apples , nectarines, peaches, pears or plums (6 cups cut)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest from 1 lemon

1. For the Topping: Place flour, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in food processor workbowl fitted with steel blade. Add chilled butter and pulse until mixture moves from dry sand-like appearance with large lumps of butter to a coarse cornmeal texture, about three 4-second bursts. Add nuts and pulse until mixture resembles crumbly sand, about five 1-second bursts. Do not overprocess or mixture will take on a smooth, cookie-dough-like texture. (To mix by hand, allow butter pieces to sit at room temperature for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, mix flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in medium bowl. Add butter; toss to coat. Pinch butter chunks and dry mixture between fingertips until mixture looks like crumbly wet sand. Add nuts and toss to distribute evenly. Do not overmix.) Refrigerate mixture while preparing fruit, at least 15 minutes.

2. Toss cut fruit, sugar, lemon juice, and zest (along with 1 tablespoon quick-cooking tapioca if using plums as fruit) in medium bowl.

3. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Scrape fruit mixture with rubber spatula into 8-inch square (2 quart) baking pan or 9-inch round deep dish pie plate. Distribute chilled topping evenly over fruit; bake for 40 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees; bake until fruit is bubbling and topping is deep golden brown, about 5 minutes longer. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Growing up, my idea of making a pie was to buy a Mrs. Smith’s frozen pie from the grocery store and put it in the oven. I didn’t even do that well. My first pumpkin pie was blackened and burnt on the top.

My best friend’s mom made the most wonderful apple pie from scratch and she showed me how to core and peel the apples and make an oil and flour crust. It was thin, light and flaky.

My future mother-in-law showed me how to make a thicker pie crust using shortening. This was the perfect vehicle for pumpkin pie. I still use her recipe for the custard filling to this day. However, my crust using her recipe was never quite as good as hers, so the search continued.

Two Thanksgivings ago, I used the Cook’s Illustrated butter/shortening crust recipe. This was very tasty, but it was hard to make in the food processor as the butter clumped terribly. It seemed to be too much fat for the flour or the food processor was just too powerful. This past Thanksgiving, I tried a variation of Alton Brown’s pie crust substituting shortening for the lard. It was good, but not as good as the CI recipe. However his technique of adding the water with a spray bottle and putting the dough in a gallon sized zip-top bag to chill and roll was ingenious.

This weekend I made a Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie in honor of St. Patrick’s day. I tried a new crust recipe out of the King Arthur baking book but used my KitchenAid mixer and the wire whip to cut the fat into the flour. This was truly a success. Not only was it easier than using a food processor it was also less clean up. The pie dough came together perfectly. I then put it in the zip-top bag and chilled until I was ready to roll it out. The great part about using the bag, is you snip off the edges and and roll the dough inside the bag. It works well and clean up is a breeze.

Oh, and the pie crust was delicious. I ended up using real buttermilk, since I had some in the fridge, but didn’t have buttermilk powder. I also didn’t have any vinegar so left that out. The crust was flavorful and flaky, just perfect for the pie.

Pie Crust
Makes one 9″ pie crust

• 1 1/2 cups (6 1/2 ounces) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 tablespoon (1/8 ounce) buttermilk powder (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick, 2 ounces) butter
• 1/4 cup (1 1/2 ounces) vegetable shortening
• 1 teaspoon white or cider vinegar
• 3 to 5 tablespoons (1 1/2 to 2 1/2 ounces) cold water

Mixing the dough
Place the flour, salt, buttermilk powder and baking powder in the bowl of your standing mixer. (Note, you can also use 1 tablespoon of buttermilk, but add this to the liquids and cut back water by 1 tablespoon.) Attach bowl and whisk attachment to mixer and mix on speed 2 for 30 seconds to combine dry ingredients. Cut cold butter and cold shortening into 1/2 inch cubes.

The easiest way to cube the butter and shortening is to use a pastry or dough scraper and slice the butter into thirds along the long side, turn 1/4 turn and slice the next side into thirds, then cut the butter into 1/2 inch pieces on the short side.

Add butter and shortening bit by bit to flour mixture and mix at speed 6 until fat is cut into the flour and resembles small peas. Combine vinegar and water. Turn down the mixer to speed 4 and slowly add the liquids until dough just comes together. You may not need all the liquid. The dough will clump inside the wire whisk and will form a ball when squeezed by hand. Stop the mixer and remove bowl and attachment.

Gather the dough and place in a gallon sized zip-top back. Form the dough into a flat disk. Seal the bag and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Rolling the Dough
Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Cut off the top and sides of the zip top bag. Using a rolling pin roll out the dough inside the bag to the edges. Rotate the bag a 1/4 turn each roll to get a nice circle. Peel back one side of the plastic and ease the dough into your pie pan. Remove the second side of plastic and gently press the dough into the bottom and sides. Using a fork poke holes in the bottom and sides to let steam escape. Fold over any excess dough and crimp the edges. If you have a short side, use extra dough from another side to piece together the crust.