Labor Day Apple Pie

  Well friends, it happens to be the first of September and also Labor day. Today, I am lucky enough not to be laboring. And it feels pretty damn good. But yesterday I worked, mostly at home, doing the always super fun and exciting domestic chores. One of the disadvantages of living alone is that all of the home maintenance falls on one person...me. Even though I am quite the domestic goddess, I do still tire of doing laundry and putting it away. Too bad I cannot teach Edwin (my Welsh Corgi) or my cat Aster to take over the housework. Oh well, that is a topic for another day.
  Today I am here to discuss Apple Pie. Yes, yes it is that time of year! Yesterday, I made the first apple pie of the season. Apple pie is great all year around of course, but it is always best when apples are just coming off of the trees, when you can go to the orchard and pick them yourselves. Or when your best friend hands over a bag of farm fresh apples and asks you to make a pie. That works too! Because, you may not know this about me but I never ever turn down free fresh fruit or vegetables. I mean, I'm not crazy.

Bag o apples. You know,  I even forgot to ask what kind these were. Usually, I use a combination of  Granny Smith and a few others. Not this time. I just pulled them out of the bag.

These smelled AMAZING! Okay, so they were pretty small. I ended up using about 14 when I would normally only use 7 or 8 large apples.

I really need to get one of those peeler corer things. Doing this all by hand is exhausting and yet I still do it that way! You guessed it....peel, core and slice 14 little apples. Go!!

Here's what I do... Prepare the apples and toss them in the lemon ( I used lime juice cause it is what I had. Don't tell) juice right away to prevent browning. But wait to stir in the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cornstarch until you have rolled out the bottom and top crusts. and places the bottom crust in the pie plate and refrigerated it. This way the juices from the apple mixture begin to release in the oven rather than in the mixing bowl before baking.

Once you have mixed together all of the apple yumminess spoon it into the chilled bottom crust. 

Quickly put on the pre-rolled top crust, roll under both crusts, do whatever edging you want to do.  I made small apple cut outs for this pie. Because, well I wanted to and they are damn cute! For good measure pop the whole pie back in the fridge for at least 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 400 F.

Pull pie out of fridge. Brush crust with heavy cream and sprinkle with sugar.  I used  Demerara sugar  because I had some on hand. It is larger grained only partially refined, brown in color and looks pretty.

Bake pie on the loosest rack at 400 F for 25 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 F and continue to lake for about an hour.

For the Crust:

2 and 1/2 cups AP flour
1 tsp salt
2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cubed
1/4-1/2 cup ice water

 By hand: In a large bowl combine the flour and salt. Add the COLD cubed butter and combine using a pastry blender or two knifes. You want to do this quickly so the butter stays cold. Your goal here is to create something that looks like large cornmeal, with the bits of butter still visible.
 Next drizzle in about half of the ICE water. Give it a light and quick mix with a fork. The dough should start looking like a shaggy mess of a ball. Add more water by tbsp until the mass has just started to make a ball that sticks together.
  At this point, pour the ball onto a floured surface. With your hands, quickly form it into a disk. Cut the disk in half. Wrap each half in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.  These disks can be made ahead. They will stay fresh for about a week.


For the Filling:

14 small apples
1 tbsp lemon juice
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
4 tbsp cornstarch
heavy cream for brushing on crust
Demerara sugar for sprinkling on crust

Prepare your apples by peeling, coring and slicing. Toss them in the lemon juice right away to prevent browning. Set aside. Roll out your bottom crust, place it in the pie plate and refrigerate. At this point, preheat your oven to 400 F.  Roll out the top crust. Quickly add the other ingredients to the apples and toss until mixed. Pull the bottom crust out of the fridge and put the apple filling in it. Place on the top crust. Roll both pieces user and edge the pie. Put the uncooked pie back in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes. Pull the pie out. Brush with heavy cream and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 400 F for 25 minutes. Lower temperature 350 F. Bake for about an hour.