Hamptons Epicure: Apple and Pumpkin Pie, Pie Crust Recipes for the Holiday Season
Bring a home-made apple pie when you show up for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.
APPLE PIE
Some people get all starry-eyed about a hint of ginger or vanilla in their grandmother’s apple pie. Take it from this farm girl, all you need for most fruit pies is “cinnamon and half again nutmeg.”
For pie filling:
6 medium apples, cored,
peeled and sliced
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons corn starch
1tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
For crust:
3 cups flour
1 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup butter
5 tablespoons water
1 egg
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
pinch of Amagansett Sea Salt
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Mix all filling ingredients together in a bowl.
In a separate bowl, cut shortening and butter into flour with a pastry knife or a potato masher. Mix water, vinegar and egg together in a cup with a fork or spoon. Incorporate liquid into flour mixture about a third at a time with potato masher.
Flour a flat surface and roll out dough for two crusts. Line pie pan with one crust. Fill with pie filling and cover with top crust. Use a fork to seal edges together and to poke holes throughout the top crust.
This pie with leak in the oven, so wrap the pan loosely with a solid sheet of foil to catch spills.
Bake for about 1 hour. Allow to cool somewhat before serving.
Serve warm with ice cream or a chunk of cheddar cheese.
You should have enough dough left over for one more bottom crust – so try your hand at my pumpkin pie recipe.
PUMPKIN PIE
I love the idea of pumpkin pie—spicy, sweet autumn bounty in a crust—but I’ve never cottoned to using evaporated milk in anything. So I developed this recipe—no one has ever missed the milk.
If you don’t like canned stuff, cook your own pumpkin, here’s how:
Remove stem and cut pumpkin in half. Scrape out the seeds. Put about an inch of water in a rectangular baking dish. Place pumpkin halves open side down in pan.
Bake for 1 hour.
Allow to cool, then scoop flesh from the skin.
For Pumpkin Pie Filling:
1 pound cooked pumpkin, mashed
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon corn starch
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all filling ingredients together with an electric mixer until smooth.
Line pie pan with crust.
Pour filling into crust.
Bake for 1 hour. Serve warm or cold with ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream.