Cooking up cozy homemade recipes for every occasion, straight from the heart of our home (our kitchen!)

Tag: apple pie

“Flower” Apple Pie

“Flower” Apple Pie

Flower Apple Pie

March 12, 2018
: 8-10
: 45 min
: 40 min
: 1 hr 25 min

An apple pie so beautiful you might not want to eat it. Well, until you smell it baking that is! Our golden delicious crust with luscious layers of baked cinnamon apples is sure to put a smile on everyone's face!

By:

Ingredients
  • 12 TBSP (1 1/2 sticks) very cold unsalted butter
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 TBSP sugar
  • 1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening
  • 1/2 cup ice water
  • 6 large firm red apples, cored and seeded
  • 1 TBSP lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
Directions
  • Step 1 Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. Place flour, salt, and sugar into a food processor and pulse a few times to mix. Add the cold diced butter and shortening. Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
  • Step 2 With the machine running, pour the ice water in and pulse several times until the dough begins to form a ball. You’ll see it start to pull away from the sides of the processor. Pour out the dough onto a floured pastry board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  • Step 3 Meanwhile, wash the apples and pat dry. Slice each apple in half lengthwise. Then slice each apple half into 1/8-inch thick slices lengthwise (see image below). Each piece should look like a small half-moon. Place the apple slices into a large bowl. Sprinkle with both sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon juice, stirring to coat. Let the apples soak for a few minutes.
  • Step 4 Transfer the apple slices to a large skillet set over low heat. (I had so many apples I needed two skillets!) Simmer the apples over low heat, gently stirring every so often for about 10 minutes. You want the apples to soften to the point that the slices are easy to bend, but not too soft and mushy. Transfer the apples and all pan juices back to a large bowl to cool.
  • Step 5 Remove the dough from the fridge and cut it in half (reserve the other half for another pie!). Flour the board and your rolling pin generously and gently roll out your dough into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge. Flip and flour the dough often to make sure it doesn’t stick to the board.
  • Step 6 Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and begin assembling your pie. Carefully place the dough into your pie dish, pressing it carefully into the sides. Begin to place the apple slices, skin side up, around the perimeter of the pie crust. Layer each new slice to cover about one-third of the apple slice immediately proceeding it.
  • Step 7 Once the first circle is complete around the outer edge, continue on with the next circle in, again overlapping each slice and nesting the slices closely against the row before them. Work toward the center of the pie as you build each circle of apple slices.
  • Step 8 Once the circles of apple slices come to the center inch or so of the pie, prepare the center “bud” by tightly rolling one apple slice into a spiral. Wind additional apple slices around that spiral until the “bud” is large enough to fill the small gap in the very center of your pie. Carefully nestle the “bud” into the center of the pie. Use pastry sheers to cut any extra dough around the edge of the pie dish and then use a fork to make decorative indents into the rim of the pie plate. Make sure to reserve any extra apple slices and the remaining syrup from the apple bowl.
  • Step 9 Bake the pie at 375°F until crust begins to lightly brown, about 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350°F and bake 20 more minutes until the crust is golden and the apples are baked through. Remove the pie from the oven and immediately drizzle with the reserved apple syrup. Let the pie cool before slicing to serve.

After 4 days without power , what better way to reunite with my kitchen than to bake something special?!  Pi day is just days away and I had been dreaming of posting this pie recipe especially for the occasion, so it ended up being the perfect way for us to celebrate being home sweet home.

A full disclaimer before you read on: believe it or not, I have never baked an apple pie before in my life and I’ve also never made a pie crust from scratch before either. Whew, glad I got that confession off my chest! There’s a first time for everything and since I’ve really been trying to challenge myself in the baking department the last few months, baking a pie was the next thing on my list.

In retrospect, I really don’t know why I ever found it so intimidating! This pie crust comes together pretty simply and it isn’t super time consuming either. The most time consuming part of baking this pie was the artistry itself. But once you get the hang of layering the apples, it really starts to come together naturally. As I nestled each layer in, I occasionally would go back and tuck in extra apples around the back, just to plug any holes that might have formed. You just want to ensure that the circles as tight as possible. With each ring I placed, my excitement grew – you can almost visually being to see the “flower” blossoming. It’s really a sight to behold!

Is it the easiest thing I’ll ever post on our blog? Not by a long shot. But was it easier than I expected? To my surprise, yes! Hopefully we have written the recipe in such a way that it is pretty intuitive, especially to those who have more of a baking legacy than I do. Beyond that, it really just requires patience and attention to detail.

It’s pure beauty aside, I think you can probably see now why I am so proud of this pie! The fact that I not only pulled off this incredible recipe (yes, I’m happy to report, it’s pretty darn delicious!), but also produced something so downright beautiful, was definitely a milestone. I think this pie will forever hold a special place in my heart. Here’s to hoping it will in yours too!