One of the tricky things about this time of the year is the abundance of just about everything. Peaches, plums, zucchini and tomatoes are coming outta everyone’s ears, and the race is on to get them tucked away into cans and pickles and cakes and sauces and pies (phew!) as fast as we can pick ’em up. In some cases, the method of dispatch is more stealthy-there have been plenty of mystery zucchini dropped by many a door this summer, and more to follow I’m sure. But we do what we can with what we can, and so when I inherited a windfall of Gravenstein apples from ChefShop.com, I buckled down and got to business. Here’s a recipe for the deep dish apple pie I knocked out yesterday. Please note it is all gone now. Breakfast pie is a big hit around here.
For the bottom crust:
1/2 lb. AP flour
1/4 lb. very cold unsalted butter
2 oz. icewater
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
For the filling:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup AP flour
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
8 Gravenstein or other medium-sized apples, peeled, cored and sliced
for the crumble topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, diced into small cubes
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
In a food processor, pulse sugar, salt and flour together until well combined. Then pulse together the butter and flour until the butter resembles coarse cornmeal. Next, add the water while pulsing again. Continue until dough just comes together-you may not need all the water. Turn contents of the workbowl out onto a flat, clean surface and gather it together into a disc. Wrap dough and chill for at least 1 hour.
Meanwhile, combine the topping ingredients together. Let them chill in the refrigerator with the dough.
Toss the filling ingredients together and set them aside. While they are macerating, roll out the bottom crust and fit it into a deep dish 9″ pie dish. Preheat your oven to 475 F.
Place filling into crust-lined dish. Top with the crumble topping. Dot the top with additional bits of butter, if you like.
Place a baking sheet on the rack beneath the pie to catch any juices. Bake at 475 F. for 30 minutes. Turn down the heat and continue to bake at 350 F. until bubbly and brown. If you like, top the crumble crust with a bit more sugar and turn on the broiler setting for about a minute until just melted and brown.
Let it cool at room temperature for 2 hours to let it set. Wrap loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate, or just have at it. Serve with heavy cream, whipped and flavored with 2 Tbsp. of powdered sugar and 3 Tbsp. Maker’s Mark. Oh, yes, Maker’s Mark.
Makes 8, 6 or 4 pieces, depending on who’s eating.