classic apple pie

Thanksgiving is only a few weeks, and one of my favorite things to do is plan our Turkey Day dinner menu.

A few years I made this classic apple pie to finish off our terrific turkey dinner. I borrowed some leaf-shaped cookie cutters from my professional cake baking friend and used them to cut out leaves for the top layer of the pie. I simply scored them with a sharp paring knife to add some additional natural vein details.

Serve al a mode with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a sprinkling of cinnamon, and you're sure to impress all your guests.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
• 1 to 1 1/2 recipes Pate Brisee Deep-Dish Pate Brisee
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• 3 pounds assorted apples, such as Macoun, Granny Smith, cortland, Jonagold, or empire, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• Sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

1. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out one pate brisee disc into a 13-inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Fit dough into a 9-inch pie plate. With a sharp paring knife, trim dough flush with the rim. Freeze again until firm, at least 30 minutes.
2. Roll out remaining 2 discs of pate brisee to about 1/8 inch thick. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and freeze until firm, at least 30 minutes. Remove from freezer; using a 2 1/4-inch leaf-shaped cutter, cut out about 65 leaves and place them in a single layer on baking sheet. Place in refrigerator until firm.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolk and heavy cream; set aside. In a large bowl, toss the apples with the lemon juice, granulated sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Remove pie shell from freezer, and fill with apple mixture. Dot with butter.
4. Remove leaves from refrigerator, and score with a paring knife to make veins. Lightly brush the edge of the pie shell with water. Brush the bottom of each leaf with water; beginning with the outside edge, arrange leaves in a slightly overlapping ring. Repeat to form another ring slightly overlapping the first. Continue until only a small circle of filling is left uncovered in the center.
5. Carefully brush the top of the leaves and pie edge with the reserved egg wash, and sprinkle generously with sanding sugar. Freeze or refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes.
6. Place pie plate on a baking sheet, and bake until crust just begins to brown, about 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking until crust is golden brown and juices are bubbling, 35 to 45 minutes. If the crust begins to get too dark, drape a piece of aluminum foil over the top. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

 

Recipe source: Martha Stewart