Apple Pie with Homemade Pie Crust

The next APPLE recipe I made was apple pie. I just had to make apple pie with all those apples we picked. It's my husband, Ryan's, favorite type of pie, and he grew up loving his grandmother/mother's family recipe. I actually never made apple pie, so I asked for their family recipe since it is delicious and I know my hubby loves it - he can relive his childhood a bit and I could use those apples, a win-win. I tweaked the recipe just a bit by adding vanilla extract and making my own pie crust from scratch. It's well worth enjoying the fruits of your labor, but of course this can be done with store bought pie dough.










Ingredients for pie crust:

• 2 1/2 cups All-purpose Flour
• 2 Sticks of Cold, Unsalted Butter - cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 1/2 tsp Sugar
• 6 tbs Ice Cold Water

Ingredients for filling:

• 5-7 Tart Apples, Peeled and Sliced Thin
• 3/4 cup Sugar
• 2 tbs All-purpose Flour 
• Dash salt
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 tbs Butter or Margarine, melted

Start by making the pie crust:

Combine flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor and pulse to mix. Add in the cubed cold butter and pulse until mixture is crumbly.

Add cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time and pulse until dough begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready. If the dough doesn't hold together, add a little more water and pulse again. Too much water will make the crust tough though, so go easy.

Remove dough from the food processor, and place it on a clean surface. Smash the dough with the palm of your hand a few times for an extra flaky crust.  Do not over-knead. 

Gently shape the dough into a disk. You should be able to see little bits of butter in the dough. These small chunks of butter are what will allow the crust to be flaky. Sprinkle a little flour around the disk. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour (and up to 2 days).

Now make the pie filling:
Peel and slice apples thin, set aside.

Mix together sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add in the melted butter and vanilla and mix utill well blended. 

Add in the apples and mix until all apples are well coated with the filling mixture. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove the pie crust dough from the refrigerator and cut into two even pieces. Shape each half into two round disks, this way when you roll it out, it will be easier to make a perfect circle.  

Roll out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to an approximately 12-inch circle, about 1/8 of an inch thick. If necessary, add a few sprinkles of flour under the dough to keep the dough from sticking. 

Carefully place onto your greased 9-inch pie plate. Gently press the pie dough down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to trim the dough 1/2 inch off the edge of the pie dish if needed. Add filling to the pie.

Roll out the second disk the same exact way and size. Place this top layer over the pie.

Fold the edge of the top piece of dough over and under the edge of the bottom piece of dough, pressing together. 

Press the edges with a fork. Slice the top of the pie with two 2-inch long cuts, so that steam from the cooking pie can escape.

Place pie on a baking sheet. Bake in 400 degree oven for approximately 50 minutes. Cool for 20-30 minutes before serving.

Cinnamon Apple Cake

Since Fall is upon us,  we decided to go apple and pumpkin picking with our friends and dogs - it's only the right thing to do in early October. We went to Melick's Orchard in Oldwick, NJ, all decked out in flannels. We got to pick all different types of apples, pumpkins, and gourds. My husband and I some how came home with 35 pounds of apples. In addition to eating an apple a day, I had to cook with them too... the first thing I made with them was apple cake. I almost think I like it better than apple pie, believe it or not, and it is way easier to make. Here's how it's done...

Ingredients: 9 inch pan (round or square is fine) - I made two, so I made one of each.

• 4 cups Apples, peeled and cut into cubes
• 2 Eggs
• 1 cup Canola Oil
• 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1 cup White Granulated Sugar
• 3/4 cup Light Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 2 tsp Ground Cinnamon 
• Zest of 1/2 of a Lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9 inch square or round pan.

Mix the eggs and oil in a bowl with an electric mixer or whisk by hand. 

Add the cinnamon, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, lemon zest and mix well. 

Add in the flour, salt, baking soda and whisk until well-blended. 

Fold in the apples. The batter is very thick so you will need a heavy duty spatula or you can mix it by hand.

Pour the batter into your greased pan and bake for 45 minutes or until it is done. Stab it with a knife, if it comes out dry then it is done.

 Let cool for 15-20 minutes. Dust with confectioners sugar to decorate before serving.

Handmade Fricelli Pasta from Scratch

What is Fricelli you may ask?

My husband and I got imported tricolor fricelli in our Christmas stocking last year (compliments of my mom who went to a specialty store for it) and we instantly fell in love - he more than I actually.
Every once in a blue moon when I randomly came across this pasta I would buy it - I even bought a couple bags of it in Italy to bring home from our honeymoon.

Speaking of our honeymoon, we took a cooking class one day and actually learned how to make it from scratch - our dreams came true. ;) This pasta is A LOT of manual love and work - but so worth it. It's a more technical handmade pasta than I've ever attempted. Having a pasta partner always helps cut down on the time, though!

In addition to making handmade pasta, we took this a step further and made individual gratin bowls baked with homemade mozzarella, parm, and fresh tomato sauce. Talk about a Sunday dinner!

My mom has been itching to use her gratin bowls for over a year now - we always had some sort of excuse not to do it, but this time we just went all out. This is one of my most proud dishes to date, if you are adventurous and love to cook - this is a must try. :)

Ingredients: 6-8 people

Pasta:

• 4-5 cups of Flour
• 1/2 cup potato starch
• 1 - 1 1/4 cup of HOT water
• pinch of salt
• extra flour for dusting
• Wooden skewer

Tomato Sauce:

• 1-2 Jars Fresh tomato sauce - Italian people, (or pureed tomatoes)
• 1-2 Garlic cloves, chopped
• Drizzle of Olive Oil
• Pinch of Crushed Red Pepper
• 3-4 Fresh Basil Leaves
• Salt to taste

Gratin:

• Mozarella (my mom makes her own - can't beat that)
• Parmigiano Reggiano
• Gratin dishes for individually served, or a large baking pan

Tomato Sauce: 

My family makes our own jars of tomato sauce, but you can buy fresh tomatoes and make your own sauce, or get whole pealed tomato in cans and puree it. Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan and add in he garlic and hot pepper. Sauté the garlic then pour in the tomato sauce. Add in the basil leaves and salt to taste...Cook for about 30 min and set aside.

Fricelli:

Place the flour,  potato starch, and salt on your counter or mixing table and mix them together. Hollow out the flour so it creates a wall; this way the water won't spill out. 

Slowly pour half of the hot water in the center. You may want to use kitchen gloves so you don't burn your hands. Mix in some of the flour.

 Pour in the rest of the water and continue mixing in the flour mixture.

 Kneed the dough with your hands. Add flour as needed.

... until fully blended and soft. Let it sit for a few minutes.

 Cut off a slice and roll into a 1 inch thick log (approx).

Slice the log into 1 inch squares.

Next, roll each square into mini logs with the balls of your fingers. Roll them in your extra flour so it doesn't stick when you get to the next step.

Now for the hard part - place the skewer in the center of the mini dough log and carefully press down. Roll until the pasta shapes around the skewer. If you don't have enough flour on the dough, it will stick to the skewer and will not work. I had to re-do a several because there wasn't enough flour on the mini logs!

Carefully remove the fricelli from the skewer.

Place the completed pastas on a clean kitchen towel layered with semolina flour. The semolina flour is needed so they don't stick to each other or to the towel.

Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water. Once they begin to float, they are ready!

Carefully remove the pasta from the water and place into a large bowl.

 Mix in some tomato sauce so all the pasta is even coated in sauce.

 GRATIN (or baked pasta in a baking pan):

Spoon a little sauce on the bottom so it covers the entire dish. Add in a layer of pasta, mozzarella, and grated parm. Top off with more sauce. Repeat.

Repeat one more time and you should fill your dish. If you have a deeper dish, then add layers until you are done. Add extra cheese and mozzarella to the top layer.

Bake at 375 degrees for approx 20 minutes, depending on your oven. The cheese should be melted and sizzling. Let sit for about 2-3 minutes before serving.