Pie times: Bake an Apple-Huckleberry Peace Pie
When it comes to comfort food, few treats beat the down-home deliciousness of fresh-baked pie. San Franciscans have been indulging in the gooey wedge-shaped goodness at student-operated Mission Pie since its grand opening in January. And thanks to the summer sleeper hit Waitress, the dessert seems to be making a well-deserved national comeback. The film has inspired pie recipe contests online and off, not to mention plenty of articles on professional pastry chefs and their own pie creation stories. What’s more, a food-focused advocacy group called Sustainable Table is traveling the country in search of the best pie ever while en route to this year’s Farm Aid Concert.
Last month in San Francisco, the sweet aroma of piping-hot pies wafted through the streets as Mission Pie’s fruit-filled specialties were bicycled to customers’ doorsteps by artist/delivery-boy Nathan Lynch. As part of his residency at Southern Exposure, Lynch donned UPS-brown pants and a shirt with “pie” stitched across the back to run a pie delivery service out of the gallery, a mission that was partly intended to help SOEX and Mission Pie prepare for SOEX’s upcoming relocation and Mission Pie’s expansion into SOEX’s current storefront.
To celebrate the end of Lynch’s residency a few weeks ago, SOEX held a bake-off of its own—an American Pie-dol of sorts. Although I didn’t enter, I did cheer on my best friend and pie-maker Jessica Appelgren, who cooked up a scrumptious apple-huckleberry confection served on a chic Jonathan Adler tray. The place was packed, and after stuffing our pie holes on pies of all shapes, fillings, and sizes, we sat in suspense as prizes were awarded for Best Pie Made by an Eight-Year-Old and Best Use of Marzipan to Imitate Bird Brains, as well as more traditional accomplishments like Best Filling. But I’m happy to report that, in the end, Jessica’s pie-in-the-sky hopes came true, and Appelgren’s Apple-Huckleberry Peace Pie was crowned best in show.
And here’s the real prize: Jessica was generous enough to share the winning recipe, as well as a version with a gluten-free crust for gluten-intolerant folks like me!
Appelgren’s Apple-Huckleberry Peace Pie
Says Jessica: “The peace part sounds hokey, but I do think that a little pie could benefit the world and calm our collective nerves. This one is a modern take on a family recipe. The crust is my grandmother Hope’s recipe, which was passed down to my mom and then to me. The filling is my mom’s traditional apple pie recipe, but the added twist comes from the huckleberries, which come straight from my Dad’s ranch in Bandon, Oregon (they grow wild there). The huckleberries give the pie a little tartness and acidity, as well as a gorgeous dark pink tint. The lattice crust is pretty, but it also cuts down on the richness of the pie by lessening the amount of pastry, which is already pretty rich.”
(recipe makes 4 crusts, 2 top and 2 bottom)
Ingredients:
Crust
2 cups butter
2-2/3 cups flour
1 cup water
1 tsp. salt
Filling
5 Granny Smith apples
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp. brown sugar
5 tbsp. flour
1 heaping tsp. cinnamon
1/4 - 1/2 cup huckleberries
To make the crust:
Chill the butter in the freezer for 10 minutes so that’s it’s really cold. Pour the flour over the butter on a large work surface, covering the butter so that it won’t stick to your rolling pin. Roll the butter out flat, collect the mixture with a scraper, and re-roll it two or three times. Make a hole in the middle of the mixture and add the water and salt, cutting the liquid into the mix with the scraper until you have a workable dough. Roll the dough out flat one more time, cut it in half, and place in the freezer.
To make the filling:
Peel and core the apples and cut them into thin slices. Mix the apple slices with the sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and huckleberries.
To assemble the pie:
Take the dough out of the freezer, roll into a thin circle for the bottom crust, place in a pie pan, and fill. Dot the top of the mixture with tiny pieces of butter. Roll a thicker circle for the top crust and use a pie edger to cut 1-inch strips for the lattice crust. Carefully place the strips on top of the mixture and secure by making indentations with your finger around the edge of the pie. Brush the top with cream and sprinkle sugar on top to make it look sparkly.
Bake in the center of the oven with a foil-lined baking sheet on the bottom shelf to catch any drips. Bake at 400 degrees Farenheit for 15 minutes, and then turn down the temp to 350 degrees. Let bake for an additional hour to hour-and-15-minutes, until you see the mixture bubbling inside. Let rest for at least an hour and enjoy!
Tips: Make sure to use cold butter when making the dough. Brushing the cream on top of the pie before baking is what makes the crust golden brown. The extra foil-lined pan in the oven will keep things from getting too messy. And always bake with a really cute apron on to get you in the mood!
Gluten-free Pie Crust
Ingredients:
1 cup margarine
1-3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
1-3/4 cups rice flour
1/2 cup sweet rice flour (from the Asian market)
1 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
1-1/2 teaspoons GF baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla
Cream together margarine, eggs and sugar. Add remaining dry ingredients. Mix well, and spread about 1/4 inch deep on bottom and sides of your pie pan. A deep dish pie pan is best, because this crust takes a little more room than the regular kinds of piecrusts. You will get at least 2 large 1-crust pies out of this.
For more gluten-free crusts, check out the blogs my gluten-free world and gluten-free girl.
