Blue Ribbon Fun

In honor of my blue ribbons above, I am going to give you all a wonderful treat this week leading up to the fair.  This is my most favorite time of the year.  I love harvesting all my great garden fresh foods and cooking with these.  One of my favorite types of pie is apple.  This recipe has to be one of my all time favorite recipes.  This pie has not won any ribbons as of yet, but it is a wonderful creation. 

 Apple Pie



Ingredients:

Enough pie crust for double crust pie
For the filling:

4 tablespoons butter

6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, sliced in large chunks

1 Vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped

1 teaspoons Ground cinnamon

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/4 cup Apple cider

1 tablespoon heavy cream

For the egg wash:

1 egg

1 tablespoon of cream

sugar

Directions:

Prepare the dough and place in deep dish pie pan.

Prepare the apples:

Add the apples and all ingredients except cider and cream.  Mix together. 
Add the apple cider and cream, stir to incorporate.
Finish the pie:

Take second dough disc and roll out to a 12” circle on a lightly floured surface. Place on top of the apples and pinch the top and bottom dough edges together to enclose the apples. Add decorative edge if desired, and slice 1” air vents around the top of the pie.

Make the egg wash:

Beat the egg in a small dish and mix in cream. Lightly brush the egg wash over the top of the pie and along the edges. Sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Bake:

Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. Cover edges with aluminum foil if browning too quickly. Turn the pie in the oven, and continue to cook for another 15 minutes. Continue to cook for 7 minutes, as needed, until the crust is golden brown and flakey.  Depending upon your apples, you may need to bake this pie unitl it bubbles out of the vents or until apples are soft.

Cool:

Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least two hours before cutting and serving.  This pie needs to be cool to properly set up.