Apple Picking

We finally got out to the apple orchard Saturday afternoon. It was a picture perfect late September day, complete with a deep blue sky and gorgeous colorful foliage. The problem was I never know which apples to pick for eating and which apples to pick for baking. I know the names of the ones I want from previous experience, but I never recognize them on the tree. Which is a wealthy? Which is a cortland? Which is a spartan? I have no idea. The orchard closest to our farm, that we visit every fall, doesn't label which apples are on which trees-and there lies the dilemma. I never can figure out what apple I am picking. I even bought a reference guide this summer with pictures of apples and their names and uses. It didn't help me one bit. So, we ended up driving down the road to the orchard's farm stand, in the barn behind their house, where we "picked" labeled bags of apples. Spartan, crisp and sweet for eating out of hand, and red cortland for baking. It couldn't be easier. No guessing and no disappointments. This morning by 8am I already had a red cortland apple pie in the oven. Just the smell of it baking was intoxicating. No candle company has been able to perfectly capture that aroma in any candle yet in my opinion.
Here is the recipe for a 9"apple pie, I hope you will try it and enjoy a little bit of apple season.

I hated to take the apples out of the bowl for baking!

9" Apple Pie

Pastry for 9-inch two-crust pie
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
dash salt
8 thinly sliced large tart apples (peeled and cored)
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

Heat oven to 425 degrees
Prepare pastry.
Stir together sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt; mix with apples.
Turn into pastry-lined pie pan; dot with butter.
Cover with top crust, seal and flute edge, cut slits in top crust for ventilation.
At this point I prepare an egg wash, to brush on the top crust before baking, of one egg and 1 Tbl. spoon of half and half ( you can use milk). Wisk together egg and half and half and brush onto crust with pastry brush. Then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. ( This step is optional, but it makes a golden brown crusty pastry.)
Cover edge of crust with 2 inch strip of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning. Remove foil last 15 minutes of baking.
Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is golden brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.

 

8 cortland apples unbaked in bottom crust produces a generous filling.

 

Cooling apple pie

 

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