Tiny New York Kitchen: Pilgrim Apple Pie

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By Victoria Hart Glavin of Tiny New York Kitchen

Pilgrims ate baked goods with almost every meal and apple pie was a favorite. The pilgrims brought many of their favorite fruits with them to North America. Colonists brought young apple trees from England and planted apple orchards. Pilgrim women used the apples to make apple pie, which quickly became a favorite dessert. Pilgrims even ate apple pie for breakfast.

Ingredients

Crust:

2 Cups Unbleached Flour

1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt

1/2 Cup Canola Oil

5 Tablespoons Cold Water

Filling:

2 1/2 Pounds Apples (Peeled, Cored & Sliced) – About 6 Cups

1/2 Cup Sugar

2 Tablespoons Unbleached Flour

1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1/8 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg

1/8 Teaspoon Ground Cloves

1/4 Teaspoon Grated Lemon Zest

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  In a large-size bowl combine sliced apples, sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and lemon zest. Toss apples to coat evenly and set aside.

In a medium-size bowl, Sift together 2 cups flour and kosher salt. Add canola oil and cold water to measuring cup, but don’t stir. Add liquids to flour and stir with fork just until mixture forms a ball.  Divide dough into 2 pieces. One should be slightly larger than the other.

Between two large pieces of wax paper or parchment paper roll larger dough into about a 12 inch circle. Peel off paper and fit dough, into greased 9 inch pie pan. Reuse wax paper to roll out smaller dough for top crust. Peel off and set aside for a moment. Add filing to pie shell and distribute evenly. Apply top crust and press dough edges together to seal. Crimp or flute edges. Made a few slits or decorate cuts in top crust in order for steam to escape. Cover edges of crust with either a pie crust shield or aluminum foil to prevent burning.

Place pie on baking sheet and place in oven. Bake for 50 Minutes until filling bubbles. Remember that each oven heats differently so make sure to check at 40 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool on wire rack. Cool completely. Store pie at room temperature, covered with clean dishtowel for up to 2 days. Crust will become soggy if pie is refrigerated or tightly covered. Serve plain or with vanilla ice cream.

Makes 1 Pie, Serves 8


Victoria Hart Glavin has been cooking and writing recipes since she was a teenager. Originally from Nebraska, her appreciation for culinary technique took off when she moved to Lyon, France.

While living in France, Victoria studied French cooking from an expert Lyonnais chef. Victoria learned to love the local culture of preparing and enjoying fresh, seasonal foods. While in France, Victoria experienced the joys of shopping for local produce at the market and preparing fresh foods simply and beautifully in order to enhance the experience of the table. During her time in France, she says she “learned how to squeeze tomatoes at the local market” and “took everything in by osmosis.”

Currently, Victoria creates tasty treats in her tiny kitchen, in New York City, for all to enjoy and on weekends she explores Fairfield County where has a second home. Victoria has shared her recipes with others and now you can enjoy the Tiny New York Kitchen recipe collection, too!  Victoria is a member of Culinary Historians of New York and a member of the Association for the Study of Food and Society.