Thanksgiving Cooking Round One

Thanksgiving is quickly approaching us and if you are like me you've been searching for creative ideas to make this holiday a memorable one.  Sure pecan, pumpkin, and apple pie are delicious, but why not take a classic recipe and fancy it up a bit? Browsing through a few cookbooks and a website or two, I finally stumbled upon a creative twist to an apple pie. "Spiced Apple Flutter." Combining this recipe alongside a few of my grandmas hidden secrets...this is what I came up with. For my first pie I have to admit, it came out pretty well, and according to family members it tasted 'phenomenal.'


Once again I posted the recipe below. Keep checking back throughout the next few weeks, because thanks to the wonderful women of my family, I now have quite a few homemade traditional recipes that I'll be sharing with you!


Ingredients 
4 pounds Granny Smith apples
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest 
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar 
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar 
1 teaspoon coarse salt 
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice 
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
1 tablespoon heavy cream 
1 large egg yolk 
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (cut small pieces)
Fine sanding sugar
Pie Crust recipe or pie crust in a box.  



Recipe 
1. Roll one disk of dough to 1/8 inch thick and fit into a 9 inch deep dish pie place. Refrigerate for one hour.
2. Peel and core apples. Thinly slice half the apples and cut remaining apples into 1 inch pieces.
3. Toss together apples, lemon zest and juice, sugars, flour, salt cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Place filling in pie crust mound it in the center, then dot lightly with butter.
4. Take top layer of pie crust and design any which way you like. This is where you can really get creative. (I chose to stick to an original design cutting the dough into strips, so that the top of the pie would look criss-cross.
5. Make egg wash by whisking together egg yolk and cream in a small bow. Lightly brush edge of pie crust with egg wash.
6. Sprinkle top with sanding sugar. Refrigerate for one hour.
7. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, with racks in the middle and lower positions. Place a foil-lined baking sheet on lower rack to catch any juices. Place pie on middle rack and bake until crust begins to turn golden brown, about 25 minutes. Then, reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees, and bake until the crust is a light gold brown and the juices are bubbling (approx 1 hour). Tent with foil if crust browns to quickly. Let cool completely on wire rack.



Now Playing: The Beatles "Here Comes The Sun"