Stacked High Apple Pie
I can’t say that this Stacked High Apple Pie is a replica to coincide with the verse ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’, but then it just might count, at least a smidgen, given the dense volume of thick sliced fruit contained within.
Oh, but how I admit to being a greedy little thing when it comes to apple pie, always have been.
Pushing it to the maximum possible limit on just how many apples I can stuff into that old, dented pie tin lined with crust, or I should say, almost two crusts.
Yes, I even make two pie crust recipes for this pie, using about a half of the other. Green, red, crisp, tart, juicy, sweet, I stack em in and stack em high until the big ole mound resembles something like the bulge of a stuffed turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Now this is my idea of a good old fashioned apple pie.
Sweet and buttery, this crust is not one that produces the pliability of perfection, even upon careful attention with your best rolling pin. It cooperates just nicely enough to amply cover your tin circumference and then, tiny pieces of remnant dough may be torn off and stuck with your thumb filling any tiny crack or opening, guaranteeing complete collection of all the sweet juices from the sugared apples contained within.
And yes, yes, I know, preparing two pie crusts for one pie may seem a bit excessive, and one pie crust will indeed cover this pie, I’ve done it many times. It’s just that the two provide more freedom and, just plain fun for stacking, covering, o.k, playing with the dough like a child, finished by shaping as many of those little leaves as you care to before carefully cutting in the centers with tiny little lines like thin veins streaming to the dark green stems of the bright colored leaves in the fall.
On the other hand, any remaining pie dough may be frozen and used on another occasion, or, like me, you can even let the children or grandchildren get into the fun creating a smaller pie of their own, wrapped all around its filling, apples; green, red, crisp, tart, juicy, sweet, still bulging like a stuffed turkey on Thanksgiving Day.
Topped with shaped out versions of leaves, thin lines drawn about like the veins leading to the dark green stems of bright colored leaves in the fall, stack em in, and stack em high and there you have it, the Stacked High Apple Pie.
Stacked High Apple Pie
Notes
If not using dough after one-half hour of chilling, let sit at room temperature for fifteen minutes or a little longer for easier rolling. Dough may be frozen, defrosted overnight in the refrigerator, then set on a counter for fifteen minutes or more before rolling out.
This dough is easy to patch if any cracking occurs during rolling or laying into the pie tin, simply press a dough scrap to fill in the area
Ingredients
- For the Crust:
- 1 stick butter, cut into tiny little bits, kept well chilled until use
- 3 tablespoons vegetable shortening, chilled
- 2 cups flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
- 3- 5 tablespoons ice water, enough to hold dough together
- For The Pie Filling:
- 4 Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled, sliced into half inch slices
- 3-4 assorted apples such as Honeycrisp, Red Delicious, your choice, cored, peeled, sliced into half inch slices
- 1/2 lemon, approximately, zested, and juiced
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons butter, cut into small bits
- 1 egg, beaten for egg wash
- 1 tablespoon sugar, approximately for sprinkling over pie before last ten minutes of baking
Instructions
- Preparing the Pie Tin: Lightly grease pie tin with butter or shortening and a bit of flour rotating tin to cover the bottom and sides before shaking out excess flour
- Preparing the Crust: Into the bowl of a food processor, pulse together the flour, salt, sugar, chilled butter bits and shortening, pulsing the mixture to a coarse meal. Dribble in the ice water one tablespoon at a time until the dough holds together in a ball. Shape the dough into a disk, cut in half and re-shape each half into a round. Wrap both rounds in plastic wrap, chill for a half hour
- On a lightly floured surface, one round at a time, roll out the dough rounds large enough to cover pie tin bottom leaving some excess to pinch the edges with the top dough once filled with apples. Using a sharp knife, draw and cut out leaf like shapes using dough scraps.
- Preparing the apples: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place peeled, sliced apples into a large glass bowl, stir through one tablespoon lemon juice and the lemon rind. Stir in the sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg salt, and vanilla
- Assembling the Pie: Pour apple mixture into the pan tin lined with the dough, dot butter bits evenly over the apples. Loosely lay the top crust over the stacked apples pinching the top and bottom crusts together
- Brush dough with the egg wash. Working quickly, brush egg wash onto the back of the shaped leaves and place decoratively across the top. With a sharp knife, make a few small slits into the top of the pie. Set pie onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for forty five minutes, take the pie out of the oven, brush again with the egg wash then sprinkle over with sugar. Put pie back into the oven and cook another ten minutes or more until crust is golden brown all over
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