WAITRESS Pie Contest: “Goin’ to the Chapple” Cherry-Apple Pie

“Goin’ to the Chapple” Cherry-Apple Pie
Submitted by Marty Sweeney

If you’re like me, few things in the world beat warm apple pie, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream slowly melting over it. But what about cherry pie? Tart cherries are so delicious, especially when the tartness is offset by sugar in cherry pie filling. Top off a piece of steaming cherry pie with homemade whipped cream and life just can’t get much better.

Apple or Cherry? Cherry or Apple? Where is it written that we have to choose one or the other? Who elected themselves “Pie Police”?

2-1/2 cups of unbleached flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter (very cold & cubed into small pieces)

1/2 cup of Crisco

1/4 cup of cold water

2 cups pitted tart red cherries

1/2 cup white sugar

1/8 cup corn starch

3 Large Granny Smith Apples (peeled & sliced)

1/2 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon flour

Pie Crust Directions: Let me start by saying, it’s okay to use a store-bought crust. It’s fast, easy and they taste pretty darn good. But let me try to sell you on the idea of a homemade crust. Admittedly, these can seem temperamental at first but, once you get the hang of it, you’ll develop a feel for the consistency of the dough and then success is easily repeatable. When the fats (butter & Crisco) burst from the crust while it’s baking, you end up with a delicious, flakey crust that is WAY better than the store-bought kind. So buy the store-bought crust (if you must) but try making a crust yourself and keep them as a back up. It is so worth it!

-Wisk your dry ingredients (flour, sugar & salt) together

-Add cold diced butter into the flour and start working the mixture with your hands. You want the pieces of butter to be about pea-sized in the flour mix

-Add in the Crisco a little bit at a time, integrating it with the rest of the mix

-Add the very cold water into the mix and work it with your hands until you can form dough by pressing it between your fingers. The dough mixture will still be pretty dry and loose at this point

-Roll out about a 12″ piece of plastic wrap onto a flat surface and dumb the dough mixture into the middle of the plastic

-Using the plastic wrap, fold the dough toward the middle, using the back of your hand to do so

-When you’ve formed it into a tight dough in the middle, divide in half and wrap both pieces in plastic wrap. (You can store these in the refrigerator for up to a week)

-When you’re ready to use, let the dough come to room temperature. Form each piece into a ball

-On a floured surface, roll out each piece into a circle until it exceeds the diameter of your pie pan by a comfortable margin

-One piece is for the bottom, one is for the top…and you know what to do from here!

Fillings: A note on fillings. If you wish to make only an apple or cherry pie (I can’t imagine why), simply double the filling recipe of your choice.

-Place cherries in a sauce pan over medium heat until you start to see juices coming out of the cherries

-In a separate bowl, whisk sugar and corn starch together

-Pour mixture over cherries and mix together well

-Reduce heat to low and simmer until filling has thickened (about 2 minutes)

-Put aside to cool

-Place peeled apple slices in a bowl

-Pour each dry ingredient over apple, mixing well with each ingredient as you add it

-Stir until the moisture from the apples start to form a syrupy mixture. Don’t be too delicate with the apple slices. It’s okay to break them up a bit to let the juices flow

-Preheat oven to 375F

-In a 9″ pie pan, center one circle of dough over the pan and press to the bottom. Be sure that you have left enough dough overhanging the edges of pan.

-You can pour either filling in first, but I prefer to put the cherry filling in first because it tends to be a little thicker than the apple, which leads to a more defined delineation in the finished pie. But hey, these two fillings play nice together so who cares?

-After you have poured both fillings into the pan (one over the other, not mixed together), you want to lay the other circle of dough over the pie.

-Press down on the edge all the way around the pie to seal the top and bottom crust together. Press any flat edge to the outside of the pan, running it around the edge to trim excess dough

-It is important to vent the top layer of dough so steam and moisture can escape during baking. Since you have to make holes in your dough, feel free to get creative! Otherwise, start by making an X in the middle of the crust with the tip of a sharp knife. Then make various slits in the crust, at regular intervals to allow for additional venting.

-The edge of the pie crust has already been sealed but taking a wet fork and pressing “bird’s feet” all around the edge will make for a much prettier Chapple Pie.

-Place pie in preheated oven and bake for 35-45 minutes. Ovens vary so watch the edges to be sure they are not burning

Optional

-When pie crust is almost to the desired golden-brown you want, you can take the pie out of the oven and apply an egg white “egg wash” by brushing a thin layer over the top crust. This will give the crust a desirable shiny appearance but really adds nothing to the flavor. Put it back in the oven for an additional 5 minutes.

-Remove your pie and – this is the hard part – let it cool for 30-45 minutes before serving

Enjoy!