Pie: Apple Pie*

By Golfwidow7

My husband believes its not apple pie without vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients

• Crust:
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
• 1/2 cup finely ground blanched almonds or almond flour (can substitute 1/2 cup flour if you don't have almonds)
• 16 Tbsp (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes, chilled in freezer for at least 15 minutes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 heaping teaspoon brown sugar
• 3 to 6 Tbsp water, very cold
• Filling:
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup water minus 1 T
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced thin
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 1 T cornstarch
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 Tbsp. cream

Details

Servings 8
Preparation time 30mins
Cooking time 75mins
Adapted from simplyrecipes.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F
In a food processor, combine flour, almonds, salt and brown sugar, pulse to mix. Add butter and pulse 6 to 8 times, until mixture resembles coarse meal, with pea size pieces of butter. Add water 1 Tablespoon at a time, pulsing until mixture just begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready, if not, add a little more water and pulse again.
Remove dough from machine and place on a clean surface. Carefully shape into 2 discs. Do not over-knead the dough! You should still be able to see little bits of butter in the dough. These bits of butter are what will allow the result crust to be flaky. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
For the filling: Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add all ingredients EXCEPT apples, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
Place the bottom crust in your pan. Stir apples into hot mixture (save enough to brush on top crust before baking), pour into bottom crust mounded slightly. Cover with a second crust making slits in top crust or a lattice work crust. Place on a foil lined pan to catch any bubble over.
Stir yolk and cream in small bowl to blend. Brush over top of pie.
Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F. Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft. I usually cover pie after fifteen minutes with foil, tearing it open in middle and pulling it back, leaving the edge of the crust covered to prevent it from over baking or burning.