Ingredients
- Dough
- ■2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- ■1 tsp sugar
- ■1/2 tsp salt
- ■14 tbsp (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
- ■4 oz. cheddar cheese (around 1 1/2 cups), grated
- ■1/2 cup ice water
- Filling
- ■3/4 lb. (1–2) Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cubed
- ■1 lb. (2–3) Cortland apples, peeled, cored, and cubed
- ■1/2 cup of sugar
- ■1/4 cup of all-purpose flour
- ■1 tsp fresh lemon juice
- ■a little under 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ■1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- ■1/8 tsp salt
- ■a pinch of ground cloves
- ■1 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces (to dot the filling)
- ■1 egg yolk beaten with 2 tablespoons of water
- ■turbinado or demerara sugar, for dusting (granulated will work as well)
Preparation
Step 1
Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse once or twice. Add butter and pulse until crumbly, then pulse in cheese. Add the ice water a little bit at a time, pulsing in between, until dough comes together. Turn out dough and gather it together, then divide into two pieces. Wrap each piece in saran wrap and refrigerate for at least half an hour.
Toss the apples, lemon juice, sugar, salt, spices, and flour together in a bowl and set aside.
Remove one round of dough from the fridge and roll it out on a well-floured surface, until it’s about ⅛ of an inch thick. Cut out circles that are approximately 4 ½ inches in diameter (a martini glass or a small bowl will work if you don’t have an actual cutter this size). Gather up dough scraps, re-roll, and cut out more circles. Repeat until you’ve used up all that you can. Place the circles on a parchment-lined baking sheet and chill while you prepare the second round of dough. Once you have finished with that, remove the first sheet from the fridge and put the second one in.
Add around 1–2 tablespoons of filling to each circle of dough and dot with butter. Rub a little bit of water around the edges, then fold over and press with a fork to seal. Repeat with the second batch of dough, and arrange pies on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Refrigerate for half an hour.
Preheat the oven to 450° and prepare the egg wash (yolk + 2 tbsp of water). Remove the pies from the fridge and score each with a few small slits on top. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
Bake at 450° for 10 minutes, then lower the heat to 350° and bake for another 20 minutes, or until the pies begin to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and let them cool to room temperature before serving. (I, of course, found it impossible to wait more than 5 minutes, and slightly burnt my mouth on molten apples. It was worth it!)