Deep Dish Apple Pie

I am so excited to be sharing this recipe with you!
My husband and I perfected it this year, and my oh my is it good.
What makes it so good? The compote!
Sugary, sweet, and thick sauce that smothers your apples and bakes that pie to perfection.

The second best part? The crust!
We wanted to keep it whole wheat but this time we used white whole wheat flour which truly made all the difference.

I hope you enjoy!
Adapted by Eatingwell.com and Inside BruCrew Life

Ingredients: 
Crust

2 1/2 cups white whole flour
2 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
3 tbs canola oil
4tbs butter, unsalted, cubed
1/4cup cold water
Compote
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup white sugar
1/4 cornstarch
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
2cups water
Filling
5 cups apples, cubed
1tbs lemon juice
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Directions: 
Start with the crust:  In a large bowl, whisk flour, salt, and sugar together. With pastry blender or hands mix in cubed butter until dough starts to become crumbly.  Then, fold in Greek yogurt and slowly pour cold water in as your are kneading the dough together. Turn out the dough and knead on a lightly floured surface until dough is just holding together. Divide dough in half and shape into 5inch wide disks. Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate for and hour.
Filling: Peel and chop up the apples to small cubes. Fold in lemon juice and cinnamon and set aside.
Compote: Add sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and water to a small pot. Bring to a boil, and let boil for 2min, constantly stirring.Fold in apple mixture, reduce heat to medium low and let simmer covered for 10-12min. Remove from heat.

Preheat oven 425 degrees F. Place a baking rack on the bottom shelf.

Let refrigerated dough sit out for 5min to get to room temperature. Place  parchment paper over disks and roll each out to ~13inch. Carefully lay one rolled-out dough into a 9 1/2-10inch pie pan. Trim over hanging edges. Evenly add apple compote mixture and then carefully lay the other rolled-out dough on top and gently tuck top dough into bottom. You can then make or pinch any pie decorations  would like. Add at least 4 holes or slices to the top of the dough for ventilation.

*Optional:Whisk an egg white with 1/4 tsp cinnamon together and glaze top of dough for a shinny finish.

Bake pie at 425 for 20 min (you may want to cover with aluminum foil to keep the top from browning too much). Then reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake for another 20-30min until top is a light golden brown (remove aluminum foil during this stage).

 Let cool for 20 min.

ENJOY!!!!

Mini Deep Dish Apple Pie

       We were out to dinner and finishing up our delicious main course when the waiter graciously, but of course conceived well before we even received our drink orders, asked if we would like to try their apple pie or chocolate molten cake for dessert.

            Now my husband and I hardly, and I mean, it better be our wedding anniversary or a new decade birthday do we get dessert at a restaurant, but both of us looked at each other with eyes yearning for some apple pie...but of course we said no thank you.

              But a craving doesn't get away that easy with this foodie, so as soon as the waiter whisked away our dishes in order to bring us our check I said, don't worry honey I'll make some apple pie!

And thus these beauties.

Simple, single serving, deep dish apple pies. Just the right amount smother that craving with sweet, cinnamony apple bliss.

Ingredients
Dough
1 cup-whole wheat pastry flour
1tbs cold butter, diced
1tbs white sugar
1/2 tsp vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
4 tbs cold water

Filling
2 small granny smith apples (mine were really small 1 large will probably work), diced
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1tbs sugar
drop of vanilla

egg white, for wash (or milk)

4 (half cup ramekins)

Directions:
Lightly spray the inside of ramekins with cooking spray, set aside.

Mix together the flour, salt and sugar. Cut in diced butter with a pastry blender or two forks until mixture looks a little crumbly. Add in 1tbs of cold water and a time and fold mixture over itself to form a dough. The dough should be slightly wet, and completely sticking to itself. 

Place dough on a well floured surface and kneed together 10-15 times, then let rest for 5-10 min. 


Meanwhile, dice apple(s) into small bite size pieces and then toss apple pieces, cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl, set aside. 
Preheat oven to 350 F.

Now take the rested dough and divided into 8 equal balls. 
(I rolled my dough into a ball, and then cut it in half, and then cut that half in half, and so on so forth).

Gently begin forming the balls of dough into small disks by either gently pressing them down with your  palm or rotating them between your thumb and index finger.

Then gently roll out into a thin, flat disk then place and press them to the inside of prepped ramekin--it's okay if the dough sides spill over the edges.

Repeat with the remaining dough balls, pressing three more into the bottoms of the ramekins and saving the other four to top the mini pies with.

Take your prepped mixture and evenly distribute the mixture into each of the ramekins. 
Then take the rolled out dough and lay them over the top of the ramekins. Gently press and or pinch the sides of the dough to the ramekin to enclose the pie. 

Decorate the tops of the dough with slits to release the steam. Then gently brush the tops with egg whites or milk.

Place mini pies on a baking sheet, and bake for 30 min, until tops have a nice golden color. 

Remove and let cool for 10 min. 

ENJOY!!!

Question: What's your favorite kind of pie?

Apple Hand Pies

PIE...

The delicious baked dish that can hold in itself a savory meal or a decadent dessert. 

Pies were historically created as an easy storage and carrying method of cooking--The first pies were actually called "coffins" or "coffyns" (the word actually meant a basket or box).--Pie History 

In this case I wanted to make something even more mobile, 
a pie you could hold in your hand, 
something you could easily mingle with, 
something you could pair with a nice cup of tea,
 or a smooth sip of coffee; 

I give you the hand pie.

Recipe adapted from Just a Taste 
Ingredients: 
Dough
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp sugar
3/4  cup coconut oil, solid, divided
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt

 Apple Filling
2 cups granny smith apples
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbs sugar
2tbs flour
2 tsp lemon juice

Egg wash
1 egg  +1 tbs water


Directions:
Pulse flour, salt, baking soda and sugar together. Add coconut oil 4 tbs at a time and pulse until flour starts to crumble. Pulse in cubed butter. Add in greek yogurt 4 tbs at a time and pulse until mixture is wet and quite crumbly .

Dump onto a floured surface. Fraisage the dough together and then kneed 5-8 times. Roll into 8x10in rectangle. Dust top with flour and roll into thirds--like a coil.

Turn 90 degrees and roll out dough again into an 8x10 rectangle

Fold again into thirds and then tightly wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 min. (you can store in fridge up to 5 days if making ahead of time)--if you are pressed for time you can refrigerate for 10-15 min, just to get a  solid form.

Preheat oven 425 F.

Once set for 30 min in the fridge, remove from fridge and let sit on counter for  10-15 to soften a bit. Roll out into ~12x12 to 14x14 square.

Using a 3in biscuit/cookie cutter and cut out as many circles as possible; molding and re-rolling out the dough as needed.

Evenly space out dough circles on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Spoon about 1 tbs worth of filling into the center of the circle and top with another circle.

Seal edges with a fork--don't be afraid to push down on the top circle and apply a good amount of pressure to seal because these puff up quite a bit!

Brush each pie with an egg wash, and using a sharp knife slice air vents into the tops of the dough.

Sprinkle with a little sugar, if desired, and bake for 15 min, until tops are a golden brown.

Let cool for 10 min before serving.

ENJOY!!!!