Grape and Apple Pie

My pie turned out just fine. Actually, it was more than fine. It was the one dessert everyone was taking a little extra slice from on Thanksgiving. Here are the desserts I made for Thanksgiving. That's a cranberry cake in the middle and the Vegan Maple Pumpkin Pie on the right.

I made a vegan crust for this recipe. If you prefer, you could follow the original recipe and make their crust with butter and shortening. I'm not by any means a pie expert. I try my best with each crust. I know the temperature has to be right when you are rolling out the dough, and that can be a challenge in a warm Florida kitchen. I hope these photos help a little. For more pie tips, check out this link when you can.

Grape and Apple Pie
slightly adapted recipe by: Karen De Masco, Bon Appetit, November 2011

Ingredients

Crust

2 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 cup frozen Earth Balance veggie spread
Ice water
(if your spread is unsalted, add ½ teaspoon of salt)
about 1 tablespoon turbinado for sugar, for sprinkling before baking (use more if you like)

Filling

3 pounds tart, crisp apples (such as Crispin or Pink Lady), peeled, quartered, cored, thinly sliced
1 pound red or black grapes, halved, seeded if needed
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Special Equipment:
A 9"-diameter glass or ceramic pie dish or metal pie pan

Preparation

Crust

Pulse flour, and salt in a food processor. Pulse a couple of times. Add Earth Balance spread; pulse just until coarse meal forms. Add water a tablespoon at a time; pulse until dough forms clumps, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dry. Gather dough into a ball; divide in half. Flatten into disks, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.

Roll out 1 dough disk on a lightly floured surface into an 11" round. Transfer to pie dish; press gently onto bottom and up sides of dish. Trim dough flush with edge of dish, leaving no overhang. Freeze until firm, about 10 minutes. Add scraps to remaining dough disk; roll out on parchment paper to a 12" round. Slide paper with dough onto a rimless baking sheet and chill in refrigerator.

Filling

Here I am feeling my dough. I'm checking to see if it's got the right consistency. Mine needed a little more flour. I tossed a little more on the dough and worked it just a bit.

Put the dough in between two sheets of plastic wrap (I lifted up the top sheet so you could see how the dough looked). Press the dough flat into a disk and roll out.
Then roll it out towards the left.

Roll it out towards the right. Continue rolling and rotating until the crust is about 3 inches larger in diameter than the rim of the pie plate

Remove the plastic wrap on top. Carefully lift the dough from the bottom wrap and place the dough around the rolling pin. Make sure your pin just doesn't start rolling off without you having it ready. I do that sometimes.  Now is when I pray that it just will magically plop on. Place the pin on top of the pie plate and roll it out.

Phew. This one did ok. Then you crimp. And crimp and crimp all around the crust. It doesn't have to be perfect. Crimp the edges by placing the thumb on the outer side of the crust and the two index fingers on either side of the thumb in the inside of the crust. Push the thumb forward while pulling the index fingers toward you. Keep going in a clockwise direction until you crimp the whole crust. Don't sweat it; do your best.

Prick the bottom of the pie crust with your fork. Sometimes I forget to do that. Those pies have turned out just fine.

Add in your filling. Carefully layer your pretty lattice strips. Sprinkle on some turbinado sugar.Turbinado sugar makes every thing so sparkly. 🙂

Place pie on baking sheet.

Bake pie until crust is golden brown and juices bubble, 50 minutes-1 hour.

There is nothing like the smell of a warm pie just about ready to slice. 🙂

Transfer to a wire rack to cool. DO AHEAD: Can be made 8 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. Serve with ice cream, if desired.

What is your favorite thing to bake for the holiday season? What is your holiday tradition?