Out the Box – Wintery Apple Pie

A few years ago, Martin and I were blessed to spend a bit of time living in the wing above the ballroom of an old English Manor house that belongs to a bona fide viscount. One of the perks of living in this beautiful property towards the end of summer was that the orchard was in full bloom, and we would spend the evenings after work picking tubs full of blackberries and baskets of apples.

During that time I learned to cook a lot of things with apples, and my favourite was a freezer friendly apple pie.  A totally simple pie to make, and keep a few in the freezer to stun surprise visitors with your domestic brilliance!

Our Abel and Cole Organic food delivery last week had a few apples in so I decided it was time to stock up on some warm winter luxury food.

However, since there are only two of us, making a whole pie is really bad for the waist line, so I’ve taken to making them cupcake sized. Now that was a stroke of genius! Warm apple pie whenever I want, without the guilt of over doing it.

So here’s the recipe:

Filling

* 5 cups tart apples, cubed (and peeled if its your preference)
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Crusts

* 1 cup flour
* ¼ cup sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 lb lard (room temp) or 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
* 1 egg, beaten

Directions

1.   Start with the crust recipe
2. Mix first three ingredients until the texture resembles course meal.
3. Beat egg
4.Add to flour mixture.
5.Mix well, adding tiny amounts of water if the batter is too dry, then chill for 15 minutes.
6. Divide dough in two/or four, if you think there’ll be enough dough.
7. Roll out crusts on a floured surface.
8. Place bottom crusts in tie pins
9. Filling: (For each pie) add apples, sugar, cinnamon nutmeg.
10. Roll out ‘top’ on floured surface.
11.Top pies with crusts.
12. Crimp to seal.
13.Place in ziplock bags.
14.Seal and freeze. Once frozen I tend to take them out of the pan and return them to the freezer.
15.To bake: Place frozen pie back in it’s pan in a 350 degree F preheated oven.
16. Bake pie for 40 mins, cupcakes for 15, or until golden brown and the sugar starts oozing out.

Let me know if you’ve tried the pie, and what you think of it?