PI (Pie) Day

In honour of PI Day I decided to make some Hand Pies.  I am not the biggest baker but I was inspired to make some hand pies for a change.

For an experiment I filled them with three different fillings.  I had some gala apples on hand so I chopped them up and cooked them with brown sugar and cinnamon.

I was also thinking chocolate so i filled one with Nutella and I had some Cherry Jam in the fridge that I never seem to eat so I filled a couple with the jam.  Note:  filling with jam is messy, the sugars spread like mad.

The Pie Crust was a basic pie dough I found online on many different sites:

Pie Dough Ingredients:

2 cups of flour

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar

2 sticks of butter cut into small pieces (cold)

1 egg

1 tbsp milk

1 extra egg beaten for glaze.

Directions:

In a large bowl add the flour, salt and sugar and mix it up.  Add the chilled pieces of butter and either use a pastry cutter, a food processor or your hands.  I started with a pastry cutter and switched to my hands.  It's easier to clean your hands than more utensils.  Squish the flour and butter between your fingers until you get pea sized crumbly pieces.

In a bowl whisk an egg and add the milk then pour into the flour mixture and mix it up with a fork.  Gather all of the dough together once it's mixed and form a disk and wrap in cling film and put in the fridge for a half an hour to relax.  This gives you just enough time to clean up and the apple pie mixture to cool.

On a floured board roll out the pie dough into whatever sizes you like. You can cut them rectangular or round or use muffin tins if you like.  No rules.  I made them pop tart sizes, although my sizes were all over the place.   On the bottom piece add about a teaspoon full of the apple pie mixture and leave a ridge around it.  Cover with a second piece of dough and then crimp the edges with a fork.

Beat an egg and brush the tops of the pies before putting them into the oven.

Bake at 350F for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Leave to cool for about 10 minutes.  The filling will be extremely hot.

Glaze:

Vanilla extract

Milk

Icing sugar

food coloring

In a small bowl add a teaspoon of vanilla extract and a tablespoon of milk and add sugar and mix until it is thick but still able to pour.  Add food coloring as desired.   I used a Ziploc bag to drizzle the glaze on the pies but you can just spoon it on top.

What do you know about Apples?

It's Apple Season 

What do you know about Apples? 

Are they a fruit or a vegetable?

Apples are a fruit. They are part of the Rose family, along with pears and cherries.

How do they grow?

Apples grow on trees. Trees grow for at least five years before they start to produce fruit.

Where do they grow?

Apples are grown everywhere throughout the US. Washington State is the top producer in the country.

When are they in season?

Apples are harvested from late September to early November, but can be stored until April.

What should you look for?

Look for apples that are firm and not bruised.

How do you store them?

When freshly picked, apples can be stored for several months. If one apple has been bruised, keep it away from the rest to stop the others going bad. They are best kept in the fridge.

How can you eat them?

Apples are often eaten raw, just as they are, or chopped up and added to sweet or savory salads. They’re also delicious cooked in desserts such as apple pies and crumbles, or made into homemade apple sauce to serve with roast pork.

Why are they good for you?

Apples are full of goodness. The skin contains lots of vitamins and minerals and almost one-third of the fiber of the entire apple. Fiber is very important in our diets because it keeps our digestive system healthy and helps keep us feeling full, so we don’t eat too much.

Did you know?

Some apple trees will grow to more than 40 feet high and live more than 100 years. Red Delicious are the most widely grown variety of apple in the US.

The US’s longest living apple tree was reportedly planted in 1647 by Peter Stuyvesant in his Manhattan orchard and was still bearing fruit when a derailed train struck it in 1866.

Seeing an apple falling off a tree inspired Sir Isaac Newton to develop his theory of gravity.

Always check the label on your

fruit or veg and remember, the closer it was grown to home, the fresher and tastier it will be!

*Info from the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation

Here's a quick recipe for a fancy and quick Apple Pie or Tart

Directions:

Cut peel and slice about 6 apples.  I like Granny Smith because they stay crisp and tart but you can use MacIntosh or Mutsu or whatever you like but the texture will change and so will the taste.

Once they are sliced drop them into a bowl with water and the juice of a lemon.  This will prevent them from browning.

When you have them all sliced and dipped in the lemon water you can then drain the water and add about a teaspoon of Cornstarch to the sliced apples and mix until they are all coated.   This will thicken up the juices from the apples as they bake.   Add a tablespoon of cinnamon.  I like cinnamon but you can add to taste.   Add a couple of tablespoons of sugar.  Brown sugar works well but you can certainly use any combinations of sugars.   Add a pinch of salt to bring out the sweetness if you like.    

Optional:  You can add cranberries or grated ginger or add more spices like cardamom or cloves or even add a bit of brandy to flavour the apples.   

If your apples are on the juicy side I would recommend sauteeing them a bit to evaporate the juices and let the cornstarch thicken the juices from the apples.

Once your mixture is ready you can either pour it into a store bought pie crust, or make your own pie crust or another great idea is to get Almond Paste and roll it out and use it as a pie crust.  *(this idea is from Brian Boytano the skater) ..   This pie pictured was made with a store bought pie crust and I crumbled the almond paste on top.   * The Almond Paste is very sweet so add less sugar to your apple mixture.    Bake in the oven at 350 degrees until golden brown.


A good idea is to get kids involved and interested in Apples by visiting a Pick Your Own Farm and getting them involved in the choosing of the apples and then you can also have them help out in the kitchen in making the Pie recipe above.   Kids will eat better if they feel they are part of the process and respect food more when they know where it comes from and feel like they are contributing to the dinner process.

Here are a couple of places in Ontario where you can go apple picking

• Chudleigh's Apple Farm - apples, pumpkins
  9528 Highway 25, Milton, ON. Phone: 905-878-2725. Farm is located at 9528 Highway 25, 3 km north of Highway 401. Open: July - Oct. daily 10 am to 5 pm; Nov.- Dec. (Friday, Saturday, & Sun.) 10 am to 5 pm. Closed Jan - Apr. Located in Milton, Ontario, Canada, about 30 minutes west of Toronto. Every year, in late summer and fall, families come to pick their own apples, and enjoy the farm-themed entertainment area.
• Green Acres Farm - Apples
  Heritage Road, Norval, ON. Phone: 905-459-4458. From Highway 401, go north on Mississauga Road to Steeles Ave. Turn west to Heritage Road. Drive north to 9266 Heritage Road. Open: daily 9 am to 5 pm.