Crab Apple Pie

Several days ago I finally ate one of the apples from the trees in our backyard. They're crab apples, which evidently some people don't like. But seeing as how I'm partial to the more sour apples, I LOVED them. I ate another one immediately. Then I began dreaming up ways I could incorporate them into cooking. And what better way than a homemade apple pie?!

I've never made apple pie filling, let alone a pie crust, so I was a bit nervous. I stole two recipes from the internet, changed them up a bit to fit my taste, and went to town.




















The Crab Apple Tree

The Pie Crust - most pie crusts I found called for Crisco or shortening, which I didn't have and didn't want to go buy. But I did have a brand new box of Land o Lakes butter (which is a family favorite due to a joke my dad would do with the box..but more on that later). I just happened to find a recipe on their website.

I added a teaspoon of vanilla (it could've used two, but you'll need to put in a little bit less water if you do this) and a tsp of cinnamon.
Preparation time: 20 min Baking time: 8 min
Yield: Pastry for 1 (2-crust) pie or 2 pie shells


2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup cold LAND O LAKES® Butter (I got mine right out of the freezer, and it worked perfectly)
4 to 5 tablespoons cold water (again, used the freezer)


Combine flour and salt in large bowl; cut in butter with pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in enough water with fork just until flour is moistened. (This part was a bit difficult for me to understand, basically you just want tons of tiny pieces of butter with flour clumped on them, or at least that's what I did, and that method work nicely for me. You will have to get your hands dirty on this one :-) )

Divide dough in half; shape each half into ball. Flatten slightly. Wrap each ball in plastic food wrap; refrigerate. (While it's refrigerating you can make the pie filling)

For 1-crust pie, roll out 1 ball of dough on lightly floured surface into 12-inch circle. Fold into quarters. Place dough into 9-inch pie pan; unfold dough, pressing firmly against bottom and sides. Trim crust to 1/2 inch from edge of pan. Crimp or flute edge. Fill and bake according to pie recipe directions. (Store your rolling pin in the freezer and coat it with flour before rolling out the dough. Unless you like a doughy mess, this is a good technique)

For 2-crust pie, roll out remaining ball of dough on lightly floured surface into 12-inch circle. Fold dough into quarters. Place dough over filling; unfold. Trim, seal and crimp or flute edge. Cut 5 or 6 large slits in crust. Bake according to pie recipe directions.

Pie Filling - Almost every recipe I found said to use UNPEELED apples, which I'm usually against, but I was pressed for time and recipe said I could...so I did.

6 cups of cut apples
1 c of granulated sugar
1 Tbsp of flour
The juice from half of a lemon (be sure to roll the lemon before you cut it, this helps the juice come out)
1.5 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 c of water
2 tsp cinnamon





1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt; toss together with apples.










2. Pour apple mixture into pastry-lined pan. In a small bowl, combine water, lemon juice and vanilla; sprinkle over apples. Dot apples with butter.








Cover with top crust, crimp edges to seal and cut 3 slits in top crust to let steam escape. (Ok, we didn't have a rolling pin...so I used a bottle of liquor stored in the freezer as a makeshift rolling pin. It did it's job, but the crust doesn't look as pretty as one might want it to. )








3. Bake 10 minutes; then reduce heat to 375 degrees F and bake about 45 minutes or until crust is golden and filling is bubbly.

This pie was DELICIOUS, and I don't think I'm just saying that as the proud person that cooked it. I took it to a dinner party that night, and they enjoyed it. The next day I took the rest of it to work, where they all enjoyed it too.




Maybe it's not something that qualifies for "Plating for One," but every entree deserves a delicious dessert, so it'll be good to have on hand. I recommend eating it with either cheddar cheese OR ice cream (but not both...)