Baking for One: Apple Pie rev. 1

Crust

If you thought I was being lazy on the Pecan Pie crust, you're really going to despise me this time. I took a commercial frozen pie crust, cut it in quarters, then reshaped and trimmed each quarter so it was roughly round and the size of my tart pans. I promise I'll come up with a scratch pie crust recipe later. Really. It's just that my pie crusts are never more than mediocre and I need to weasel my mother's pie crust recipe out of her and adapt it. Fair warning -- the secret ingredient is lard.

So ... take two of the quarters of your pie crust and line two tart pans with it.

  • Peel, quarter, and core a medium pie apple (e.g., Granny Smith), slice thinly crosswise (i.e., the small way) and arrange half in each pie shell.
  • Sprinkle with:
    • Version A: 1 T. golden baker's sugar
    • Version B: 1/2 T. golden baker's sugar
    • 1/8 t. mixed pie spice (i.e., cinnamon, allspice, mace, etc.)
  • Dot with:
    • 2 t. butter (I find my notes aren't clear on whether this is 1/8 t. spice and 2 t. butter for each tart or that amount spread over both -- I'm guessing the latter)

Cover each with another quarter of the piecrust, pinch the edges together, trim, and cut a vent hole.

Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes or until the crust is browned.

 

Results

Ok, I confess, I actually left them in the oven for 40 minutes and it was clearly too long, so the 30 minutes is a guess at this point. Version A (with more sugar) was very good -- the balance of flavors was just about right. Version B (with less sugar) was ok, but not quite as good.

Calories per batch (2 pies):

Version A - 628

Version B - 604

(Calories from fat, either version: ca. 300)


Copyright © 2004 Heather Rose Jones, all rights reserved