I mentioned last week that I was working on my pie for the Bucktown Apple Pie Competition. I have been so busy, but unexpected time opened up and allowed me to devote all Saturday to this pie. I started the prep at 10:oopm so it would fresh for morning, but set. I had a last minute inspiration to dust cinnamon powder with my Chinese long life vegetable cutter.It worked! And notice the center with a full Star Anise pod. Here is my recipe. I based my crust on Dorie Greenspan’s Good for Almost Anything Crust, but changed the shortening aspect to my trusted Atora. This tasted way better than my previous attempts. But what a lot of butter and grease that seeped out while baking. But better it seep than stay in, but still give me a flakier crust.
On Sunday Morning I arose at dawn and popped the pies back into the oven at a low 200 to warm up for an hour . I was the Contestant #2 and had my photo taken. I got some compliments on the appearance and left. All the contestants were to return at 2pm . At 2:30pm the finalists were announced. While waiting and listening to some band called Tangleweed that played bluegrass/ country, I saw my name on the ribbon board on a list of Semi Finalists!
I made it that far. Maybe there was hope for finalist?92 contestants, 27 Semi Finalists, 5 Winners.
All this year in particular of obsessing, blogging, learning, Daring Bakers, reading, etc was starting to pay off in improvement.But that’s as far as I got. The finalist seemed like familiar names in the competition.Neighborhood locals, repeat contestants,etc. This was my second year and I think I’m miles ahead from last years entry.The celebrity judges including Gale Gand , and Stephanie Izard( Top Chef Chicago winner) went to work on the finalists table and the mob was directed to the Pie Room to ‘buy’ a taste.
We were packed liked sardines , but I found my pie and waited patiently for a clear view. One of them was practically gone and people in line were asking for a slice. Now was the time to really taste and see how it measures up. I was pleased. The crust was not soggy , but flaky even on the bottom. The fruit gelled nice. A lot of pies looked like they had bigger chunks of fruit, but not that gel like sauce. The only thing I would change is bigger chunks of fruit and more fruit, as the winning pies seemed to be high in fruit. One of the finalist told me she only uses 4 ingredients in her crust, one of them being milk! Hmmm, I have to try that one day.I didn’t stick around to 4:45 for the winners. The place was packed and a line went through to outside. I heard a volunteer turning non contestants or people who hadn’t already been inside away because they running out of pie. The contestants pies were being sold off in slices and the winners auctioned. Sounds like it was a succes. I will be back next year, God willing.
Coco’s Asian Apple Pie
Makes 1 9inch double crust pie
INGREDIENTS:
Filling
1 12 fl oz can of Frozen Apple Juice concentrate
1 cinnamon stick 2-3 Star Anise ground to make 2 teaspoons of powder
1/4 teaspoon mace
pinch of black pepper
5-6 Golden Delicious apples peeled ,cored, and chopped
1/2 cup King Arthur’s Pie Enhancer ( for thickening)
1/2 cup sugar
Pastry Crust
3 cups all -purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 sticks frozen unsalted butter cut into small pieces
1/3 cup Atora ( cold) a shredded dehydrated suet available in the the UK or online
1/2 cup ice water
Egg Wash
1 egg beaten
1 teaspoon cream
INSTRUCTIONS:
Take a heavy bottom sauce pan and heat the frozen concentrate with the ground star anise, cinnamon stick( intact) , and mace until mixture is reduced by half. It will form a dark syrup. Set aside. Discard cinnamon stick when cool.
Make Crust. mix flour , sugar, and salt in your Stand Mixer. Gradually in stages add the butter and Atora until mixed into the flour. Do not over mix! Chunks of butter and Atora are fine. Gradually add water by tablespoon until all is combined . Just enough until it holds together. Take the dough and place on a lightly floured work surface . I use wax paper for easier clean up. Divide into 2 balls. Take a ball and between two sheets of wax paper roll out to fit into pie pans.Place rolled discs in refrigerator until ready to use.
Peel, core , and chop apples. Toss into a bowl with syrup/ concentrate mixture( discarding cinnamon stick). Add the sugar and pie enhancer. Toss until evenly mixed.
Preheat oven to 350 .
Line pie tin with crust. Pour in fruit filling. Cover and seal edges with second layer of dough.Slash dough to vent.Brush with egg wash mix( egg beaten with cream).
Bake at 350 for 30 -5 minutes. Cover with aluminum foil, and reduce heat to 200. Bake an additional 1 hour.* Place pie pans on a baking pan with lips to catch the excess butter, etc. that bakes out of the pie. Take out and allow to cool on wire rack with foil cover for a few hours to set. Serve at a cool room temperature.
I love food blogging and Twitter. Twitter is my latest addiction. If I hadn’t signed up for Twitter I would never had received an invitation from Andrea to participate in baking a collection of recipes from Gourmet.com. Gourmet has complied cookie recipes from 1941-2008 for the holidays! Each of us choose 12 cookies to bake and will present our cookies over the next 12 days. That’s a lot of baking, but I couldn’t resist. The trick is to do recipes in batches so your are not stressed each day. I also don’t want to be stressed about my bank account so I have tried to pick recipes where I have most of the ingredients on hand. But after a day of baking, I will have to stock up some more. What am I going to do with all these cookies you ask? Give them away to friends, family, etc all boxed up nice. How’s that for holiday cheer!
My first recipe is from December 1951 ,Navettes Sucrees( Sugar Shuttles).I have to say thus far this is one my favorites.Not to sweet and a little elegant cookie. They are called sugar shuttles because they look like a part that holds the thread on a sewing machine. Well if they say so. I love how the dough is dipped in egg whites and then rolled in sugar giving it a gentle crunch. Some of the older recipes don’t list the ingredients first and this caused some confusion for me at times.But Gourmet. com clearly states on each recipe that they have left the recipes unchanged and they are how they were originally printed.I’m sure some housewives back then where cursing them out! I had some issues with this recipe. I had to add an additional 2 tablespoons of butter, as the dough was dry. And I forgot to butter the parchment on the first batch. They turned out perfect! However the last batch I baked on buttered parchment. Those kind of caramelized and burned on the bottom so I recommend you just place them on parchment. Thankfully there were not many in that batch.With all the richness and over indulgence this holiday,these cookies are simple , wholesome , and satisfying while not being to rich nor sweet.
Be sure to visit my other baking friends and see what they chose to bake for the holidays from Gourmet.com.
