Skillet Apple Pie

Serves 6 to 8. Published September 1, 2008. From Cook's Illustrated.

If your skillet is not heatproof, precook the apples and stir in the cider mixture as instructed, then transfer the apples to a 13- by 9-inch baking dish. Roll out the dough to a 13- by 9-inch rectangle and bake it as instructed. If you do not have apple cider, reduced apple juice may be used as a substitute—simmer 1 cup apple juice in a small saucepan over medium heat until reduced to 1/2 cup (about 10 minutes). Serve the pie warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Use a combination of sweet, crisp apples such as Golden Delicious and firm, tart apples such as Cortland or Empire.

Ingredients
Crust
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (5 ounces), plus more for dusting work surface
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening , chilled
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter , cut into 1/4-inch pieces
3–4 tablespoons ice water
Filling
1/2 cup apple cider (see note)
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice from 1 lemon
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 1/2 pounds sweet apples and tart apples (about 5 medium), peeled, cored, halved, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick wedges (see note)

1 egg white , lightly beaten
2 teaspoons sugar

Instructions
1. FOR THE CRUST: Pulse flour, sugar, and salt in food processor until combined. Add shortening and process until mixture has texture of coarse sand, about ten 1-second pulses. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture and process until mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse crumbs, with butter bits no larger than small peas, about ten 1-second pulses. Transfer mixture to medium bowl.

2. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons ice water over mixture. With blade of rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix. Press down on dough with broad side of spatula until dough sticks together, adding up to 1 tablespoon more ice water if dough does not come
together. Turn dough out onto sheet of plastic wrap and flatten into 4-inch disk. Wrap dough and refrigerate 30 minutes, or up to 2 days, before rolling out. (If dough is refrigerated longer than 1 hour, let stand at room temperature until malleable.)

3. FOR THE FILLING: Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position (between 7 and 9 inches from heating element) and heat oven to 500 degrees. Whisk cider, syrup, lemon juice, cornstarch, and cinnamon (if using) together in medium bowl until smooth. Heat butter in 12-inch heatproof skillet over medium-high heat. When foaming subsides, add apples and cook, stirring 2 or 3 times until apples begin to caramelize, about 5 minutes. (Do not fully cook apples.) Remove pan from heat, add cider mixture, and gently stir until apples are well coated. Set aside to cool slightly.

4. TO ASSEMBLE AND BAKE: Roll out dough on lightly floured work surface, or between 2 large sheets of plastic wrap, to 11-inch circle. Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll over apple filling. Brush dough with egg white and sprinkle with sugar. With sharp knife, gently cut dough into 6 pieces by making 1 vertical cut followed by 2 evenly spaced horizontal cuts (perpendicular to first cut). Bake until apples are tender and crust is a deep golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes; serve.

Pictures:
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/detail.asp?docid=16881&Extcode=L9KN2AA00

Yum. Must be a fall thing. This reminds me of a pear tart they made on The F Word recently--caramelizing the fruit that way was really appealing.

I just had a horrible yen for apple pie, apple crisp, apple something last night, just before I had to head to work. Had stumbled across a recipe online earlier and ended up trying it--slicing some apples into a small crock pot with a little flour, cinnamon, turbinado, walnuts, toffee bits, and oats with a few dabs of butter on top. Turned out really well (about 6 hours on low), except next time I would stick it under the broiler a couple minutes at the end for that toasty oat crunch I like on a crisp. Really good and minimal effort went into it. Much as I love a proper pie, I think oats make for a more satisfying treat (and way better for you without all that fat).

I saw some home cooking show doing a skillet apple pie and they used a full sheet of store bought Filo pastry dough with several holes punched in it, cut to fit over the top of the skillet/apple mixture and then brushed with an egg wash. I'm going to try that with this recipe because I'm not real big on making dough.

I don't own a slow cooker, but you might consider posting your recipe for those that do.

I'm more of a fistful of this and dash of that kind of cook, so I just went by memory and faked it. I did manage to track it down, though--on the Pillsbury site, of all places. Not sure how I got on their email list because it's not really my thing, but if you dig around their site, there are lots of reader-submitted recipes that give you something to work with.

Here's theirs:


I actually didn't have many toffee bits (leftovers from last year's xmas baking supplies in the freezer), so I added butterscotch chips (ditto). I think that gives it that same quality your skillet pie does when you caramelize the fruit. Yummy.

And yes, there's something about this time of year that calls for cinnamon. :) You really need to rethink the crock pot, man. I use mine for almost everything. So nice to throw something together before I go to bed in the morning and wake up to find dinner ready to go.