When I asked my awesome friend, Todd, what he would like to make as a guest on my blog, without blinking he said, "apple pie with a cheddar cheese crust." He said it with such confidence that I completely forgot that I have never really made any sort of pastry from scratch and there might have been a reason for it. But I was trying to shake off my veggie burger failure from the previous week, so I quickly agreed. Also because I liked the idea of then having a pie to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner until it was all gone. That was on my really weird bucket list.
Recipe #14: Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust
Choice of libation: Because I thought the flavours would go well with apple pie (and because I hadn't slept in two days) I drank a soy latte with caramel. No, booze this time, because I was drunk on friendship. AND MURDER. No, jk, just friendship.
Choice of music: We actually had the HBO series, Getting On, in the background. I had never seen it before and Todd has amazing taste in TV shows. Though hilarious, it made me feel awkward. I mean, even more so than usual.
PART ONE: The Cheddar Crust
The crust needs to be made ahead of time so I prepared it at my house. Butter, cheddar and flour. Pretty straight forward, right?
Because I was making enough for two pies, I think my underused food processor got a little overwhelmed...because...that's not good, right?
Here's something I forgot: Food processors have blades in them. So when you're using your hands to scoop out the dough, don't forget that please.
On the upside, how adorable is this "LOL" band-aid?
PART TWO: The Pie!
How adorable is this prep station that Todd set up in his lovely home?!
The apples had to be peeled first, which meant Todd got to see how truly awful my knife skills were. I was partially distracted by how hilarious and heartbreaking Niecy Nash, Alex Borstein and Laurie Metcalf were being on the show. But really, I have a fear of sharp knives, especially since the food processor incident had happened a mere 48 hours before...
Todd is seen here, coring apples like a pro. Occasionally he'd look over at my station and say, "Emjoy, wait, what are you doing? That's not how you should hold that knife... No, no, your thumb should be...oh, well. That's fine," chuckle and continue to do Martha Stewart proud.
Mmm...look at all that sugar and cinnamon and lemon juice. This filling was good enough to eat even before putting it in a pie. And don't think I didn't. Because I totally did.
Todd rolling out the first ball of dough. Can you tell he does Cross-Fit? I figure people who bake for a living must be really cut, right?
The perfectly rolled out dough becomes the bottom crust. I feel that is slang for something.
Oh well.
This portion of pie-making was not sponsored by Starbucks.
Look! I helped too! Note that I am pinching the crust into a design. It is especially impressive because sometime after this, my LOL band-aid refused to stick to itself and so I did the rest of the pie with one hand. There was a part of the day where we ran around Todd's house trying to find tape or a stapler to the band-aid back together. LOL.
Brushing the top of the pie with the egg wash! IT'S GETTING REALLY REAL!
We had extra dough and apple filling so we made a rustic tart. I couldn't wait to taste it.
Another fun thing that happened was me burning myself putting the pie in the oven while also trying to hold my band-aid together. I WASN'T EVEN DRUNK, YOU GUYS.
The beautiful Sarah Welborn stopped by and though she is not eating sugar these days, she was there for us emotionally. All in all, Todd is a rock star, Sarah is a vegan princess, and my left hand was both cut and burned in this process. But it was totally worth it.
You. Guys.
Stolen from...
Martha Stewart Living
CHEDDAR CRUST
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4 ounces white cheddar cheese, coarsely grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup ice water
STEP 1
Process flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Add butter; pulse until pea-size lumps appear. Pulse in cheese. With processor running, add ice water; process just until dough comes together.
STEP 2
Turn dough out; gather into a block. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until cold, at least 30 minutes or up to 2 days.
PIE
Cheddar Crust
1 1/2 pounds (about 3) Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch-thick wedges
2 pounds (about 5) Cortland apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch thick wedges
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg, beaten
DIRECTIONS
STEP 1
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Divide dough into two pieces. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out each to a 13-inch circle.
STEP 2
Fit one circle into a 10-inch pie plate; transfer plate to a baking sheet. Put other circle on another baking sheet. Refrigerate dough until cold, at least 30 minutes.
STEP 3
Stir together apples, sugar, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and cloves. Spoon into bottom pie crust. Dot filling with butter. Cover with top crust. Fold edges over; crimp decoratively to seal. Cut a steam vent. Chill in freezer until firm, about 30 minutes.
STEP 4
Brush with egg. Bake pie 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.bake until golden brown, about 45 minutes. Tent with foil; bake until juices are bubbling, about 45 minutes more. Let cool at least 1 1/2 hours before serving.
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