Monthly Archives: March 2012

Blackberry & Apple Tart (or is it a pie?)

07 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by in Recipes

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Blackberry and Apple Tart

Probably a pie, since I used a pie crust – even though I made it in a tart pan and arranged the ingredients like a tart.

But the distinguishing characteristic of this recipe is its tart flavor – by which I mean a distinct zippiness and pucker. So if you’re tired of too-sweet pies, here’s the antidote.

Blackberry and Apple Tart Ingredients

Ingredients:

  • 1 pie crust
  • .5 cups butter
  • .75 cups brown sugar
  • .5 tsp cinnamon powder
  • .25 tsp lemon zest (adjust for desired pucker)
  • .25 inch slice of ginger root, peeled
  • .5 cups water
  • 4 cups baking apples, peeled and cored and cut as you like
  • 2 cups blackberries, rinsed and patted dry

Instructions:

  1. In a large pan, melt the butter over medium heat and then stir in the brown sugar, cinnamon, lemon and ginger
  2. Mix in the apples and water and simmer for 10 minutes – use only enough water to come less than half way up the apples
  3. Add the blackberries and cook for 1 more minute
  4. Remove from heat and allow to cool to handling temperature
  5. In the meantime, roll out your pie dough and place in a 9” pie dish or 10” tart dish
  6. Add the filling by scooping into the crust with a slotted spoon so you can easily control the amount of liquid – be sure to find that chunk of ginger and pull it out!
  7. Any leftover filling and liquid can be blended to make a syrupy topping – also, I drizzled a bit on half way through baking for color and texture
  8. Bake for 50-60 minutes at 350°, remove and allow to stand before serving

I bet this would also be wonderful with pears instead of apples, in which case I might leave out the lemon zest altogether and emphasize the ginger.

Basic Homemade Pie Crust

07 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by in Recipes

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Basic Homemade Pie Crust

I’m not much of a baker, but with Pi Day in a week I’m occupied with…bad puns, evidently. But also pies!

And while I may still be refining my technique for perfectly flaky crusts, I do have the theory down. The way to a flaky crust is to allow pockets of air to form in the dough while it bakes. This happens when small pieces of butter melt and the 20% of butter that’s actually water forms steam.

So to get flakiness you need chunks of butter, not a dough where the butter is fully incorporated. And two things support this: how much you mix it (or how little, as the case may be) and maintaining a cold temperature so the butter stays hard.

This basic recipe will yield enough for one pie with a top and bottom crust, or two pies with open tops.

Basic Pie Crust Ingredients

Ingredients:

  • 2.5 cups flour
  • 1 cup butter, cubed and chilled
  • 1 tsp salt
  • .5 cups ice water

Instructions:

  1. Mix the flour and salt
  2. Slice in the butter – some people use knives or pastry blenders, some use food processors – the trick is to stop when you have tiny butter balls coated with flour
  3. Add the ice water (not the ice…) 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough holds together when you pinch it
  4. Shape the dough into 2 balls, wrap in plastic and let sit in your refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days
  5. Sprinkle a clean surface with flour and use a rolling pin to flatten the dough into a 12” circle

Note: I used 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1.5 cups unbleached white flour – probably a better choice for the crust of savory pies than for sweet pies.