 Once upon a time, the only vegetarian option on a menu at a restaurant, was a grilled cheese sandwich. A grilled cheese sandwich, with apples and mustard, nonetheless. I thought it sounded strange, but knew I had to eat something, so that's what I ordered. The good news was, the restaurant, The Cafe, in Ames, IA, knew what it was doing and the sandwich was splendid. The meal became a nightly event in my kitchen during college, and since then, I have turned countless people onto the amazingness of such an otherwise unusual sounding combination. That brief sandwich digression is related to the pie, as you might have guessed because this pie, is an apple cheddar pie. Despite my love for the above mentioned sandwich, I was still apprehensive about making an apple pie, with a cheesy crust, but knew I had to try it.  I knew I had to do the pie as much justice as possible, so I bought my favorite brand of sharp cheddar cheese, Kerrygold for the crust. I honestly don't know which recipe to give credit to for this pie, as I used at least three, likely more like five different versions to give me ideas on how to make mine. I didn't measure my cheese as most recommended, once shredded, I simply decided to shred my 7 oz block of cheese and deemed that the correct amount of cheese. I refused to use a food processor to mix the dough, as I feel the use of machines takes the fun out of baking, after all, the more work my hands put into the process, the more love, right? Turns out, by the time you add 2.5 cups of flour to the 7 oz of shredded cheese, and use a pastry blender to mix it, the cheese is pretty well crumbed and there is no need for an electric mixer. Once you have those ingredients, and a dash of salt combined in a bowl, add in small chunks of a 1.5 sticks of butter, straight out of the fridge. Once that is combined, mix in ice water, until the dough is able to be made into a ball (not too wet). I ended up using nearly a cup of ice water, which is about 4 times as much as I normally use in a pie crust, so I am not sure if that was a reflection on the salty cheese, or the flour.  Many of the recipes called for a combination of apple varieties, or used only Granny Smith apples. I wasn't able to find organic Granny Smith's at the grocery, so I opted for my favorite apple variety, Fuji apples. I bought a big bag, and used 8 apples, to fill my over sized pie pan (I put the apple slices into the bare pie dish as I chopped them, until I had a full pan).  Usually, when I bake something new for the first time, I try to stick to the recipe, however, this time, I was a bit more creative. The one thing I love about fruit pies, is that the fruit is so naturally sweet, I personally don't like to add much sugar. In essence, it makes fruit pie a "healthy dessert option". I decided actually, to add no granulated sugar to this pie, and instead used the remaining maple syrup we had in the fridge, which amounted to about 1/4 c. I figured the flavors would go well together too. Before putting the apples into the crust, I also added 2 healthy tablespoons of lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of butter, and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. I wasn't sure about the cornstarch as not many recipes called for it, but since I generally error on the side of not enough cornstarch in my berry pies, I figured it was worth a test.  I baked the pie at 450 for 10 minutes, and another 35 minutes at 350 degrees. It was amazing how quickly the cheese cooked and bubbled in the crust, which was very pretty and smelled amazing. Also, note, the dough made twice the amount I usually need to fill my pie pan. However, once I started rolling out the dough balls, I realized how thick the cheese made the crust and therefore, I am not sure I could have rolled it much thinner than I did. The final result of the pie was beautiful, and it smelled divine, for hours. I like the rustic appearance of the pie, as the dough was so tough and I gave up quickly on trying to make it look more manicured. I brushed it with egg whites and some granulated sugar for a bit of a shine, which I like a lot.  The crust was perfect once baked, it was flaky, thick and flavorful. The filling had a nice flavor, was plenty sweet for me, but wasn't ooey gooey as I generally associate with an apple pie. Jack attributes this to the lack of sugar, while my mom guesses it might be due to the variety of apples I used. Perhaps it was the cornstarch? I found that ultimately the combination of the apple filling, and cheddar crusted tasted just fine together, but because of the thick crust, and none-gooey apples, they were not easy to eat together, so I ended up eating them almost one bite at a time. This didn't stop me from enjoying every bite of several pieces, but has me thinking I will need to experiment further if I want to perfect this pie. Might need to start first with a straight up apple pie. Crust Recipe: 7 ounces of sharp white cheddar, shredded 1.5 sticks of cold butter 2.5 cups of flower ice water 1/2-1 cup (until dough is dry but yet able to be rolled into a ball) dash of salt Combine flour, butter, salt and cheddar with a pastry blender, once in pea sized balls start adding water, until dough is dry, but able to be needed into a ball. Refrigerate while preparing the filling. Fill Recipe: 8 apples sliced (I used Fuji but would recommend Granny Smith) 1/4 cup maple syrup 2 tbsp butter 2 tbsp lemon juice 1 tbsp corn starch Combine all filling ingredient in a bowl, mix together. Roll out half of pie dough and put into the pie dish. Use a fork to put in holes into the bottom of the crust. Pour filling into pan. Add 2nd half of dough to the filled pie pan, and put in oven at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 350 degrees and bake for another 35 minutes. via cooking with a stud, http://www.cookingwithastud.com/2013/06/apple-cheddar-pie.html | |||
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