Apple Gruyere Pie

I just renewed my Netflix account two days ago and started watching the short lived but critically acclaimed television series Pushing Daisies. It is very fun and quirky and I wish it had found an audience so it would have been on longer than two seasons.

The show is about a pie-maker who can bring the dead back to life with a touch–and kill them again with a second touch. Needless to say, the hapless pie-maker brings a dead woman back to life and falls in love with her, realizing that he can never touch her. In addition to all the macabre antics surrounding reanimated corpses and the like, the show features two spinster aunts who are afflicted both with social anxiety disorder and a great love of expensive cheese. Make sense? No…? Well, like I said, it’s quirky.

Well, anyway, Chuck, the pie-maker’s undead girlfriend sends her cheese-loving aunts an apple pie with Gruyere baked into the crust. In an attempt to cheer them up and alleviate their social anxiety disorder, she laces the pie with homeopathic anti-depressants. I was inspired by Chuck’s pie and decided that I must make this pie, although sadly, without the homeopathic anti-depressants.

Searching the internet I soon discovered that I wasn’t the only inspired to try and make this pie so I read several of the recipes and combined different parts of each one and came up with this recipe. The pie turned out absolutely delicious so I decided to share it on the Humble Pie.

(The next thing in my Netflix Queue is Babette's Feast, which helped inspire this blog; Maybe it will inspire me to post more often.)

Apple Gruyere Pie

Crust Ingredients:

1 - 1/2 cubes (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/4 cup vegetable shortening cut into 1/2-inch pieces

5 to 7 tablespoons cold water

12 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 2 3/4 cups, plus extra for dusting

1 teaspoon table salt

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

3 ounces Gruyere cheese finely grated

Directions for the crust:

Place the butter, shortening and water into the refrigerator for 1 hour.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, salt, Gruyere and sugar by pulsing 3 to 4 times. Add the butter and pulse 5 to 6 times until the texture looks mealy. Add the shortening and pulse another 3 to 4 times until incorporated.

Remove the lid of the food processor and sprinkle in 5 tablespoons of water. Replace the lid and pulse 5 times. Add more water as needed, and pulse again until the mixture holds together when squeezed. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.

Filling Ingredients:

5 Tart Peeled Apples (I used Granny Smith apples)

1 cup Sugar

2 tablespoons Flour

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1 tablespoon Cider Vinegar

1 tablespoon Lemon Juice

Directions for filling:

Peel and slice your apples. Soak them in water with a tablespoon of lemon juice. This will prevent the first apples cut from turning a funky color.

In a large mixing bowl mix the remaining ingredients. Drain the water off of the apples and mix them with the spices.

Roll out the bottom piecrust put in glass pie plate. Cut the excess dough off so the crust is on the edge of the pie pan but not over. Puncture the crust with a fork.

(Making my own crust scares me and I normally just use the Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust but since I had to add the Gruyere cheese I had to bake my own. This tutorial was very helpful, if you feel you need step by step instructions for pie crusts watch this tutorial.)

Add the pie filling to the pie plate, dot with pieces of butter, and then roll out the top crust. Make 4 slits in top piecrust to let the steam out of the pie. Lay the piecrust over the top of the pie then cut the excess dough from the top crust so that there is a one-inch overhang off the pie plate. Roll top crust over the bottom crust and then in and then press to make a decorative edge. Grate a little more Gruyere on top of the pie crust.

Directions for baking the pie:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place pies on a cookie sheet to catch any drips, put in oven, and bake for 60 to 80 minutes, or until you can see the filling bubbling up between the slits in the crust. I put foil around the edge of the crust so it wouldn’t get too brown and took off the foil for the last 15 minutes of baking. Cool on a wire rack at least 20 minutes before serving.

Hummus with Pita Chips

Hummus
4 garlic cloves
2 cups canned chickpeas, drained, liquid reserved
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/3 cup tahini (sesame paste)
6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons, bottled works fine too)
2 tablespoons water or liquid from the chickpeas
8 dashes hot sauce (I use Tabasco)

Turn on the food processor fitted with the steel blade and drop the garlic down the feed tube; process until it's minced. Add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor and process until the hummus is pureed. Taste, for seasoning, and serve chilled or at room temperature.

Pita Chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray baking sheet with olive oil cooking spray; set aside.

Cut each. pita bread into 8 triangles. Place on baking sheet, in a single layer. Lightly spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven; let cool.

Key Lime Pie

I just posted this recipe to my ward's recipe blog. We have an enrichment focus group recipe exchange once a month it's lots of fun to meet with all the ladies and chat and eat. This month's theme was Summer Favorites. Nothing is more summery to me than Key Lime Pie. This is my family's (I think Devry made it first) adaptation of Martha's recipe. Enjoy!

Key Lime Pie – Martha Stewart
Martha says, "Look for brightly colored, smooth-skinned limes that are heavy for their size. Small brown areas on the skin won't affect flavor or succulence, but a hard or shriveled skin will. You'll know the pie is done when the center is set but still quivers when the pan is nudged. Before serving, chill the pie in the freezer for 10 minutes; this will make slicing easier."

* 1 1/2 cups graham-cracker crumbs
* 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
* 5 tablespoons sugar
* 1 (14 ounces) can sweetened condensed milk
* 4 large egg yolks
* 1/2 cup freshly squeezed key-lime juice
* 1 tablespoon grated key-lime zest, plus more for garnish
* 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, chilled

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Combine graham-cracker crumbs, butter, and 3 tablespoons sugar in a medium bowl; mix well. Press into a 9-inch pie plate, and bake until lightly browned, about 12 minutes. Remove from oven, and transfer to a wire rack until completely cooled.
2. Lower oven to 325 degrees. In a medium bowl, gently whisk together condensed milk, egg yolks, key-lime juice, and zest. Pour into the prepared, cooled crust.
3. Return pie to oven, and bake until the center is set but still quivers when the pan is nudged, 15 to 17 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
4. Shortly before serving, combine cream and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk on medium speed until soft peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Spoon over cooled pie; garnish with zest. Serve immediately.

Dana’s Substitutions:
Because I’m not as hard-core about my ingredients as Ms. Martha and in the interest of saving time I use a few short cuts. I use a ready made graham cracker crust and I use bottled key lime juice. The brand I can find the most is “Nellie and Joe’s Famous Key West Lime Juice”. Also for the zest I use a lemon because key lime juice is yellow so it’s not such a jarring contrast in the baked pie as the zest from a regular lime.