Recipe 80 from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman
WW Note: this pie is so huge there’s just no way this isn’t going to cost you. I’m calculating 17 points for 1/16 and 22 points for 1/12. The more you know :)
This recipe can be found in Deb Perelman’s “The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook” on pages 231-233 or from the following sites:
I loved the timing of this recipe. It came up just as we were heading into Thanksgiving week so it’s what I volunteered to bring with us to my parents house! This feeds a small crowd (12-16 people) so it’s just right for a holiday gathering!
Here are a few tips and highlights from my process!
First up….Supplies!
I found the pastry mat from Pampered Chef very helpful for preparing my pie dough but I was sad I hadn’t grabbed one earlier because I could have greatly benefited from it with earlier dough recipes. My countertop is not friendly to pie dough! The granite melts the butter so I have a sticky mess in no time. It is really large (24″ x 16″) and can also just be used as a prep space mat.
Deb calls for a spring form pan which ends up giving it a deep dish pizza look when the form is released. However, I had a Deep Dish Pie Plate that I was wanting to use so I opted for that instead. The Stoneware makes a beautiful crust without sticking! I still want to try this with a spring form but I was very happy with how it turned out in my pie dish too!
I used my apple peeler and slicer to do the work on the apples for me! I highly recommend grabbing one because there’s no way I would make apple butter or pie without it! Well worth the money!
The Baker’s Roller made it more convenient for rolling out my pie dough. I find I prefer it to my rolling pin when working with dough because of the small and large size rollers. It also comes with a small fork tool that attaches to the handle for you to prick holes in dough that requires of it.
These tools are not necessary but they sure did make the pie making process more time efficient, especially on a day when there was plenty going on!
The pie was filled to overflowing with apples but remember they cook down so it levels of as it goes.
And don’t forget the very best part! The streusel topping! It is always what makes the pie for me! I always prefer it to a double crust pie even though those always turn out beautiful as well!
We had to stop mid baking to put a foil under the pan because it was majorly overflowing all over the oven….not sure why I didn’t think about that so make sure to do that to save you the grief!
It sure is pretty isn’t it! It tastes pretty great too! Deb came up with this recipe because her family LOVES apple pie and it feels far more then the small ones. So please give this one a try if you’re in the same predicament!
The Novice Life 