This past weekend our neighbor town, Hollandale, had it's fireworks display and a first ever Apple Pie Contest to raise money for the community fund. I took first place with this recipe AND the pie brought in a $100 bid at the auction. It was my first ever entry in a baking contest of any sort and it was quite fun! So here's the recipe for you to try. If you made the Fruit of the Fields Cheesecake last week, you'll notice it is very much the same, and I did indeed base the recipe off of it. But I worked on the crust and improved it a bit, and changed it to a pie form, which is more appropriate for some situations. The great thing about the recipe is that it can be used with just about any seasonally available fruit you have coming into your kitchen, since the cream filling holds everything together. For the Apple Pie Contest we needed to use 75 percent apple, but you could also use rhubarb as the main tart flavor.
This is a multi-step recipe, but it’s nice because you can use your food processor to prepare the crust and all the fillings! Our crust has a mix of white whole wheat flour and buckwheat, because we love the combo of buckwheat’s nutty flavor with fruit – as in French galettes or Russian blini – but you can simply use all white flour, if you prefer. Enjoy!
For the Crust
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/3 cup wheat germ
¼ cup chopped or halved walnuts
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons lard (or vegetable shortening) chilled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 tablespoons ice water (or more)
Using the blade in the food processor, whirl flours, wheat germ, walnuts, sugar and salt until finely ground. Add cold butter and lard and whirl just until combined into pea sized crumbs. Add water, a tsp at a time, and pulse until the dough clumps to one side of the bowl. Don’t over-process. Flatten into a disk and chill in fridge for 1 hour. Remove and allow to soften very slightly and roll to fit a 9-inch pie pan. (Flour table generously.) Crimp or otherwise embellish edge of crust. Bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes until fragrant and slightly golden. Go ahead and prepare the fruit filling while the pie is baking because you don’t need the crust to cool to continue on.
For The Fruit Filling
4 cups of fruit, including something tart like apples or rhubarb
(For the contest, we used 3 cups of apples, sliced with their skin on, and 1 cup of mixed blackcap raspberries, mulberries and gooseberries. This week, I'll be making the pie for a potluck with peaches, rhubarb and blackcaps.)
1/3 cup sugar (or a little more if you are using a lot of rhubarb)
2 TBSP flour
Replace the chopping blade in the food processor with the slicing disc. Send cored apples or rhubarb slices through the processor until you have 3 cups or so. Remove to a separate bowl and add berries, if you are using them, and toss with sugar and flour. Spread in the bottom of the cooked crust and return to oven for 7 minutes to slightly roast fruit.
For the Cheesecake Filling
8 oz cream cheese or goat cheese or ricotta cheese, softened (I used goat cheese, since that’s what I have the most of here on the farm)
¼ cup sugar, mounded slightly
1 large egg
Zest of one lemon
Replace chopping blade in food processor and process all ingredients until smooth. Pour over roasted fruit in crust. Do not over-fill crust. Leave ¼ inch to add icing. Cover crimped edge with foil and return to oven for 10 to 20 minutes or until filling is appears set when jiggled.
For the Glaze
2/3 cup marscapone, sour cream or Greek yogurt
1 ½ TBSP sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Rinse and dry bowl and blade of food processor. Add all ingredients and process until smooth. Pour over hot cream filling immediately after pie is removed from oven. Allow to cool 15 minutes at room temperature, then refrigerate. Serve cool. Better yet, freeze and allow to thaw for ½ hour before serving.
This is a multi-step recipe, but it’s nice because you can use your food processor to prepare the crust and all the fillings! Our crust has a mix of white whole wheat flour and buckwheat, because we love the combo of buckwheat’s nutty flavor with fruit – as in French galettes or Russian blini – but you can simply use all white flour, if you prefer. Enjoy!
For the Crust
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/3 cup wheat germ
¼ cup chopped or halved walnuts
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons lard (or vegetable shortening) chilled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 tablespoons ice water (or more)
Using the blade in the food processor, whirl flours, wheat germ, walnuts, sugar and salt until finely ground. Add cold butter and lard and whirl just until combined into pea sized crumbs. Add water, a tsp at a time, and pulse until the dough clumps to one side of the bowl. Don’t over-process. Flatten into a disk and chill in fridge for 1 hour. Remove and allow to soften very slightly and roll to fit a 9-inch pie pan. (Flour table generously.) Crimp or otherwise embellish edge of crust. Bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes until fragrant and slightly golden. Go ahead and prepare the fruit filling while the pie is baking because you don’t need the crust to cool to continue on.
For The Fruit Filling
4 cups of fruit, including something tart like apples or rhubarb
(For the contest, we used 3 cups of apples, sliced with their skin on, and 1 cup of mixed blackcap raspberries, mulberries and gooseberries. This week, I'll be making the pie for a potluck with peaches, rhubarb and blackcaps.)
1/3 cup sugar (or a little more if you are using a lot of rhubarb)
2 TBSP flour
Replace the chopping blade in the food processor with the slicing disc. Send cored apples or rhubarb slices through the processor until you have 3 cups or so. Remove to a separate bowl and add berries, if you are using them, and toss with sugar and flour. Spread in the bottom of the cooked crust and return to oven for 7 minutes to slightly roast fruit.
For the Cheesecake Filling
8 oz cream cheese or goat cheese or ricotta cheese, softened (I used goat cheese, since that’s what I have the most of here on the farm)
¼ cup sugar, mounded slightly
1 large egg
Zest of one lemon
Replace chopping blade in food processor and process all ingredients until smooth. Pour over roasted fruit in crust. Do not over-fill crust. Leave ¼ inch to add icing. Cover crimped edge with foil and return to oven for 10 to 20 minutes or until filling is appears set when jiggled.
For the Glaze
2/3 cup marscapone, sour cream or Greek yogurt
1 ½ TBSP sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Rinse and dry bowl and blade of food processor. Add all ingredients and process until smooth. Pour over hot cream filling immediately after pie is removed from oven. Allow to cool 15 minutes at room temperature, then refrigerate. Serve cool. Better yet, freeze and allow to thaw for ½ hour before serving.
making the goat cheese...
Pies heading to the contest: one for judges to taste and one to sell at the auction. It fetched $100, which says more about the generosity of our community than the quality of the pie.
