Bruce Cooper Gill’s Harriton House Apple Pie
Ingredients
Bruce’s recipe strongly recommends the use of Caville Blanc apples, an heirloom variety that he obtains from an Amish orchardist. However, to help out potential pie bakers without access to such exotic resources, we sought opinions from some pie experts within the family. The overall consensus was that one should use one’s own personal favorite pie apple. However, it was also established that using only Granny Smith, Red Delicious, Gala, Fugi, or any other of the most readily available supermarket varieties would probably not give the desired results. Northern Spy, Jonathan, Yellow Transparent, or a combination of Granny Smith, Gala, and McIntosh were among the suggested options. So that is the result of the apple tutorial! No worries, no matter what kind you use there will be very few complaints! We can now get down to the business of making the pie . . .
For a 9 “ pie:
5-7 cups apples, peeled, cored, and cut into rings or slices no more than 1/4 “ thick
6-8 tablespoons dark honey
Darker honey is more flavorful than lighter honey but may be hard to find. Look for the honey on the shelf that is darkest in color such as buckwheat honey or Dutch Gold. Note that this recipe uses no sugar.
Pinch cinnamon, ginger, allspice, “and whatever else strikes your fancy”
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 1/2 to 3 tablespoons real butter, cut into small cubes
What To Do
Toss apple slices with spices and cornstarch. Place in prepared bottom piecrust (see below). Pour honey over apple mixture, and dot with butter. Add top crust in the style of your choice (lattice, plain, etc.) and crimp.
Place on the middle rack in a preheated 400 deg. oven for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 deg. and stare at the clock for an additional 40-45 minutes waiting for it to be done. Cool on a wire rack for as long as you can stand it before digging in.
Piecrust—Bruce reminds us that piecrusts are very important, as our grandmothers told every novice baker. He notes that the secret to obtaining the perfect crust is to cruise to your local supermarket and head for the refrigerated section! On the more serious side, Bruce is perfectly capable of producing a “from scratch” pie crust on his own, and in fact has developed a gluten-free crust for those who suffer from wheat intolerance.