Foodies can be elitist. If your macaroon — or pasta, or x, or y, or z — isn’t exactly as so, it doesn’t count; so follow me they say, mine is The Way, the only way that’s right. That approach to food keeps people out of the kitchen. I’m going to show you what I mean by teaching you a different way to make Apple Pie Your Way. (The recipe is at the very bottom of this post.)

But first, what is Apple Pie?

The universal ingredients are apples and crust, which I’ll call top tier. Often they’ll include sugar and a starch, like flour or corn starch, which I’ll call second tier. And sometimes flavourings, most commonly cinnamon, third tier.

To bake or not to bake?

Since crust is one of the two main components of apple pie, it’s important that it come out flakey, so for this pie I’m going to pre-bake the crust, waterproof it, the place a cooked filling into the shell.

We can talk about the mechanics of pastry here (with recipe and tutorial), but for now chose your crust. Mine is 3:1, white all purpose flour:butter. To achieve a golden brown color I add a one teaspoon of sugar and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda. I only pierce the bottom with the prongs of a fork so the side bulges and flakes even more. To prevent the bottom from rising during baking, I put a sheet of wax paper with cup of uncooked rice. I bake it in a hot oven for ten minutes, then remove the wax paper with rice and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until it reaches the colour I want. I want to make sure the crust is waterproof, so at this point I have some options:

1) Whisk and egg white it a teaspoon of water and brush that over the inside of the hot crust and bake for five more minutes.

2) After the crust is cool, melt cocoa butter and brush it all over the inside of the crust. Inexpensive cocoa butter is better as it has no cocoa fragrance, but it must be cocoa butter because it melts at body temperature and will not affect the mouthfeel.

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3) Almonds are a perfect match for apples, so roll a sheet of marzipan as thin as you can and place it inside the shell of the cooled crust. The oil in the almonds will repeal the moisture in the apple filling.

Fillings

Standard apple pie fillings have you pour a mixture of peeled apples, sugar and flour into a raw pie shell and bake. But apples, even in the same variety, are different: Some have more juice, others take longer to cook — and sweetness varies. To make a fool-proof apple pie filling try making it on the stovetop. After the filling has cooled you can clearly see, and taste, what your pie will be like and adjust. Here’s how:

Peel, core, and slice four to eight apples and arrange them in a nonstick fry pan or skillet. (Peel and slice your apples so that one apple yields eight slices.) (you can also slice the apples into halves or quarters, if you like.) Taste a slice. Think about how tart the apples are and how sweet you want the finished pie to be then pour a measure of white sugar over and around the apples with several nobs of butter. A good starting point is 1/4 sugar per apple, which you can adjust later.

Think of the flavour profile you’d like. A stick of cinnamon or a split pod of vanilla, either are a nice addition just before cooking, but not liquid extracts or alcohol which will evaporate

Cover the pan and turn the heat on low so that the juices in the apples release, liquifying the sugar, and cooking the apples. This will take between 30 minutes to one hour depending on the apples. (If you’ve never done this, every 15 minutes taste one of the apples to see how the flavours develop.)

As the apples start to become translucent uncover, taste and decide. Do you want the pie less sweet than it is? Then remove the apples and caramelise the sugar. Is the pie not sweet enough? Add more sugar, starting with 1/4 cups. (note: if you want to cut back on the calories but keep the sweetness use liquid stevia — always start with drops.) Add your flavourings, turn off the heat, and let the mixture cool.

In the morning arrange your filling in the pie and refrigerate. Congratulations! You’ve just made an Apple Pie Your Way.

Try serving it with creme fraise.

Recipe

Tier one: You must use

4 – 8 large apples

Tier two: Suggested ingredients

1/4 cup white sugar per apple (for a less sweet pie, or for caramel notes use 50% brown sugar)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

pinch of salt

Tier three: Optional ingredients

Any one of the following flavour combinations personalises the finished product

1 Vanilla bean, split lengthwise (added at beginning of cooking)

1 cinnamon stick (added at the beginning of cooking)

marzipan to seal the crust, raisins and 1/4 cup Armangnac (near the end of cooking)

raisins and 1/4 cup rum (near the end of cooking)

crushed praline, creme fraise, or whipped cream on top of the pie

Method:

Peel, core, slice the apples and place in a non-stick fry pan with the sugar. Cover and cook over low heat for 30 – 60 minutes. Adjust sugar. Add third tier flavourings. Taste, adjust, taste again. Take off heat and let cool. When cool arrange in baked pie shell. Refrigerate.