November 30, 2020
Thanksgiving 2020 has come and gone. This year, Kevin and I celebrated Thanksgiving at home. I usually wake up super early in the morning to start preparing a pie. I ended up sleeping in just a bit this year before heading to the kitchen to start on the cooking marathon. I’ve been making variations of my apple pie over the years and this year was no different. I decided a week before Thanksgiving to combine my favorite savory cheddar pie dough recipe with my tried and true apple pie filling. The combo of cheddar and apple reminds me very much so of a fruit and cheese plate. The savory sharp cheddar cheese imparts a distinctive savory, salty depth of flavor into the apple pie. The apple pie does take a couple hours to prepare and bake, but the time it takes to make is totally worth the mouth-watering end result. To bring the cheddar apple pie over the top, I served it alongside a scoop of caramel toffee ice cream. Cheddar and caramel are another combo I fell in love with during the time I lived in Chicago. I had become obsessed with Chicago mix popcorn from the Garett Popcorn Shops sprinkled throughout the city. During the few years I lived in Chicago, I lost count of how many bags of cheddar and caramel tossed popcorn I’ve eaten. It was only natural for me to combine all of these loves into a cheddar apple pie served alongside a scoop of caramel toffee ice cream. I start the temperature in the oven at 425 and then lower the temperature to 350 to allow the pie to finish baking. Starting off with a higher temperature is essential to making sure the pie crust browns beautifully. Once the pie is done baking, I leave it out to cool as I prepare the roasted dry-brined turkey and sides. Even though it was just Kevin and I celebrating Thanksgiving together, we both appreciated the relaxing holiday off. By the time all of the dishes were done cooking, the sun had begun to set. Check out some of the photos from our Thanksgiving together.
Once Thanksgiving 2020 was done, I jumped into the next holiday festivities – sending holiday cards and packages to family and friends. I started collecting the addresses of family and friends earlier this month in anticipation of the Christmas season. Kevin and I usually spend a few days in December visiting family and friends in New York, but with everything going on around the world, we will likely not be able to travel over Christmas. I took the opportunity to write some personalized holiday cards to family and friends and reserved some special handmade gifts for the nephews and niece in my life. I wrapped up each of those lovely gifts in tissue paper, packed them neatly into packages, and loaded on the tape for safety measures. It took me a few weeks to get the gifts made and the holiday cards all addressed. The day after Thanksgiving Day was over, I headed straight to the post office to mail out those goodies. I can’t wait to see the joy on my family and friends’ faces when they see the handmade gifts. All of the efforts will be well worth it. After mailing out the cards and packages, I headed back home to enjoy some of the leftovers from the Thanksgiving feast yesterday and a slice of – you guessed it – cheddar apple pie served alongside a scoop of caramel toffee ice cream. My cheddar apple pie was still as good the next day as it was the day before. Kevin and I thoroughly enjoyed the Thanksgiving leftovers as we filled our bellies with way too much food. The food held us over until the evening when we headed out to enjoy some of the holiday festivities throughout Ohio. We’ve been looking forward to checking out some of the holiday light shows. With us staying back in Ohio during the holidays, we’ve found ourselves jumping at the opportunity to enjoy all of the holiday festivities Ohio has to offer.
For the cheddar apple pie:
For the savory cheddar pie dough:
· 3 cups all-purpose flour
· 1 teaspoon kosher salt
· 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
· 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cut into cubes
· 2 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated
· ½ cup cold water
For the apple pie filling:
· 3 large (or 4 small) Granny Smith apples
· 3 large (or 4 small) Fuji apples
· 1 lemon, zested and juiced
· ½ teaspoon cinnamon
· ¼ teaspoon all spice
· ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
· ¼ cup granulated sugar
· ½ cup light brown sugar
· ½ teaspoon kosher salt
· 2½ tablespoons cornstarch
For the egg wash:
· 1 large egg
· 1 tablespoon water
Directions:
1) To make the pie dough, combine the flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor. Pulse for 2 seconds. Add the unsalted butter. Pulse for 5 seconds. Sprinkle in the shredded cheddar cheese. Pulse for another 5 seconds. Add in the water. Pulse until the dough comes together, about 8-10 seconds. Pour the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Separate the dough in half. Form into two discs. Wrap in plastic wrap and let the dough chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. When you are ready to use the pie dough, remove the discs from the refrigerator and let it sit for at least 15 minutes before using.
2) Set aside a large bowl. Use a knife to peel off the skins from the apples. Slice the apples into thin slices. Add the sliced apples into the large bowl. Add in the zest and juice of the lemon, all of the spices, sugars, salt, and cornstarch in the large bowl. Toss until all of the ingredients are well incorporated. Let the large bowl rest for 30 minutes.
3) Preheat oven to 425°F.
4) Roll out one piece of the pie dough. Loosely wrap the pie dough on a rolling pin and use the rolling pin to transfer the pie dough to the pie dish. Unroll the pie dough. Trim off any edges. Reserve the trimmed pie dough for another use. Scoop the apple mixture into the pie pan with the rolled-out dough. Crimp the edges of the pie dough around the pie pan using your fingers.
5) Roll out the second piece of pie dough into a large rectangle. Cut the pie dough into anywhere from twelve to sixteen equal strips. Use the rerolled trimmed edges from the first batch of pie dough to make additional strips, if needed. Starting from the center, lay one strip down vertically. Lay another strip on top of the vertical strip horizontally. The two strips should be perpendicular to one another. Lay two more strips parallel to the strip running vertically. Fold down the center vertical strip and lay two strips parallel to the horizontal center strip. Fold back the center vertical strip. Continue this process in a weaving motion as if you were weaving a basket. Once all of the strips are laid out on the pie, trim off any excess and press the strips into the crimped edges.
6) Make the egg wash by whisking the egg and water together until combined. Brush the egg wash all over the pie including the crimped edges.
7) Place the pie in the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes on 425°F. Turn down the heat to 350°F and bake for another 30-35 minutes until the apples are cooked through and the crust is golden brown. Remove the pie from the oven and let it rest for at least three hours before serving.
Takeaways: I left the pie to rest for about four hours before serving. I would leave the pie to rest for a minimum of three hours before serving. Leaving the pie to rest is the key to a perfectly set (non-soggy) pie. I did reroll the trimmed pie dough, cut them into triangles, and rolled them around beef smokies to make some quick pigs in a blanket for an afternoon snack. The pie dough also makes for some fantastic savory everything animal crackers.
