A lot of us have time on our hands with the closure of Southwestern’s campus. I do not plan to leave my house—I hope you are with me on that—so I am expanding my DIY skills. Some ideas I found looked too complicated for someone who does not have wood planks and a pasta maker laying around at home. Instead, I will share weekly crafts and recipes that can be made without breaking the bank or risking a trip to the store. If you enjoy the suggestions, post a picture and tag @theswcsun on social media and use #TheSunAtHome.
This week: Hand-held Apple Pies
For my final column I wanted to make something I had never made before and my family generously volunteered to eat anything I attempted. We had a long, nostalgic conversation about restaurants and snacks we missed the most while sheltering, and we all agreed to a longing for good ol’ American apple pie.
When I was little, my family and I would drive up to Julian just to get an apple and cherry pie from Mom’s Pies. Most trips were unplanned—we just craved pie and started driving. Most of the time we would arrive at the bakery 10 minutes before closing, but luckily there was always fresh pie ready.
After assembling the ingredients for my apple pie recipe, I realized I did not have a pie pan. Right away I thought this DIY wasn’t going to happen, but then my boyfriend suggested turning them into hand-held apple pies. Sometimes—yes, I said sometimes—he has the best ideas. I followed the recipe on the pie crust box, but instead of making a full pie I made tiny ones.
Materials Needed:
Baking sheet
Parchment paper
Knife
Cutting board
Large bowl
Small bowl
Cup
Spoon
Pastry brush
Fork
Ingredients Needed:
1 box of refrigerated pie crust
6 green apples
¾ cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of flour
¾ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon of salt
½ tablespoon of vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
Water
Directions:
Wash your hands!
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Wash and dry six green apples, then slice them thinly on a cutting board. You will need the cutting board again, so clean and dry it.
In a large bowl mix ¾ cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons of flour, ¾ tablespoon of ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon of salt, ½ tablespoon of vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Mix your ingredients together with your spoon until they all come together.
Take your sliced apples and put them in the large bowl. Keep mixing until all the apple slices are covered. You may notice the juice from your apples waters down your mixture a bit. Let your mixed apples sit for about 15 minutes so they can soak up the moisture.
Sprinkle some flour onto your clean cutting board. Unroll the dough of the refrigerated pie crust. Line the edges of a cup with flour and use a cookie cutter to cut your dough into even pieces. I was able to cut out 16 pieces of dough, enough for eight hand-held apple pies.
Cut a piece of parchment paper long enough to cover your baking sheet and add your first layer of crust. Scoop a spoon full of the apple mixture and place it at the center of your pie crust. Make sure not to get too much juice in your scoop—it can spill out while baking and burn the edges of your hand-held pies.
After filling all the centers of your crust, place the other sides of your crust on top. Use a fork to crimp your pie crust and make a slit at the top with a knife as shown in the photo.
Place your baking sheet in the oven and cook for 25 minutes or until the crust is light brown. When done let your pies sit for two hours. Be patient! If you don’t wait your crust will fall apart. I decided to take a nap and do some work during those two hours, but when I walked back downstairs there was only one hand-held apple pie left! Of course my family left me with the worst looking one, but I guess that showed they really liked the pies. A cook’s greatest compliment is a project that disappears!
This last DIY was a win. Stay safe and healthy, friends!
