This is how we've been making apple pies this summer and now fall. I love crispy and flakey pie crust, so I don't want to give it up altogether. My husband loves a traditional apple pie. So, we've compromised -- a top crust-only apple pie.
I use a deep dish pie plate, butter it well so the apple mixture doesn't stick, then I pile in the spiced and sweetened apple slices. Finally, I top the apples with a single layer of pastry, sealing it to the edge of the dish, and bake.
As you can imagine, slices of top crust-only apple pie don't come out neatly with a pie server. Instead, I cut the crust for each slice with a knife and scoop out crust slices and apples with a large serving spoon. It works. A little messy, but it works. And we all get what we want.
That's a good idea. I love pie crusts too, but they have almost negative nutritional value. Only one crust is a good compromise. Last week, I made a crustless quiche. Not as good as one with a crust, but it was good all the same.
ReplyDeleteHi Live and Learn,
DeleteI guess a crustless quiche is a little like a frittata, perhaps creamier. It does sound good to me. I can imagine a crustless quiche Loraine would be a hit with my family. I'm going to give that try. Thanks for the suggestion.
I’ve gotten so I make only crustless quiche for DH and me. I agree, they are good with the bottom crust, but still pretty delish without!
DeleteHi Lynn,
DeleteI really need to make a crustless quiche soon. Simpler and lighter. Sounds pretty good to me.
We're more partial to an apple crisp although I do like a good pie crust. I don't like soggy bottom crusts. We do end up with soggy tops on our crisp after the first day which we dislike but haven't found a solution to keeping that crispy. I make one or two per season because we just can't consume an entire dessert!
ReplyDeleteAlice
Hi Alice,
DeleteThat is a problem with the topping of a crisp getting soggy overnight. Not as god as when first made. Like Sara suggested, you could bake half a recipe in a small dish or individual foil pie tins (the kind from frozen pot pies). Then if you wanted you could freeze the other half of the recipe in a ziplock with the topping in a separate bag, then bake the second half another day. When you have a large family to feed, it's so much easier to do recipes. At least you've mastered freezing leftover portions of meals for easier cooking another night and no waste. I hope you find a solution that works for you.
In some of our cookbooks, a top-crust fruit "pie" is termed a "cobbler", though I grew up with that term only referring to a biscuit-y sweet dough that you put on the bottom with fruit on top, and it raises and bubbles through. (The Frugal Gourmet has the BEST apple cobbler recipe in his American cooking book!) Some pot pies are done that way, too, so it's clearly an accepted traditional solution; and the top crust is the nicest, flakiest one, so you get the best benefit. Seems like a "win" to me. (Thumbs up)
ReplyDeleteLive and Learn, we have done crustless pumpkin pie a lot, for GF family needs, and as you said about the quiche, not AS good, but certainly tasty. (We used to freeze it in single servings, after, too, for a quick dessert.) Alice, we love apple crisp, too, and like you, don't have a big-appetite family to finish off a big dish. Have you ever experimented with smaller dishes/amounts? We've done as small as a one-apple crisp in a little Corningware casserole dish, and it is pretty much perfect for two people for one dessert in our family; and it isn't too hard to scale the topping down, especially since you make it often enough to know your proportions of oats, flour (if you use it), sugar, butter, and salt. Maybe that would work for you? Best to everyone. Sara
Hi Sara,
Deletewow, I didn't know that about a pastry topped fruit dessert also being called a cobbler. Like you, I've always known cobblers to have either a biscuity type topping or a muffin batter type topping. Although, I've never put the dough/batter on the bottom, just on top and baked.
I have that Jeff Smith cookbook. I'll have to take it off the shelf and look through it this fall. Thank you for the reminder. I don't know if you have other cookbooks by him. I also have the Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines. My stuffed grape leaves recipe is adapted from his. I always liked his PBS show.
That is an excellent idea for the pie crust. When I was a kid about 3 or 4 years old I used to sneak in the kitchen and break off all the pie crust edges and devour them. As a gift one Christmas my grandma made me a whole empty pie all my own. :) Your post today brought back happy memories!
ReplyDeleteThis made me laugh out loud. When my kids were little, I followed my mom's tradition of occasionally making extra pie crust and baking it with cinnamon sugar on top. It made me popular for the day. :)
DeleteI've never tried a one crust apple pie. Like Sara, I've frequently made crustless pumpkin pies. I love apple crisp, too. All of this talk is making me hungry!
Hi Amanda,
DeleteThat's just the sweetest ting that your grandma did for you for Christmas. I would love to have a baked pie shell all to myself.
Hi Kris,
DeleteI rarely have leftover pie pastry. Years ago when I used a different recipe, I often had leftover bits and would bake them in strips for my young son. He thought they were a real treat.