Monday, January 4, 2016

Pumpkin Apple Pie - 52 Cakes and Pies at Home

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Here's a wonderful combination of everything that is great about Fall Season Pies

The bottom layer is a simple sweet Apple pie filling.

The top layer is a more savory spiced layer of Pumpkin pie (made easy with canned pumpkin).

Add a little simple decorations.  You can hand cut leaves if you don't have a leaf cutter.  Or get whimsical and simply use a favorite cookie cutter.

This pie has a wonderful combination of flavors.  Maybe a perfect fit for the Fall Holiday meal (Thanksgiving), but I made this for my Christmas table and it was universally loved.  the extra effort with the decorations made this one of my prettiest efforts ever.  You can certainly (and actually should) make this pie a day or two in advance.  Stored covered in the fridge the flavors will mix, mingle and intensify overnight.

A Crowd Pleaser, surprisingly easy to make and yet one of the prettiest pies I have ever made...

A WINNER!

ENJOY!


 OK... Here's what I did...



Pumpkin Apple Pie


Ingredients
  • 1 Pastry Shell (Fresh made or Frozen), Plus a second batch of dough for Decoration
  • FOR THE APPLE PIE LAYER - 1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
  • 1 TBS Corn Starch
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon
  • 1 pinch Salt
  • 1/3 Cup Water
  • 2 TBS Butter
  • 3 Cups (2 Medium to Large, 3 Small to Medium) peeled Tart Apples, sliced thin into bite size quarter size pieces
  • FOR THE PUMPKIN LAYER - 3/4 Cup Canned Pumpkin
  • 3/4 Cup Evaporated Milk
  • 1/3 Cup Sugar
  • 1 Large Egg
  • 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
  • 1 Pinch Salt
  • FOR THE DECORATIONS - on Pie Crust for cutting (use a favorite cookie cutter)
  • 1 Large Egg for an Egg Wash on new decorative pieces
  • Sprinkle of Sea Salt
  • Whipped Cream (Optional)
Instructions
  1. Always Best to make a fresh made Pie Shell... Keep scrolling down for my recipe for an Easy Never Fail Butter Rich Crust (makes two, one for the shell and one to use for decoration).
  2. In a saucepan, combine the brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and salt. Stir in water until smooth. Add the butter; bring to a boil. Add apples. Cook and stir for 4 minutes.
  3. Place pastry in a 9-in. pie plate. Add apple mixture. In a bowl, whisk the pumpkin, milk, sugar, egg, cinnamon and salt until smooth; pour over apple layer. Flute the edges or decorate with pastry leaves.
  4. Bake at 375° for 45 minutes.  Then add decorations around edges and throughout as you like.  Brush any added Crust pieces woth an Egg Wash and sprinkle just a bit of Salt.
  5. Bake an additional 15 minutes until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean and the added decorative pieces have a nice browning.. 
  6. Cool completely. Garnish with whipped cream if desired. Store in the refrigerator.
  7. Serve Chilled and ENJOY!
And just in case you need it... Here's my recipe for a NEVER FAIL Scratch Pie Crust...

Here's what I did...


Secrets to a Scratch  
PERFECT PIE CRUST Every Time


Ingredients
  • MAKES TWO PIE CRUSTS...
  • 2-1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 Cup (2 Sticks) Unsalted COLD Butter
  • 5-10 TBS COLD (iced) water
  • Non-stick spray (Like Pam)
Cooking Directions
  1. Add the flour, salt and sugar to the bowl of a food processor and process to mix.
  2. Prepare the next items, butter should be cold (prefer from freezer) and water in a cup with a couple of ice cubes to keep it cold, cold, cold.
  3. With the machine running, add butter 1 TBS at a time, count to three and add the next TBS of butter. Continue to process until dough resembles small pebbles like wet sand, only 5-10 seconds.
  4. With the machine still running, add the COLD COLD Water one TBS at a time. In just a few seconds a dough ball will begin to form. Stop the processor now.
  5. Prepare your "Rolling area", a place to form the flat circle of crust. This si simple, just a piece of cling wrap (Saran Wrap) laid out flat on a counter. It is important that the wrap be at least 4 inches wider than the pie plate. use an extra overlapping piece of wrap if needed. Then dump the dough ball and all crumbs from the processor onto the center of the cling wrap.
  6. Press the ball and crumbs together and form a flat ball. Press the ball and begin to flatten out into a circle. Add a top layer of cling wrap on top of the now flattened ball. Use a roller and begin rolling the dough into a flat circle. As the dough is flattened it may begin to separate. Just add some of the edges to cover the breaks and continue to roll out. Roll until the dough circle is 2 inches beyond the edge of the pie plate. Gently but firmly roll until crust is even thickness.
  7. Remove top layer of cling wrap and place pie plate on center of the dough circle.
  8. OK.... Here's the tricky part (first couple of times, once you get used to it, it becomes second nature easy)... lift each corner of the bottom cling wrap up to break the seal on the counter top. Now reach your hand under the cling wrap to the center of the pie plate (that is still resting on the center of the crust). Put your other hand on the top (the bottom) of the plate Lift up and QUICKLY flip everything so the pie plate is now on the bottom, the dough is centered on the plate and beginning to settle. There will be ripples of dough, but everything should be on the plate with some hangover all the way around.
  9. Trim the edges. With your thumbs, push the dough 1/8-inch above the edge of the mold, to make an even, rounded rim of dough around the inside circumference of the mold. You can then press a decorative edge around the rim of the pastry with the dull edge of a knife. Prick the bottom of the pastry with a fork at 1/2-inch intervals to prevent air bubbles from forming as you par-bake the crust.
  10. To par-bake, bake crust in a preheated 400 degree oven for 9-10 minutes, until crust just starts to darken in color. If you are going to bake the finished pie (Fruit pies, quiches, etc. you are ready to move on to the next step. If you are making a cold pie (like banana cream:, bake for an additional 5 minutes.
  11. Fill and bake (or chill) as directed for the pie of your choice! And when done... ENJOY!

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This simple recipe has been added to my growing list of "52 Cakes and Pies at Home"!

These are the desserts you make for your family.  No fancy amazing wedding cakes, just the rustic beauty of the classics.  From pumpkin pie to cheesecakes to layer cakes, these are what your family craves for dessert.  You may even see a few unusual crusts and frosting ideas to try.

You get the idea. These recipes are simple, delicious and will have your family wanting dessert first...

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