Fine Fixin’s: Apple Pie!

So the other day we shared a simple chess pie recipe with you, but now it’s time to get down to business. Thanksgiving is here, and we need a thanksgiving pie. While pumpkin and sweet potato are certainly excellent choices, my favorite pie for thanksgiving (if not of all-time), is the apple pie. I’ve gone through numerous apple pie recipes, but I’m really liking this one from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking right now. Here I’m going to concentrate on the filling and not the crust as it seems everyone has their favorite crust recipe. However, we will do a write-up with some pictures at some point. We have to make a Christmas pie after all!

Apple Pie!

• 2 balls of pie dough for the top and bottom (chilled for at least 1 hr)
• 1/2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 7 medium Granny Smith apples
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon Laird’s Bonded apple brandy
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon raw sugar

Start with a lightly floured work surface. Unwrap one of your dough balls and plop it down on your work surface. Roll the thing out into a 12″ round. Transfer to a pie pan (I like to roll the thing around a rolling pin for easy transport, just make sure it is lightly floured). Carefully work the dough into your pie dish and fold the edges under themselves and crimp however you’d like (I’m not very good at this part, sigh). Wrap the pie pan up and freeze it for at least 2 hours (you can keep it in there for up to three months!).

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together the cornstarch and brown sugar in a bowl. Peel and core the apples and cut them into little 1/8″ wedges.

Heat the butter over medium heat in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, stirring occasionally until the butter begins to brown. Once the butter is browned evenly, dump in half of your apple wedges. Cook over low heat for about 10 minutes, or until the apples are softened.

Add the remaining apples and the cornstarch/sugar mixture. Mix until the sugar has melted, then add vanilla, brandy, and cinnamon. Cook for 5 minutes or until the filling is thick and bubbly.

Dust a work surface with flour, Unwrap the second dough ball, and roll it out into a 12″ round.

Pour all of that yummy filling into your frozen pie crust, and top with the second dough round. Trim the dough, leaving about a 1/2″ overhang. Crimp the edges together, brush with the beaten egg, and sprinkle with raw sugar. Cut a few steam vents into the top crust.

Bake the pie until the filling starts bubbling and the crust is golden brown, about 1 hour. Cool the pie on a rack for 1 hour, and serve.

I have to say that I ran into a bit of a crust problem in my first apple pie attempt of the year, but this filling was resilient enough to make it the best apple pie ever!

Note that you will find yourself with a nearly full bottle of Laird’s bonded apple brandy after making this pie, and you may be wondering what on earth you can do with it. Here’s an option:

Pan American Clipper

Adapted from The Gentleman’s Companion, by Charles H. Baker, Jr., 1939

• 1 1/2 ounces applejack (Baker recommends Calvados; I went with Laird’s bonded)
• 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
• 1/4 ounce homemade grenadine (to taste, depending on sweetness)
• 1 dash absinthe

Shake well with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass. Proceed.

via Cocktail Chronicles

I’ve also experimented with subbing allspice dram for the grenadine, or using a combination. It helps punch up the holiday vibe. Definitely try it if you have some on hand. Also, please use good grenadine, preferably your own!

Made by Hand

We ran across the Made by Hand video series the other day, and it seems pretty interesting. The inaugural video happens to hit on both Sarah’s and my interests: handmade stuff and liquor, specifically Breuckelen Distilling Company. Can’t wait to see the next video, which look’s like it is about handmade chef’s knives. Definitely a series to watch.

Made by Hand / No 1 The Distiller from Made by Hand on Vimeo.

Swig & Swill: The Perfect Lu

Jed, the groomsman, helps wedding-goers Brandon and Alana at the bar. { photo by Sarah Hughes }

{ photo by Soraya Rowley }

Lynne & CC enjoy carefully crafted cocktails { photo by Sarah Hughes }

Layet, Scott & Soraya { photo by Grandma Jane }

Layet, Sarah & Brian { photo by Sarah Hughes }

So we had a pretty great time at our wedding and one of my favorite parts was how much our friends were willing to help out. A prime example was the bar. While Sarah and I procured all of the alcohol and came up with recipes that could be built in a single glass, we hadn’t made all of the garnishes and syrups, or totally thought through the best way to arrange everything. Luckily, our friends (especially Jed and Ben) stepped up in a big way, slicing oranges, juicing limes, and making grenadine. The result was amazing.

The Bar { photo by Soraya Rowley }

CC, Meredith & Jim, Sarah, Matt, and Alana { photo by Grandma Jane }

Here’s another one of the suggested cocktails we had–this one might be my favorite. It ends up looking like ice tea, but don’t be fooled.

The Perfect Lu

start with 1/2 glass of ice
add:
2 dashes angostura bitters
2 dashes celery bitters
1/2 oz. honey syrup
1 oz. dry vermouth
1 oz. sweet vermouth
1 oz. bourbon
stir
enjoy with a slice of lemon

Adjusted from the Perfect Louis

Swig & Swill: Añejo Highball

A few things to note here. First, see that awesome glass? We picked up four of these for a dollar each at Deals, and these things are super sturdy. If you are in need of some fancy-pants pint glasses, run to your nearest Deals and buy ‘em up. Second, within the glass is the Añejo Highball from Dale DeGroff, which just so happens to be one of the cocktails we’ll have at our upcoming wedding. We decided to keep the bar fairly small (since we’ll have a lot of beer) and have a suggested cocktail for each major spirit. The other consideration was that I wanted all of the suggested cocktails to be really straightforward. No shaking, no straining, just stirring. Got to keep people moving and put cocktail novices at ease. If you can measure liquids, you can stir up our cocktails. So just what is in this Añejo Highball, you ask?

Añejo Highball

Start with a half glass of ice
add:
2 dashes of Angostura bitters
1/4 oz lime juice
1/2 oz orange liqueur (Cointreau)
1.5 oz aged rum (El Dorado 5yr)
fill with ginger ale
stir and enjoy with a slice or two of lime!

Swig & Swill: Speaking in Tongues

I recently purchased the Beta Cocktails book, which features some pretty interesting ideas and combinations. Here’s one of the first one’s we tried.

Speaking in Tongues

• 1oz Mezcal
• 1oz Lucardo Amaro
• 3/4oz Lemon Juice
• 3 dashes of Angostura
• 1 Strawberry

Muddle strawberry and add all but the bitters, shake and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with three drops of bitters.

Swig & Swill: Limeade

After a few days of 90 degree weather, it seems like we’re back to cool and breezy 60s, but that hasn’t stopped Sarah and I from taking advantage of the 2011 lime wars for thirst quenchers. This weekend we got 25 limes for a dollar (better than last weeks 15 for a dollar), and whipped up some limeade. Now limeade is great on its own, but you can also add some tequila (or mescal, if you like smokiness), and even a little mint.

Mix together 3 cups of water with a heaping cup of sugar and bring to a boil.
After the mixture starts boiling, remove it from heat and add the zest of about 6 limes. Let cool to room temperature. Once it’s cooled down, add it to a pitcher with 3 cups of cold water and 1.25 cups of lime juice. Add some ice and lime slices and you should be good to go. You might want to adjust the juice/water/sugar proportions to taste.

From: Commonsense Kitchen

Swig & Swill: Banana Bread Beer

Something weird has been going on lately. Sarah seems to have lost a bit of her usual disgust for beer. She can even drink cheap beer, which is a big step. The other day, we tried this Banana Bread Beer, which might be making her transition to beer drinker a bit too easy. It really does smell and taste like banana bread, well banana bread and beer.

Swig & Swill: DIY Coffee

A few weeks ago, our cheap coffee grinder broke. It was the kind you can get for twenty bucks with a spinning blade. The blade broke off into little bits, and we were left without coffee. Luckily, in our seemingly endless quest to use simple, well-crafted objects in our everyday lives (typewriter, double-edged razor, etc.), we stumbled upon the Camano Coffee Mill from Red Rootser Trading Co. It’s a hand-cranked canonical burr grinder, with adjustments for how coarse of a grind you need. Something that’s really important for a Chemex brewer, which requires a coarser grind. It might take a minute more to grind by hand, but so far I’m enjoying it.

Swig & Swill: Chicago Sidecar & Allspice Dram pt. 2

After you’ve agitated the rum allspice concoction for 10 days, you’ll need to strain all of that allspice out. It’s probably easiest to run it all through a coffee filter. As with most homemade libations that you have to strain, make sure you press on the spent allspice to extract as much flavor as possible. Once you have your strained allspice rum, you’ll need to make a 1:1 simple syrup with brown sugar (simmer a 1:1 mixture of sugar to water in a small pan until it is clear and not cloudy). Let the syrup cool off, combine it with rum, and pour it into a bottle. It will probably taste pretty rough at first, so you’ll want to let it sit around for awhile. Paul Clarke recommends 30 days or so.

There you have it! Allspice dram. A pretty straightforward liqueur that is perfect for the season, and considering it’s use in tiki drinks, it’s probably pretty good in warmer months, too. All you really need to make it yourself is time. Of course you can always buy St. Elizabeth’s Allspice Dram at your better equipped liquor store. In any case, you may be wondering what kind of cocktail this could possibly be used in? Well, luckily for you, I’ve got just the thing.

Chicago Winter Sidecar

1.5oz Bourbon (preferably something higher than 80 proof)
.75 oz fresh lemon juice
.25 oz pimento dram
1tsp honey (adjust to taste)
egg white
2 dashes of coffee bitters

Add all of the ingredients into a cocktail shaker, fill with ice. Shake and strain into a coupe glass (champagne saucer). Garnish with a lemon twist and maybe a few allspice berries. If you feel a bit squeamish about the raw egg white, the drink will work perfectly fine with out it–you’ll just loose a bit of texture. This recipe builds upon the Black River Sidecar.

The Chicago Winter Sidecar is really good. I think it’s one of two whiskey-based drinks that Sarah actually liked (the other being Paul McGee’s Gristmill at The Whistler), both of which have a dose of allspice dram. So if you don’t happen to be very fond of whiskey or find yourself hanging out with someone who ‘hates the stuff,’ you might suggest a cocktail with a little bit of dram: a miracle cure for the whiskey averse.

Swig & Swill: Allspice Dram

So yesterday I mentioned that I needed quite a bit of allspice, and I know you all had some trouble sleeping because you kept thinking, “What could he possibly be up to?” Well, here’s you answer: allspice (or pimento, if you want to be old-school) dram. It was a common ingredient in many tiki drinks, and along with the revival of both classic and tiki cocktails, it’s enjoying a bit of a comeback. There is even a commercial variety on the market: St. Elizabeth’s Allspice Dram. But who needs to buy a finished product when you can make it yourself? Not me!
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