Crabapple Pie

[J-Melt]

The house we bought has a massive crabapple tree in front of it and the mini apples off it taste amazingly good! We are going to make crabapple pie tomorrow! Has anyone ever made this before and do you have any recommendations?

[RonB]

I can't help, but I hope you enjoy peeling and coring dem apples.

[Attjack]

I enjoyed this passive-aggressive post at least as much as a big slice of crabapple pie.

[Bob K]

I recommend a 3/16" Forstner on the drill press for coring.

[J-Melt]

Coring took forever! At least they don’t ask you to peel.

[bbqLuv]

There are recipes for crabapple pie. An internet search will find more than you may want.

Good luck. Pics plz

[MBMorgan]

Here's a couple (not tried myself, but they look promising):

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From America's Test Kitchen:

INGREDIENTS

1 recipe double-crust pie dough (see Ingredient Note below)

3 pounds crab apples, cored and chopped coarse

11⁄2–13⁄4 cups (101⁄2–121⁄4 ounces) sugar

1⁄4 teaspoon table salt

1 tablespoon rose water

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1⁄4-inch pieces

1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water

Crab Apple Rose Pie
Cook Time: 2 hours Servings: Serves 8 Source: americastestkitchen.com

DESCRIPTION

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

We set out to highlight these overlooked apples in a unique, delicious pie. A crab apple pie is a bit more tart than traditional apple pie, but it's also more complex in flavor and offers a welcome variation on the standard. Additionally, crab apples have high levels of pectin, which helps the filling set and makes for an easy-to-slice pie. Since crab apples are so small, we opted to leave the skins on to make prep easier; the bright red skins also contributed a beautiful rosy hue to the filling. A tablespoon of aromatic rose water added a floral undertone that brought out the apples' complexity.

DIRECTIONS

Roll 1 disk of dough into 12-inch circle on floured counter. Loosely roll dough around rolling pin and gently unroll it onto 9-inch pie plate, letting excess dough hang over edge. Ease

dough into plate by gently lifting edge of dough with your hand while pressing into plate bottom with your other hand. Leave any dough that overhangs plate in place. Wrap dough-lined plate loosely in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

Roll other piece of dough into 13 by 101⁄2-inch rectangle on floured counter, then transfer to parchment paper–lined rimmed baking sheet; cover loosely with plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

Using pizza wheel, fluted pastry wheel, or paring knife, trim 1⁄4 inch dough from long sides of rectangle, then cut lengthwise into eight 11⁄4-inch-wide strips. Cover loosely with plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

Toss apples, sugar, and salt together in Dutch oven. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until apples are tender when poked with fork but still hold their shape, 10 to 15 minutes. Spread apples and their juices on second rimmed baking sheet and let cool completely, about 30 minutes.

Drain cooled apples thoroughly in colander then combine drained apples and rose water in bowl. Spread apples into dough-lined plate and scatter butter over top. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees.

Remove dough strips from refrigerator; if too stiff to be workable, let sit at room temperature until softened slightly but still very cold. Space 4 strips evenly across top of pie, parallel to counter edge. Fold back first and third strips almost completely. Lay 1 strip across pie, perpendicular to second and fourth strips, keeping it snug to folded edges of dough strips, then unfold first and third strips over top. Fold back second and fourth strips and add second perpendicular strip, keeping it snug to folded edge. Unfold second and fourth strips over top. Repeat weaving remaining strips evenly across pie, alternating between folding back first and third strips and second and fourth strips to create lattice pattern. Shift strips as needed so they are evenly spaced over top of pie. (If dough becomes too soft to work with, refrigerate pie and dough strips until firm.)

Trim overhang to 1⁄2 inch beyond lip of plate. Pinch edges of bottom crust and lattice strips together firmly to seal. Tuck overhang under itself; folded edge should be flush with edge of plate. Crimp dough evenly around edge of plate. (If dough is very soft, refrigerate for 10 minutes before baking.) Brush surface with egg wash.

Place pie on aluminum foil–lined rimmed baking sheet and bake until crust is light golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees, rotate sheet, and continue to bake until juices are bubbling and crust is deep golden brown, 30 to 50 minutes longer. Let pie cool on wire rack until filling has set, about 4 hours. Serve.

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From strudelandstreusel.com:

INGREDIENTS

Pie Crust

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

heaping t. of sugar

1 c. cold butter, cut into chunks

4 T. butter flavored shortening, cut onto chunks

1/2 c. ice-cold water
Crabapple filling
6 c. cored crabapples (not peeled)
1 c. sugar
1 T. flour
1 1/2 T. apple cider vinegar
3 T. butter (cut into 1 T. pats)
1/4 c. dark brown sugar
milk and turbinado sugar for topping the pie

rolling pin gently place this top crust on the pie.

Crabapple Pie
Servings: Serves 6 to 8 Source: strudelandstreusel.com

DIRECTIONS

Making the crust

Combine the flour, salt and sugar in a food processor and pulse several times to mix. Add the butter and shortening and pulse until the fats are about the size of a dime. While processing continually pour in the ice-cold water until the dough forms a ball. Place the dough on a lightly floured board and knead until the dough completely comes together without over kneading. Cut the dough into two equally sized pieces, form into a ball, slightly flatten and wrap each disk with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about an hour.

Making the filling and prepping the pie

Right before you are ready to pull the dough out of the refrigerator, pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine the crabapples, white sugar, flour and apple cider vinegar in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Set aside.

Roll out the first piece of dough until about a 1/4 inch thick, roll the dough onto the rolling pin and then lay the dough into a pie dish. Pour the crabapple mixture into the bottom crust and place the butter and brown sugar on top of the mixture. Roll out the top crust of dough in the same manner and after rolling the crust onto the

Trim the edges to about 1 inch over the edge of the pie dish and then crimp the edges together. Cut several slits in the top crust to allow the pie’s heat to vent during baking. Brush with milk and generously sprinkle the top of the pie with turbinado sugar.

Place on a baking sheet and bake at 45o degrees for 15 minutes and then turn down the oven to 375 degrees and bake an additional 45 minutes or until the filling is bubbling through the vents.

Let cool completely before serving.

[J-Melt]

Thank you! I looked this morning to no replies and completely forgot to look again until now! I used the recipe from Epicurious. We hand cut the apples, which took a LONG time! Glad my wife did the first half of them. It is in the oven now!

[J-Melt]

The final result is in and it was almost an epic fail. I misread the recipe and added the 1/4 cup water to the filling instead of using it to seal the pie. When I cut into the pie it was super watery. My wife and I pondered the problem and I decided to drain the excess liquid through a hole in the crust. And presto! We had a great tasting extra tart apple pie!

[mrteddyprincess]

Nice save! You learned a lot with this project. That's what it's all about.

B

[Bogy]

We have a crabapple tree in our backyard. It had a massive load of apples this year, but it now is about half the tree it was at the beginning of the summer. Various storms took care of four big branches. It needed pruning, but this was drastic.

More to the subject, we usually don't get that many usable apples, because the birds beat us to them. However, a couple of years ago my wife made an apple pie with crabapples. Pie tasted great, but it took about 100 apples to make the pie. She has not tried it again.

[texastweeter]

No but we make crabapple jelly and jam

[J-Melt]

That may be one of our next moves. We still have possibly more than a thousand crabapples on the tree.

[texastweeter]

You will like it, promise.