Friday, June 20, 2014

Apricot Pie-Oh

A few years ago my friend Diane and I were roaming around in the nursery at Target and she found apricot trees just lying down (really) looking sad and were priced at $2! She insisted on buying one for each of us (I feebly protested); I planted it, it grew, and this year it really got busy. My tree is a Blenheim, which produces small apricots that are mighty in flavor.  Paul helped me make 2 batches of pineapple apricot jam, we have given fruit to our neighbors, and I made a pie. I found a recipe online, upgraded it with tapioca, and it really was a stellar pie.

I hadn’t made pie crust in a long time, because I don’t like shortening, but, dang it, it does make the best crust. My grandmother made amazing pies, using all shortening. I modified her recipe, using half butter, half shortening, and it was easy to work with and had good texture. If you’re up for it, give it a try. Apricots don’t have a long window of opportunity, so don’t delay; that’s why I didn’t dither about typing this up.

Apricot Pie

Fresh Apricot Pie

This apricot pie recipe is made with fresh apricots, butter, nutmeg, and sugar, along with other ingredients. You can use a commercially prepared package of pie dough, but homemade tastes much butter. Tapioca thickens the juices that run out of the fruit, making a much better pie.

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoons flour
  • 2 tablespoons Kraft Minute Tapioca
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • pastry for double crust 9-inch pie
  • 3 ¾ cups fresh apricot halves
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon butter, cut in small pieces

Preparation:

· Line a 9-inch pie pan with half of the pie crust. Combine apricots, sugar, flour, tapioca, lemon juice and nutmeg and let sit for 15 minutes. Fill pie crust with apricot mixture and dot with the butter. Cover with top crust, trim and flute edges and make several small slits in top to vent. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 425° for about 45 minutes, turning pie once halfway through bake time. Be sure to put pie pan in a sheet pan, as I promise you will have overflowing juices. Let cool completely before digging in!

Apricot Pie Slice

Just in Case – Pie Crust Recipe

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup cold butter
1/3 cup cold shortening (I used Crisco butter flavored)
4-6 tablespoons ice water

I use a food processor: pulse the flour and salt to mix. Add shortening and big pieces of butter and pulse until fats resemble small peas. Add water while pulsing until dough just starts to come together. Press the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for an hour if possible. This will relax the gluten and cool the butter back down. Be sure to roll it out thin; it just barely makes a double crust.

All-butter crusts are just too hard to roll out. For me, they are only good for pressing into tart pans, and they aren’t really nice and flaky. This recipe is for serious pie making. Enjoy!

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