My mom was a terrific baker: bread, cookies, cream puffs, cakes, pies; she could do it all. At one time I was an equally proficient baker. I made apple pies continually until I mastered the technique — and then went a number of years without making a pie of any kind. That time lapse made me realize that, unlike many cooking techniques, baking requires you to keep your skills honed. So I switched to apple crisp — just as good and much less demanding.
But this winter I decided to try the rustic, one-crust apple pie in the Nov. 2010 issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine. The food processor does all the work of making the crust, which proved to be easy to roll out and handle — and had the added Martha touch of white cheddar cheese. The recipe actually makes enough for two crostatas.
It turned out to be one of the best "apple pies" I've made: quick, easy, very pretty and tasty too. I've had the dough for the second crust in the freezer for a couple of months. Now is the time to pull it out and make another. It's the perfect comfort food to curl up with by the fire as a winter storm blows in to the Midwest over the next few days.
The crostata above is the one I made at Thanksgiving. You can find Martha's cheddar pie dough recipe here and the apple filling recipe here; there's a short video as well.
If you're in the mood to start your meal with homemade soup, hop on over to Altoon Sultan's blog for a yummy looking potato soup recipe.
Linda, It looks delicious~and so does your remodel! Love the rugs, the book shelves and how paint color has changed the rooms. What fun. gail
Posted by: Gail | Monday, January 31, 2011 at 08:02 PM
Oh stop it now. This looks so good. I can just see you with a hot cup of coffee (tea for me please) and a big slice of this sitting in your library nibbling, sipping and reading a good book.
Posted by: Lisa at Greenbow | Tuesday, February 01, 2011 at 03:07 AM
Thanks for the lovely recipes, Linda. I made a rustic apple pie at Christmas, or was it Thanksgiving? As so much does, the exact memory escapes me. Anyway, it was a hit. I have apples getting old in the fridge, so it's time to do it again. Hope you are surviving the wild winter up there.
Posted by: Barbara H. | Wednesday, February 02, 2011 at 01:12 AM
That looks awesome!
Posted by: Sissy | Tuesday, February 08, 2011 at 04:22 PM