Ingredients
2014 APC National Pie Championships Amateur Division 2nd Place King Arthur Flour Apple
Crust
1 cup of butter flavor Crisco
2 cups of King Arthur flour
2 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons ice cold water
Cream Filling
½ cup sugar
2 T. cornstarch
2 egg yolks
1 ¼ cup half and half
1 t. vanilla
1 T. butter
Apple Pie Filling
2 ½ pounds cooking apples (peeled, cored, and sliced)
1 T. lemon juice
4 T. butter
1 heaping T. flour
3 T. white sugar
3 T. brown sugar
¼ – ½ cup apple cider
Dash of cinnamon
Dash of nutmeg
¼ cup candied or crystallized ginger (chopped into small pieces)
1 cup apricot preserves
1 Egg €“ beaten with 1 T. water
Sprinkling of white sugar
Directions
Crust
Preheat oven to 375. Whisk the flour and the salt together in a large bowl. Add the Butter Crisco and mix with your fingers until combined. Add the ice water and use a fork to combine. Turn pie dough out onto a floured surface and gather into a circular disk, Divide disk into two equal parts. Roll out one disk of dough big enough to fit into a pie plate, trim the edges to about 1 inch overhang. Place into the refrigerator until ready to use. Wrap the other disk in plastic wrap and chill until later.
Cream Filling
Combine the sugar, cornstarch, egg yolks, and half-half together in a heavy saucepan. Cook until filling is thick and bubbly, about 4-5 minutes over medium-high heat. Having a heavy sauce pan is critical in not scorching your filling. Remove thickened filling and run it through a fine mesh sieve, catching strained filling in another bowl. Add the butter and vanilla and stir until melted and combined. Place plastic wrap directly on top of filling and set aside to cool, about 30 minutes.
Apple Pie Filling
In a heavy pan over medium heat, combine the butter, flour, sugars and spices. Add the apples and lemon juice and sauté until almost tender €“ about 4-6 minutes. If the mixture is too dry/thick, start by adding ¼ cup of cider and add more if necessary to loosen up the filling. Remove from heat and stir in the candied ginger. Cool for about 15 minutes.
Place apricot preserves in a microwave safe bowl and heat until warm and melted. Turn cream filling into the pie shell. Place apple mixture on top of the filling and then spread the apricot preserves on the apple slices. Roll out the other pie crust and cut into strips for a lattice top. Once lattice is on top of the pie, brush the top of the lattice with the beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for about 45 minutes or until golden. You may have to cover the crust halfway through the cooking. Serves 8-10.