Apple pie is as American as…er…apple pie.
Or, maybe not.
It turns out that there are no apples native to the United States (except crabapples). Zero. Zip. None.
Apples are believed to have originated in Asia.
Apples were introduced to America by the Jamestown colonists. Things moved quickly after that. though. By the 1800s more than 14,000 varieties of apples were being grown here. (Today about one hundred apple varieties dominate the American commercial market. Gala apples are the number one crop and Red Delicious apples (yuck!) are the second largest crop. China is the world’s top apple grower. The United States is second with a projected production of 10.7 billion pounds of apples here in 2022-2023. (That’s a whole lot of apples!)
We Americans are not slouches when it comes to consuming apples, either. Apples are the most popular fruit here with the average American consuming more than 26 pounds of apples (in all forms) per person per year.
There are good apple recipes. There are great apple recipes. This is a WOW apple recipe.
This recipe is adapted from one that appears in Shauna Sever’s Midwest Made: Big, Bold Baking from the Heartland cookbook. The book is available at your local bookstore or on Amazon here.Here is a link to the original recipe: Apple Slice.
This is how I prepared the Apple Slice in my kitchen.
Apple Slice
Ingredients
- For the Pastry
- 2 3/4 C. all-purpose flour
- 2 T. granulated sugar
- 1 t. sea salt
- 1 C. unsalted butter (cold and cut into cubes)
- 1/2 C. whole milk
- 1 large egg yolk
- For the Filling:
- 2 3/4 pounds apples (I used a mixture)'
- 1/3 C. packed brown sugar
- 1/3 C. granulated sugar
- 1 t. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 t. freshly-grated nutmeg
- 1/8 t. fine sea salt
- For finishing:
- 3 C. cornflake cereal (crushed)
- l large egg white
- Pinch of sea salt
- For the Icing:
- 1 C. powdered sugar
- Pinch of sea salt
- 4 t. water
- 1/2 t. vanilla extract
Directions
- Step 1 To prepare the crust, combine the flour, granulated sugar, and sea salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the “S” blade. Blend briefly to mix. Add the cubes of cold butter to the bowl and pulse the mixture until it just begins to appear crumbly.
- Step 2 Whisk the milk and the egg yolk together in a small bowl. With the processor running, pour the egg yolk mixture into the butter/flour mixture. Blend until the dough mixture just comes together. Remove the dough from the bowl. Form dough into two equal disks and wrap them in plastic wrap. Refrigerate. (I refrigerated my dough for several hours.)
- Step 3 While the dough is chilling, make the filling. Combine the apples, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a bowl. Toss. Set aside while you roll your dough.
- Step 4 Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Step 5 After the dough is chilled, remove from refrigerator and roll the first dough disk into a long rectangle that is just smaller than the baking pan. (You are using a baking sheet that is 12 inches by 17 inches and that is lined with parchment.) Place the dough on the parchment and on the baking tray. Scatter the crushed cornflake cereal across the rolled out dough, leaving a clean one-inch border. Spread the apples (and their juices) on top of the cornflakes. Set aside.
- Step 6 Roll the other disk of dough into a rectangle that is the same size as the rectangle of dough that you are using for the bottom. Carefully, lay this rolled-out rectangle on top of the apples and dough. Fold the dough up around the slice to crimp and seal the slice. (You will be working with about 1-inch of dough here.)
- Step 7 Beat the egg white and salt together in a small bowl and brush the egg-white mixture on top of the slice pastry.
- Step 8 Bake at 400 degrees F. for 50 to 60 minutes until the apple slice crust is a pretty golden brown. (My oven took about 50 minutes.) Remove the slice pastry from the oven and place on a rack to cool for about 15 minutes.
- Step 9 While the apple slice pastry is cooling, mix all the icing ingredients together in a small bowl. Your apple slice pastry will still be slightly warm at this point. Brush the glaze over the warm slice pastry. All the pastry to cool completely before slicing and serving.
