Clean Eating for Thanksgiving Part 3

The apple pie!

Yesterday was such a whirlwind of cooking, preparing, etc that I did not get to take too many pictures. My in-laws are what we call round here "snowbirds." They spend half a year in New Jersey and half a year in Florida.  So as they prepare to flee the chilly weather, we do Christmas on Thanksgiving. So presents are part of my Thanksgiving as well.  But I did get to take pictures of the apple pie!

My version of my mom's 1950-something apple pie recipe:

pie crust for double crust pie, rolled into thinness you like and bottom crust placed in pie pan


2-3T whole wheat flour
1-2t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
3/4-1c sugar; I like turbinado, esp in apple pies; the molasses flavor really adds to the pie
2T butter, cut into chunks







mixture of tart, medium and sweet local apples, # depends on size or pie & size of apples.
      (for a 9" pie I have at least 7 medium apples)




Mix dry ingredients together in a small bowl.  You want this ready as the apples will start to brown pretty quickly. 






Peel, core & slice the apples. I have been reading a lot about NOT peeling the apples; how we are throwing away all that great fiber and other nutrients when we do that.  I want to try it one day and see how it comes out.  For Thanksgiving, I needed to keep my pie the same as always.  If you are fortunate enough to be able to get/afford organic apples, I can see leaving on the skins.  But regular store apples I most likely will not.

Once they are all sliced, toss the apples with the dry ingredients.








Slowly pour them into crust-lined pie pan, stopping to pat them down, adjusting to fill in large gaps.  The apples will settle as they bake; but if there is too much gaping, you will end up with a space between your apples and top crust.

Dot the apples with butter.  I like to stick in the small butter cubes as I am layering the apples.


Prepare top crust. I used three small cookie cutters to cut out leaves; sometimes I just carve an apple out of the center.  Whatever you like!! Make sure to put small air vents around large crust areas; helps crust mold to top of pie.





I use aluminum foil all around the bottom of my pie, bring it up and around the crust edges to make my little crust guard.  Burned edges are such a turn off on a pie!  You can see mid-process in the picture on the side.  Last 10-15 minutes of baking, loosen the the foil to brown up the crust edges.  This method also catches and contains the drips.

Bake at 400 degrees for 45-60 minutes, depending on size of pie. Beautiful!!

Cool on wire rack at least two hours.  I remove the foil for cooling.