Orchard a la mode

Nothing warms your heart like your darling child coming downstairs exclaiming, “What are you cooking, Mom? Ug, I hope the house doesn’t smell like this all day.”

But things got better ‘cuz it was apple orchard day! We went with the whole tribe and took the hayride out to the orchard to pick our own. Ground apples were cheaper so I came back with a mess of those to immediately process into an apple pie, applesauce, and apple muffins. I’ve still got about 15lbs, plenty for more apple adventures tomorrow.

I made The Ultimate Pie Crust this morning in anticipation: 2 ½ cups cake flour, 1 cup European butter, a pinch of salt, and iced vodka. The pie was no nonsense, what I’d do on my own, but by chance, exactly what’s listed in the Household Searchlight Recipe Book, 1936. I had my daughter help me: her first pie!

Apple Pie

Fill a pastry-lined pie pan with thinly sliced apples. Sprinkle generously with sugar which has been combined with flour in the proportion of 1 cup sugar to 1 T flour. (I used much less sugar because these apples were very sweet.) Sprinkle with nutmeg or cinnamon. Dot with butter. Cover with top crust. Bake 425°F  about 45 minutes. A few drops of lemon juice may be added if the apples lack flavor. (Nope, these are very flavorful, sweet honeycrisps.) If desired, omit the top crust, and cover the pie with marshmallows after the apples are tender. (Not!) Brown in slow oven.

I made these spice muffins from the same book but with chopped apples added. When you take muffins and cupcakes out of the oven, you should immediately tilt them on their sides if you're going to let them cool in the pan, otherwise the steam will make the bottoms mushy.

Spice Muffins

2 cups flour

1 egg, well beaten

½ cup sugar

1 cup milk

1 t ginger

1 t nutmeg

1 t cinnamon

3 t baking powder

1 t salt

Sift flour, measure, and sift with spices, baking powder, and salt. Combine egg, sugar, shortening, and milk. Add dry ingredients. Beat only until smooth. Fill well-oiled muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake in hot oven (425° F) 15-20 minutes. 1 dozen.