I hope all my Canadian readers had a great Thanksgiving weekend!
For the first time in as long as I can remember we spent Thanksgiving in Montreal. There was a very good reason for that; my cousin Ramy got married. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so happy. Carla is wonderful and I am very pleased to call her family. It was a beautiful ceremony, followed by an incredible feast. There was poutine at the midnight sweet table!
Yet I still craved a Thanksgiving dinner. So on Sunday my mom made us a Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixins and I took care of dessert. I went the traditional; apple pie and pumpkin pie. I decided to throw a little twist into the apple pie by using maple sugar. I was hoping for a more pronounced maple flavour, but I don’t think I used enough to get the effect I wanted. Next time I think I’ll put half a cup of maple sugar, though I’ve written the recipe as I made it.
I usually use an all butter crust recipe, but this time I used half butter half shortening. It made a really nice flaky crust, and the bottom held up nicely to the moisture from the apples. Just a note about pie crusts in general, recipes will usually give a quantity of water to add, but depending on where your flour was made and the humidity in the air you may need more or less. In this case I almost doubled the amount of water I normally use. If as you stir with a fork the dough doesn’t come together, add a little more water, then a little more if necessary.
I only have one photo for this post. By the time the pie had cooled there was no light, so I worked some leftover slices the next morning. Unfortunately the sun was so strong that even with diffused light I was getting crazy shadows. Thankfully I got one good photo out !
Sour Cream Pastry
(from Canadian Living)
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter, frozen
- 1/2 cup shortening, frozen
- 1/4 cup ice water
- 3 tbsp sour cream
- In a large bowl stir the flour and salt together. Using a box grater, grate the butter and shortening then add them to the flour. Toss the butter and shortening through the flour to cover it, then using your finger tips rub the butter into the flour until a few small pieces of butter/shortening are visible.
- Mix the water and sour cream together then pour onto the flour mixture. Stir with a fork until the dough comes together. Add more water if necessary. Using your hands bring the dough together and knead one of two times. Split the dough into 3 balls then flatten them into disks, cover individually with plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour.
- 4 cups apples peeled and cored (I used Cortland)
- 1/2 sugar
- 1/4 cup fine maple sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- juice of half a lemon
- 2 tbsp four
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 egg yolk
- sugar for sprinkling
- Toss the apples with the sugar, maple sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice and flour. Set aside.
- Roll out one of the pastry disks till 1/4 inch thick and large enough to cover a 9 inch pie plate. Place the dough in the pie plate then fill with the apples. Dot the apples with the butter. Roll out the second disk and place on top the apples. Trim the edges then roll them in making sure to have a tight seal. Cut some slits into the upper crust, then place the pie in the freezer for 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 450F. Whisk the egg yolk with a tablespoon of water, then brush the upper crust with the yolk. Sprinkle some sugar on the the crust (I used a course sugar to prevent burning).
- Bake at 450 F for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350F and continue baking for 60-65 minutes.
- Let the pie cool for at least 2 hours before serving.
What She's Having 
Happy Thanksgiving.
I have always liked drizzling maple syrup on my apple pie, but baking it right in sounds like a great idea!
I have never put maple syrup with apple pie, it seems like a wonderful idea! Gorgeous pie!
I’ve never put maple syrup in my apple pie, might have to change that.
Your tart looks absolutely gorgeous! now I have to try maple in my apple pie!
Love maple sugar in anything – never thought to put it in pie before. Yum!
I’ve never used maple syrup in apple pie, but looks promising, I might give it a try. Love the photo.. the pie looks so delicious.
This looks great, and that pastry looks particularly good — very flaky. Love the addition of maple syrup, too. Happy Thanksgiving to you!
I have a feeling that this pie is going to grace our Thanksgiving table next month!
Sounds like a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Bring on the maple sugar, syrup..love it all and your pie is beautiful.
I like the sour cream pie crust recipe and am looking forward to rolling my sleeves up and rolling out some pie dough myself;-)
I love a crust made with shortening and butter…yours is SO flaky!!!! Apple pie is one of my favorites…and the addition of maple sounds scrumptious!
Wow… maple apple pie!? This sounds so delicious! I love the flavor of maple so much and can only imagine how delicious it must taste in this pie. I’ll definitely have to give it a try!
Maple sugar and apples sounds wonderful together!
Wonderful pie. Sounds like a very exciting holiday. Hope you had a great time.
Now THAT is a pie! I can’t believe how good those pictures look! My stomach grumbled as soon as I saw it… I may need to go grocery shopping tomorrow so I can make it!