{"id":34,"date":"2009-09-23T18:29:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-24T02:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/topmomblog.com\/?p=34"},"modified":"2011-08-07T18:21:10","modified_gmt":"2011-08-08T01:21:10","slug":"from-the-bon-appetit-archive-september-1999","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shescookin.com\/from-the-bon-appetit-archive-september-1999\/","title":{"rendered":"Bon App\u00e9tit Challenge – Five Spice Apple Pie"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The challenge:\u00a0 cook every cover recipe from the gazillion Bon Appetit magazines I have saved over the years. The idea struck me as I contemplated cooking the cover recipe of the September 2009 issue “Chicken a la Mattone” or Chicken under a Brick <\/em>– I smiled inside at the thought of posting a recipe that uses \u00a0brick. <\/span>Since it’s still September I scoured my collection looking for other September issues and, surprisingly, only found one.\u00a0 So I actually do throw out some… <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
(The months that I have a tendency to keep 4ever are July, Bon Appetit’s barbecue issue – because in SoCal we can do this year-round :D, and October because it’s full of comfort food – and we all love comfort food.)
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The issue was the September 1999: Special Millennium Edition and on the cover was apple pie. Inwardly I groaned because I am not a baker – in fact I have never baked a pie, actually I think I may have but it would have been over two decades ago.\u00a0 Yes, it’s true, I’m aged (like a fine wine) enough to have been cooking for 20+ years!<\/span>
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\nI could have<\/em> shirked from the challenge because you all would never know, but I’m not like that<\/em>. So I read through the recipe, check to make sure I have all the ingredients, buy Crisco (eek) apples at PlowBoys<\/a>, my current fave market, and – oh crap, I don’t own a pie pan – go to Target and buy a Pyrex<\/a> glass pie dish.<\/span>
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Now, I never use Crisco, but I have heard that it does make the best pie crust… so putting aside the fact that it is made from partially hydrogenated oil; and everything we’ve learned about harmful trans fats (ignorance was bliss in 1999); I tackled the job of peeling all those apples. \u00a0This didn’t take as long as I thought it would – only about 10 minutes; coring and slicing them took a little longer. <\/span><\/span>
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\nI bet that you did not know that Crisco came out in 1911 and that early sales were largely \u00a0generated by Orthodox Jews. \u00a0The recipe for Five-Spice Apple Pie<\/span><\/em> begins with this anecdote: <\/span><\/span>
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\n“By the time Crisco came out in 1911, apple pies had long been an American classic. But Crisco, the first hydrogenated vegetable shortening, gave cooks a boost. \u00a0Here was a shelf-stable alternative to perishable butter and lard. While a lot of consumers were skeptical of Crisco, many early sales were generated by Orthodox Jews,who bought the shortening after a recipe booklet was published in Yiddish showing how Crisco could be used without breaking kosher dietary laws. \u00a0Crisco’s success was assured when rationing made lard scarce during World War I.” \u00a0 Bon Appetit, September, 1999 <\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/span>Five-Spice Apple Pie<\/span><\/h2>\n

CRUST:<\/span><\/p>\n

2 cups all purpose flour<\/span><\/div>\n
2 T. sugar<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00be t. salt<\/span>
\n\u2154 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into 1\/2-inch pieces<\/span><\/div>\n
5 T. (about) ice water<\/span><\/div>\n

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Mix first 3 ingredients in large bowl. \u00a0Add shortening, cut in using pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal with a few pea size pieces. Mix in enough ice water by tablespoonfuls to form moist clumps. \u00a0Form into 2 balls, one slightly larger than the other, flatten each into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hr. (Can be made 1 day ahead).<\/span><\/div>\n

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FILLING: <\/span><\/div>\n

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5 lbs. Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, cut into 1\/2 inch-thick slices<\/span><\/div>\n
2 T. fresh lemon juice<\/span><\/div>\n
6T. (3\/4 stick) unsalted butter<\/span><\/div>\n
1 c. (packed) golden brown sugar<\/span><\/div>\n
2T all purpose flour<\/span><\/div>\n
1 \u00bc t. Chinese five-spice powder<\/span><\/div>\n

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2 T. whipping cream<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00bd t. sugar<\/span><\/div>\n

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Toss apples and lemon juice in large bowl. Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add apples and brown sugar; cook until apples are just tender, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Using slotted spoon, return apples to same bowl. Boil juices in pot until thick, about 15 minutes. Pour juices over apples, cool completely. Mix in flour and five-spice powder.<\/span><\/div>\n

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Position rack in lowest third of oven. Preheat to 375\u00b0. Place baking sheet on rack. Roll out larger dough disk on floured surface to 12-inch round. Transfer to 9-Inch glass pie dish; trim overhang to 1 inch, if necessary. Spoon filling into crust. Roll out smaller dough disk to 10-inch round, drape over filling. Press top and bottom edges of dough together, crimp decoratively (there’s a technique to this, but I don’t know it). Brush crust with cream and sprinkle with sugar.<\/span>
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Place pie on baking sheet in oven; bake until crust is golden brown and filling bubbles thickly, about 1 hour 5 minutes. Transfer pie to rack and cool. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.<\/span>
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\nEnjoy \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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