Jonared Apples. First Harvest. And Apple Pie.

These are Jonared apples. I grew them for nostalgic reasons. My parents had a Jonathan apple tree in their yard, more than 50 years ago. I couldn't find a Jonathan at the time that I planted this tree, but Jonared is just a red sport, so the apples should be the same. This is the first year that it bore. I planted it about 4 years ago.  The fruit set was very good this year - several dozen - but deer managed to get into the tree cage, and damaged about half.  This was a hot dry summer, and I watered this tree, but not a lot.

The Jonared apples are crisp and tart, not very sweet.  I read that Jonathan apples need a Midwestern climate to  reach peak flavor.  That's OK, my wish was to make a pie.

 In our household, during my parents' later years, it was my dad who made the pies.  He always used tapioca starch as a juice thickener, but I usually use flour. In his honor, I used tapioca starch this time, sold locally as tapioca flour, in the specialty flours section at the grocery store. It worked much better than my usual flour, wasn't soupy at all, even with a hot pie. I usually add a half teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, plus 1 teaspoon vanilla that I mix with the sugar before mixing with the apples. Very happy, reminded me of my dad's pies.

Here is the rest of the Apple Pie

I've been informed that I did not publish the rest of the apple pie, as I said I would 2 weeks ago:-) here it is.


Crust recipe here.

This was a 9 inch apple pie.

I used 4 large Braeburn apples. I sliced 5, but that was too much, so I ate the 5th.

Filling is:
3/4 cup sugar (I used 2/3 cup, not as sweet)
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
dash of salt
6 cups thinly sliced baking apples (Braeburn is good, or Jonathan, or MacIntosh.
2 tbsp olive oil (Recipe calls for butter. I don't miss it, olive oil is healthier).
1 tsp vanilla.

I added the vanilla to the sugar, mixed them together, then ran the mixture through a sieve to make it granular again. I like having vanilla in the apple pie.

I layered the apples into the crust, a layer of apples, then a layer of flour mix, then a layer of apples, then a layer of flour mix, then one more layer. Then dribble the olive oil on top of the mix. Some bakers mix the apples and flour mix, then pour it into the crust. I think either is OK.

Covered with top crust, a few holes punched with a fork. My mother had a special "pie ventilator" device that cut little designs into the top. I've never been able to find one. Even though a fork does the job just fine, using the device would be more nostalgic. I guess I'll have to settle for using her maple rolling pin.

Foil to keep the edges from burning. I find this works better than the aluminum guard that I bought. The foil gives better coverage. It can be reused multiple times, and I do.

I bake 425 X 15 min then turn the oven down to 375 for 40 minutes. The recipe calls for 425 the entire time, but in my oven that's too much.

The recipe came from my mother's cousin, Pearl's Betty Crocker cookbook, 1969, but I made enough changes that maybe it's my own. I decreased the sugar as noted, added the Vanilla, and decreased the nutmeg because the higher amount in the original recipe gave me heartburn. I might eliminate it altogether. I also changed the butter to olive oil, as noted, and used the olive oil crust.

Today I actually made a rhubarb pie - no photos today, but photos and recipe are here (page down, also not in correct order) except that I used the olive oil crust and forgot the oil (butter). We'll see if that makes a difference. With oil in the crust, it may not. I also left out the lemon juice - forgot to buy some. I also found an error in the recipe - didn't say how much rhubarb - so I corrected it. Wow! Home grown Rhubarb pie and it's not even March yet! It was redder than last time, probably due to the young stems.

Looking at the older photos, the sauce in the pie looks watery. That's because it was sliced when hot. It gels when cool. We like eating ours cool anyway, the flavors seem to blend together better.

Some bakers use tapioca starch in pies. I keep forgetting to buy some. Tapioca starch apparently makes a better gel in the pie filling.