Cinnamon Apple Pie

After finding lots of local apples at Whole Foods late last week, I came across an amazing recipe from The Gracious Pantry for Clean-Eating Apple Pie. 



My toddler and my eight-month old helped me out with the preparation, which is why I had to change the name to "cinnamon apple pie."  The toddler may have taken it upon herself add an extra heaping tablespoon of cinnamon to the pie filling while Mama's back was turned...

This recipe was extremely easy (who knew pie crust from scratch could be so simple?) and very tasty.  It's not overly sweet -- in fact, it's not really sweet at all -- which makes me think it's closer to an authentic apple pie (think first Thanksgiving), than to a super-sweet, supermarket concoction full of high-fructose corn syrup and partially-hydrogenated oil.  [That's a good thing.]

Having given up sweetened, processed foods long ago, this pie was PERFECT for my taste buds.  But I'm not sure I'll make a version to share at Thanksgiving dinner, because my extended family may not agree that a dessert with no refined sugar is worth eating.

That said, I loved it and will definitely make it again for myself and my immediate family.  I'm also looking forward to using the simple pie crust for lots of other things...it seems equally perfect for chicken pot pie or something else savory.

Crust:

2 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour + extra
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup low-fat or skim milk + an extra 1/4 cup additional

Spray your tin with a coat of spray-on olive oil.

Add about 1/8 cup whole wheat pastry flour to your tin.

Shake your tin around until the flour completely coats the surface. Set aside.

Put flour and salt into a mixing bowl and mix.

Measure your milk and oil into the same cup.

Mix well by hand until you have a firm dough. Depending on your climate, you may need that extra 1/4 cup of milk. I did. If you add the extra milk at the end, it will seem like it was a really bad idea at first. But keep mixing and you’ll end up with a really nice, firm dough. It takes some doing, so don’t give up.

Place half your dough on a large piece of parchment paper. Flatten slightly with your hands or rolling pin, and then place another large sheet of parchment paper over the top so the dough is sandwiched in between. Roll with your rolling pin until your dough is about 1/8 in to 1/4 inch thick. You may need to lift the parchment occasionally or flip the whole thing over to get rid of wrinkles in the parchment.

Remove the top sheet of parchment, and roll out any wrinkles left in the dough by the parchment. You should have a nice, even and smooth piece of dough.

Place your tin upside down on your dough. Flip the whole thing over, and mold the dough into your tin, being careful not to rip the dough.

Cut the excess dough around the edge of the pan. Keep your knife upright so you get a nice even cut.

Roll out the other half of dough and set aside (to use to top the pie).

Filling:

Apples, cut and seeded – Enough to fill the pie tin. [About 6 apples, I used only 3 and was disappointed...]
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 cup honey
1 tbsp. organic cornstarch
1 tbsp. lemon juice or orange juice [I used orange juice]

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine your apples, cinnamon, honey, cornstarch and lemon/orange juice. Stir well to coat the apples thoroughly.

Pour the apples into your pie crust.

Top the pie with the second crust and pinch all around the edge to seal it, then crimp with a fork.

Cut a vent in the top so steam can escape and transfer the entire pie to the oven.

Bake for approximately 1 hour. It’s done when the juices start to bubble up through the vents you cut in the top.

Allow to cool and then enjoy!

P.S. -- My littlest helped with preparing, but she's only eight months old, so she couldn't have a taste.  Babies under one year old shouldn't eat foods containing honey.  I also don't allow my babies under one year old to have foods that have been sweetened or salted (they'll have the rest of their lives for that!).