Escapism Techniques When Fall isn't Fall Enough

Hello my one reader (aka me when I forget this recipe),

It's the end of September and I wanted to do some fall things to will in the cold weather that seems to be nonexistant in Florida but has already arrived every where else. I also just made a new pen pal who is from Italy and wanted to show him what I could do with my baking, so I thought why not go apple picking? Turns out that much like cold weather, apple trees don't reside here either. Understandably, I was bummed. But I was determined to make a pie and when looking up the fruits that are in season in fall, two that were listed were pears and pomegranate. Wait maybe I'm making up the pomegranate part but either way pear was definitely on there and badabing badaboom I decided to go with an apple pear and pomegranate pie. This recipe is super easy and only takes a few hours so I would suggest giving it a go, especially for those of you that don't like the gooey bit in store bought apple pies. This is perfect for Thanksgiving and Halloween and Christmas and literally any time because you can't go wrong with an apple pie.

I know future me didn't read this part so if anyone else actually did, thanks.

Love,

TMADJJ

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Crust

THIS MAKES ENOUGH FOR A BOTTOM AND TOP CRUST

if you want a single crust cut the recipe in half

Ingredients:

4 cups all purpose flour

1 tbs kosher salt

2 tbs caster sugar

20 tbs (2.5 sticks) of unsalted butter, cut into thin slabs and frozen (the frozen bit is important)

2.5 tbs sour cream

ice water

1 pomegranate.

Recipe:

Open your pomegranate and take out all the seeds, sticking them in a food processor. This is a pain in the ass so if you have pom seed just laying around in your supermarket you could get those instead. Blend them up with your food processor and then strain the juice from the leftover seed debris into a bowl and set it aside. Incorporate the flour, sugar, and salt. Just like alcohol, sugar slows gluten from forming. Put your butter in there and start combining it with the flour using your fingertips. The goal is to make it crumbly looking. It's very important you don't let the butter get soft so if it's taking too long to combine, stick it in the fridge for ten minutes and then go at it again. This process is called cutting. You might think that this would be a good job for a food processor and while you can start it in that, don't let it completely combine in there, you'll get crumbles instead of flakes in your crust. Once that is all mixed up, I put mine in the fridge for 20 minutes to make sure it stays cold. Cold is the key to all of this y'all, if it melts prematurely you don't get air pockets in the oven. While this is chilling, mix 1 tablespoon pomegranate juice into the water and leave what's left of the juice to the side for the filling. Take your bowl of butter and flour out of the fridge and add the sour cream then, tablespoon by tablespoon, add the water. Remember, you want to use as little moisture as possible. The consistency your're looking for is it holds if you squeeze the dough in your hand but it doesn't look wet or like play-doh. Crumbly but pliable. Once it hits that stage, dump it onto a work surface and start bringing it together until it's a cohesive dough and shape it into a disc. Cover in cling film and put it in the fridge. You can chill it for up to four days but I'd do it for at least an hour.

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Filling

Ingredients:

3 ripe pears, thinly sliced

2 granny smith apples, thinly sliced

2 pink lady apples, thinly sliced

3/4 tsp nutmeg

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1 cup brown sugar

3.5 tbs cornstarch

2 tbs butter

kosher salt

1 lemon

Recipe:

Okay so for this, I did the pears macerated, which just means I drew the moisture out of them and turned that juice into a caramelly looking saucy goo to go in the pie.

So to macerate, you're gonna take all the pears and put them into a bowl with the brown sugar (you can use regular sugar, I just like the richness of the brown sugar), pinch of salt and 1.5 tbs of cornstarch. Toss them all together so they are completely covered and then leave them to sit for 45 minutes and let the moisture collect. While that's doing its thing, slice your apples and put them all in a bowl with the juice from one lemon. Once that's over, drain the liquid into a pot and set the pears aside. In the pot, bring all of that to a simmer and add nutmeg, your leftover pomegranate juice, and cinnamon. Combine the remaining 2 tbs of cornstarch with equal parts water and create a slurry out of that, then add it to the saucepan. Bring it to a boil so it thickens and becomes the consistency of caramel syrup. Add the butter and then bring it off the heat once it melts. Toss the apples in this deliciousness and set it aside while we make the base of the pie.

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Assembly

Okay here we go. First preheat your oven to 400° Farenheit. You're gonna take your pie crust and half it and roll it out into a large thin circle that will fit your pie tin. Lay it in and press it down so it's completely relaxed in the edges and some should still be hanging over the rim of the dish. Brush with an egg wash (1 egg mixed with water) and put it aside. But not really because next step is to put in your pears at the bottom of the pie and lay them as flat as possible. Now add your apples, arranging them nicely or not they just gotta be flat folks. That's pretty much it, you can bake it like that but if you have the second half you can decorate any way you'd like just make sure you have some sort of slit or ventilation that will allow steam to come out. If you need extra guidance on this go take a look at the peach pie assembly instructions. Happy eating :)