Recipe: Baked Apple Dumpling Pie with Vanilla Custard Sauce and Best Butter Pie Pastry

BAKED APPLE DUMPLING PIE

"If this pie sounds like a cross between baked apples and apple dumplings, well, it is. It's baked with a top pastry only, which molds itself around the apples so handsomely that I don't even bother to invert the pie, lest the pasty vanish beneath the apples. I use Golden Delicious apples here because they hold their shape well. They're halved, cored and placed in the pan in a pool of melted butter, brown sugar, and raspberry preserves. A raisin-brown sugar-walnut mixture is spooned into the hollowed cored, a la baked apples, then the pastry is draped over the top, and the pie is baked. Since this bakes up in individual mounds, you don't slice it like a regular pie. Rather, you scoop out the mounds - which look like halved apple dumplings - and serve them with the pan juices. Excellent alone, but even better with chilled Vanilla Custard Sauce."

1 recipe Best Butter Pie Pastry, refrigerated (recipe follows)
FOR THE RAISIN WALNUT MIXTURE:
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup walnut pieces
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
FOR THE FILLING:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons raspberry preserves
4 Golden Delicious apples
FOR THE GLAZE:
Light cream (or milk)
Granulated sugar
Vanilla Custard Sauce (optional, for serving, recipe follows)

If you haven't already, prepare the pastry and refrigerate it until firm enough to roll, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine the raisins, walnuts, brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.

Select an ovenproof skillet or saute pan that measures 9 inches across the bottom and 11- to-12 inches across the top. (A cast iron skillet works well and makes a nice presentation.) Melt the butter in the skillet over medium heat, then stir in the brown sugar and preserves. When the mixture is bubbling evenly over the surface of the pan (30 seconds or so) remove pan from the heat.

Do not peel the apples; the peels will help them to hold together. Halve them top to bottom, however, and core each half. (A melon baller does a good job.) Spoon some of the raisin-walnut mixture into each apple half, compacting it with a finger.

Quickly invert the stuffed apple halves and place them cut side down in the skillet. You should be able to get 6 or 7 around the outside and 1 in the center. Finely dice the remaining apple half, if left over, and scatter the pieces between the apples. Sprinkle the leftover raisin-nut mixture between the apples.

Roll out all of the pastry between two sheets of waxed paper into a 12-inch circle. After removing the top sheet of paper, invert the pastry over the apples, center it and peel off the other sheet of paper.

Lifting the edge of the pastry, either tuck the edge straight down along the inside of the pan or pinch it to crimp the edge. Poke several large vent holes in the pastry with a paring knife, twisting the knife to enlarge the holes slightly. Lightly brush the pastry with the egg wash and sprinkle surface with sugar.

Place the pie directly on the center oven rack and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees F and bake until the top crust is golden brown, another 25 minutes. Transfer the pie to a cooling rack and let cool for at least 30 minutes or to room temperature before serving.

Serve with chilled Vanilla Custard Sauce.

BEST BUTTER PIE PASTRY
Makes enough pastry for 1 (9-inch) deep-dish pie shell.

"This is the workhorse of my pie pastry repertoire. It has a great buttery flavor, it's easy to roll and it holds up beautifully in the pan, remaining firm and distinct rather than turning into mush as some pastries do. In short, I'm crazy about this pastry and almost reflexively refer to it when I'm going to make a single-crust pie."

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces*
1 large egg yolk
About 3 tablespoons cold water

Tear off a sheet of plastic wrap about 14 inches long and place it nearby.

TO MIX THE PASTRY IN A FOOD PROCESSOR:
Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor (if hand-mixing, see instructions below) and pulse several times to mix. Remove the lid and scatter the butter pieces over the dry ingredients. Pulse the machine repeatedly (6 or 7 one-second bursts) until the butter is broken into very small pieces.

Place the egg yolk in a 1-cup glass measure and add just enough of the water to equal 1/4 cup liquid. Using a fork, blend the water and yolk. Remove the lid of the processor and pour the liquid over the entire surface of the dry ingredients. Don't, in other words, pour it into one spot. Pulse the machine again, in short bursts, until the pastry starts to form large clumps. Don't overprocess, or the butter will start to melt rather than stay in small pieces.

Empty the crumbs into a large mixing bowl. Using your hands, pack the dough as you would a snowball. Knead the dough 2 or 3 times, right in the bowl. Put the dough in the center of the plastic wrap and flatten it into a disk about 3/4-inch thick. The edges will probably crack slightly; just pinch and mold them back into a smooth disk. Wrap the dough in the plastic and refrigerate until firm enough to roll, about 1 hour.

OR, TO MIX THE PASTRY BY HAND:
Combine flour, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Scatter butter pieces over dry ingredients and cut them in, using a pastry blender or 2 knives, until the butter is broken into very fine pieces; the mixture will not be quite as fine as with the food processor.

Blend the yolk and water as directed above. Sprinkle about half of the liquid over the flour, mixing it in with a fork. Lift the mixture up from the bottom of the bowl and press down on the downstroke. Add the remaining liquid a little at a time until the dough coheres. You may need 1 to 2 teaspoons more water. Put the dough in the center of the plastic wrap and flatten it into a disk about 3/4-inch thick. The edges will probably crack slightly; just pinch and mold them back into a smooth disk. Wrap the dough in the plastic and refrigerate until firm enough to roll, about 1 hour.

*The most important thing to remember about this dough is not to overprocess it, or the butter will warm up and melt into the pastry, with less-than-desirable results.

VANILLA CUSTARD SAUCE
(Makes about 2 1/2 cups)

6 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups light cream (or half-and-half)
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Whisk the yolks and sugar together in a bowl.

Bring the cream to a simmer in a medium-sized saucepan. Gradually which the hot cream into the yolks, adding 1/3 cup or so at a time. Return the mixture to the saucepan. Stirr the custard over medium-low heat until it thickens enough to leave a path on the back of a wooden spoon when you draw a finger across it, about 5 minutes, do not boil.

Strain the sauce through a fine-mesh strainer into a small bowl and stir in the vanilla. Let cool to room temperature, then chill until cold. This will keep for 2-3 days.

Makes 7 servings
Source: Apple Pie Perfect: 100 Delicious and Decidedly Different Recipes for America's Favorite Pie by Ken Haedrich