Baking With the Kids

Here in New England, fall is definitely in the air. It's apple season, and I've been taking the kids out to the local orchard every few weeks for apple-picking outings. My favorites are the Gala apples, which are unbelievably good when you get them fresh off the tree, but which also last really well, giving us time to work our way through the entire peck we need to buy at a time.

With all the apples in the house, I always want to back, and if I can, I always like to get the kids involved when I back. When I decided to make an apple pie, my eldest was in school, but my three-year-old daughter was very enthusiastic about baking. I had, perhaps, not thought out enough what she could do to participate in the making of an apple pie.

I made up my own recipe as I went; with apple pies I rarely bother to follow a book recipe any more. Here's the pie we made together.

I started with a store-bought pie crust, because I am far too lazy to make my own. Usually, when I shop, I try to shop generic, but with pie crusts, I always get the Pillsbury refrigerated ones. Pillsbury pie crusts are reasonably priced (around $2-2.50 at my local store), and give you the right flaky texture, which I find many pre-made pie crusts won't. Just make sure to let it sit outside the refrigerator like the instructions say before you try to unroll it.

I had a two-pack of pie crusts, but I intend to make a raspberry pie from all the garden raspberries I've been freezing this year, so I decided to make two single-crust pies, and decided to do a streusel topping for this one.

I set the oven to 375 degrees F and turn to my apples. By this time, my daughter has dragged a chair over the the counter and is kneeling on it, saying, "I'm going to bake, too!" I look at the pile of apples that need to be peeled, cored, and chopped. I look at her little fingers.

"Would you like to help me with the apple peels?" I ask.

"Yeah!" she says.

So I set to work peeling my apples. I have five mammoth-sized Cortlands I picked while getting my last round of Galas, and show my daughter how you can peel the skins off in one long strip, and set her to work munching the peels down while I cut each apple into sixteen wedges and dump them in a bowl.

Here is the recipe I used for the pie filling:

2 tbsp flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

I combined those four and tossed the apples in them, then unrolled my pie crust into a deep pie dish. We moved the apples into the pie crust with a spoon (and little girl fingers), rather than just dumping them in, then sprinkled the remaining sugar mix over the top.

Then it was time for the streusel topping.

I started with
1/3 cup pecans, finely chopped
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour

I combined the dry ingredients, then used a pastry blender to cut 3 tbsp of butter into them until I had a crumbly mess. Yum! My daughter sprinkled most of it on the pie for me, but I let her keep a few spoons of it to eat herself.

Bake it for 45 minutes at 375 degrees, and it comes out bubbly and hot. I let it cool and set for an hour, then served it still warm. Delicious!