It’s a wonder why up to this day, I had never made a pie. I think it was always in my mind that it was something of a difficult task and I always shied away from it. Until now.

I had bought some delicious looking Pink Lady apples from the grocer the other day. I ate one, and found out that I was mildly allergic to this type of apple. Yes, I am allergic to some apples believe it or not. Same with raw carrots, but that’s another story. These raw fruits and veggies more or less come from the same family of tree or plant that I am allergic to, thereby having an effect on me when I eat them. However once I cook or bake them, the protein that causes my allergic reaction goes away, and I am a happy camper.

So I found out that I am allergic to Pink Lady and then was left to figure out what to do with the remaining five apples that I bought. I figured, if I can’t eat them raw, then I may as well make something with them… and what better to make than a delicious homemade apple pie! It was actually good timing as it gave me a chance to put this one under my belt now too.

And so, doing some preliminary research, I figured I’d go with the recipe from the Joy of Cooking, as they recommended using lard (yay!) to give that tender and flaky crust action.

Not owning a pastry blender (note to self to consider buying one next time), I used two knives—as suggested by tJoC—to blend the lard, flour, and other dry ingredients, carefully making sure not to over mix the batch. Mix until pea-sized crumbs form? I was a little wary on that since I didn’t really want chunks of lard and/or butter in my crust when biting into it. Nonetheless, I followed the instructions diligently, and although my final dough didn’t come out to be as expected—too dry I would guess was my problem; not enough water added—I put it in the oven to bake hoping for the best.

Because of these pea-sized crumbs, I had little bits of lard scattered throughout my dough. I didn’t like this one bit as it not only made it hard to roll out, but it also made quite the mess when trying to work it in the pan. Blah.

Nonetheless, I worked it in the pan, only to find out that I had not saved enough dough for the top layer. I could only cover about 7/8th of the top of the pie, as I tried hard to cover it.

After about one hour of baking, I took the pie out of the oven and to my surprise, it actually looked half decent. Sure the top of the pie was a little messy as you can see in the picture, but it still looked like a pie, smelled like a pie, and sure enough tasted like a pie.

In fact, it was actually a very good pie. I lucked out in that the Pink Lady apples had just the right amount of tartness to them. My brother thought it was the perfect ratio of tartness to sweetness, although NH and I thought I could have done with a little less sugar. 3/4 cup would have probably sufficed.

Coupled with some vanilla ice cream, this apple pie was a hit for dinner at my brother’s bbq dinner. Mmm…
I have about one slice left as a left-over but I’m a little peeved as I forgot the ice cream in my brother’s fridge that evening. It looks like that slice of pie will have to go it alone… or with PC’s cookie’s ‘n cream ice cream if I so choose.

So now that I know that pie isn’t all too difficult to make, I will be sure to make more in the near future. Strawberry season is just around the corner and I can’t wait to make some strawberry pie. Blueberry pies are also very tempting. The combination with pies are endless, and that’s what makes it such a great thing to make. Making this pie reminded me of the 2007 movie Waitress with Kerry Russell, where she can’t stop making all these pies.

Mmm…

Happy New Year to those that read this!

It was a pleasant day to start off 2009. We all woke up to a traditional Japanese breakfast, osechi ryouri, that I had bought the previous day at J-Town. At $38 per plate, it was an expensive breakfast – but much cheaper than from others.

With a bountiful of fish, vegetables, and others, I always look forward to osechi ryouri on January 1st. Of course I can’t forget about ozouni – mochi in soup! One of my favourites, this one didn’t disappoint, as usual.

A fairly chilly day today, I actually spent the good part of the evening trying to take out my truffles from its mold. I had started making truffles (last year) and had left it until now to finish since I was in and about during this holiday season.

I have to say my first experience with chocolate molds proved to be a challenging one as some of the more persistent chocolates refused to come out. I suppose I have myself to blame for this. Perhaps my tempering was off for those chocolates.

I can’t say much for the base of the truffles, but at the very least they look great when you see them for the first time! I had made 5 different types, and was hoping that each would have their own distinct flavour to them.

To my dismay, some of the specialty flavoured ones didn’t turn out as flavoured as I wanted them to have been. It still tasted great, but just not what I had intended (afterall, who doesn’t love the taste of pure chocolate?!).

I will package them up tomorrow and send them off on their merry way. Until then, I hope you have yourself a great 2009.

Did you make your resolutions yet?