American as Apple Pie!

I understand after years of living in England where Americans get their love of apple pie from but I have to say we improved it immensely. I was quite disappointed when I first moved here to and found out that the English variety of apple pie was very tart and absolutely no spices. Imagine – the spice trade made England yet it uses so little in their foods. Most strange......

So imagine how popular my apple pies were when I made them for a friend who ran a cafe. They always sold out and what is even more amazing...I hate pie crust or did, I should say. I never was a pie person – each year I’d eat the filling but leave the crust as most I found to be horrid and bland tasting. It wasn’t until I’d been asked to make them that I said ‘I don’t make pie crust often but I’ll give it a go.’

So with that I soon learned how to make a successful and even tasty crust. But it ultimately was the filling that won people over – it seems that American Apple Pie is a big hit in England. Fancy that!

So for Thanksgiving this year since I didn’t obtain my usual pumpkin reduced (usually I get one the day after Halloween but this year wasn’t able to do that) and I thought time for a change. Usually it’s always the traditional – pumpkin or sweet potato and while those are nice – sometimes you have to shake it up. So in came the apple and of course it ran into a lemon, some zest, a bit of sugar along with some wonderful spices cinnamon, nutmeg and a bit of clove; add an all-butter crust and well you have a wonderful dessert!
This is a picture of the filling and the crust that I rolled out – ready to top the lovely filling. I then brushed it with some water and sprinkled some sugar on top along with some nutmeg which I had grated for the pie but ended up having too much for the filling thought it would flavour the crust. Also I must admit when I make crust – depending on it being savoury or sweet I added a bit of vanilla sugar to the mixture – wonderful! This is the final product both before oven and after. It certainly was lovely and I made a nice custard sauce to go over it as well – something that as Americans we should have kept from the English. They certainly do know how to top their puddings! Enjoy!

Fall and those lovely apples....

Every year since I’ve moved here and found this lovely orchard out in the wilds of Essex I’ve made my own apple sauce. I think the English gave us Americans our love of apples but we made it better! By this I mean if you buy an apple pie here in here in the stores you’ll find it quite bland and absolutely NO spices in it of any kind. It is simply apples – tart in taste – and little in the way of sugar. Their apple sauce is similar except no crust.

So now you can see why I love to make my own as it is so much better than just plain apple. I love to add cinnamon with some nutmeg and depending on my mood some cloves as well. Each year I end up with something different – one year less sugar due to the sugar in the apples used – as I mix it up and use whatever the orchard is selling that year.

Unfortunately, this year our car died and that means no trek out to the wilds of Essex to our apple lady (as I call her!) to fetch our tree falls (this is what naturally falls to the ground and they sell them cheaper!). Oh dear...I’m missing it more now that I type that.

Well anyway, that cannot happen this year so I’ve had to depend on what can be found cheaply in the store. Thankfully, I brought my nanny cart (this is a term from my friend Vicki – when we went out on our treks we used Nanny’s old cart to carry around our finds – hence the name nanny cart!) on this particular day in October which I found big bags of Kent apples for one pound!So ever the glutton (I have to make this last all year you know!) for punishment I got five bags – so yes, 25 huge bramley apples! I had to make two batches of said apple sauce but it was worth it and really will last me throughout the year. So in the mists of spring I’ll be enjoying a free-range pork roast with my lovely apple sauce.I usually share a jar or two with friends and I still years now after my friend who ran a cafe and sold my apple pies get asked if I’d bake them a special one. So it must be true that while the British gave us our love for apples Americans took it to new heights! Enjoy the spice of apple today!