Tags
apples, baking, canned sour cherries, cherries, dessert, easy, King Arthur Flour, pastry, pie, pie crust, sausage, savory, savory pie, sour cherries
from Kris B.
Brunch Sausage-Apple Pie
Before I say too much about this recipe, I need to state a few things right up front:
- Breakfast is my favorite meal.
- I will any breakfast food for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
- I’m a fan of one-dish meals.
- As far as breakfast meats go, I prefer bacon to sausage.
- I don’t care for fruit mixed with any other flavors…except bread. I’m not a fan of chocolate dipped fruit except for strawberries. I don’t like coffee infused with fruit flavors. I don’t like dried fruit in a savory salad.
- We choose the recipes for our posts several months in advance.
Keep these things in mind as you continue reading!
For whatever reason, this recipe sounded really good to me when I added it to our rotation. Admittedly, I did not read the complete recipe at the time I chose it; I just looked at its basic description. I like pie. I like apples and cheese. And though I do prefer bacon over sausage, I do like sausage. Weber likes all of these ingredients and prefers sausage to bacon. I figured this would make a good fall meal – breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
When I got around to make this is read the entire recipe, I was not so sure about it. First of all, it is somewhat labor intensive. Make the dough for crust. Divide the dough in half; part for the actual crust and part to be used for a crumble on top. Chill the dough. Peel and slice the apples. Roll the crust. Bake the crust. Cook the apples. Cook the sausage. Grate the cheese. And finally, put it all together and bake it. To eat this as a brunch meal, one would either need to get up very early, or have a very late brunch!
Here are the ingredients:
CRUST
- 2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 to 3 tablespoons cold water
FILLING
- 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) butter
- 6 medium apples, cored, peeled and sliced approx. 1/4-inch thick
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon or 1/4 teaspoon apple pie spice
- 8 ounces sausage meat, crumbled
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
Notice that there is a lot of sweetness is this! Brown sugar in the topping, sugar in the apples, as well as the apples themselves. And the amount of apples far outweighs that of the sausage. At this point, I started to question the recipe. Then I decided that the cheese and sausage would work together to temper the sweetness of everything else. So, on I went.
I was also concerned about the amount of butter used; not so much in the crust, but in the cooking of the apples. And again, on I went, believing that whoever wrote the recipe knew something more than I did.
The dough for the crust was very easy with which to work. It rolled without cracking and was easy to move to the 9″ pie plate. Here is my method for moving the rolled dough into the pie plate. Once rolled to the desired thickness, fold the dough in half and then in half again. It is much easier to move the folded dough. Then simply unfold it in the pie plate and continue to crimp your edges.
After cooking the apples and the sausage, and pre-baking the pie shell, the pie is assembled in layers. First the apples, then the sausage. The cheddar cheese goes on top of these two and is followed by the crumble, which is a portion of the pie crust which was reserved and to which brown sugar was added. The pie bakes for 30-40 minutes in a 375 degree oven.
Once cooled (and photographed), it was time to give the Brunch Sausage-Apple Pie a try.
Weber liked it. Me? Not so much.
After having it for dinner, I sent Tracey a message that said that this was a recipe for schizophrenic food. It doesn’t know whether it wants to be sweet or savory. It is the culinary example of compromise – no one is happy. The sausage intrudes on what would probably be a decent apple pie and the sweetened apples over-power the savory-ness of the sausage and cheese. And after several bites, I realized that the whole thing is too rich for me. The sweetness combined with the sausage and all of the butter was more than I could handle.
All this said, I think there are several changes that could be made that would make this recipe a possible keeper.
- Put cheese in the crust rather than as a layer in the pie itself.
- Omit the sweet crumble topping and instead use a double crust.
- Don’t cook the apples in butter.
- Use a reduced amount of brown sugar (or not) when cooking the apples.
- Mix the apples and the sausage together and spread this mixture in the shell rather than layering them.
Life is all about learning from all of our experiences. With this one, I learned to trust my instincts and have a little my faith in my knowledge.
from Tracey G.
Mr. Washington’s Cherry Pie
Even though I know it’s apple season, I wanted cherry pie, so that’s what I set out to make for this week! I found this recipe for Mr. Washington’s Cherry Pie, courtesy once again, of King Arthur Flour’s website.
I’ve never worked with canned cherries, and this recipe uses canned sour cherries packed in water. I’ve used regular canned pie filling before, but not just the straight-up cherries, so this was kind of a fun adventure!
The recipe is crazy simple, and so are the ingredients:
- One prepared double pie crust or your favorite recipe (I used this recipe of KAF’s for mine: Classic Double Pie Crust)
- sour cherries, packed in water or individually quick frozen
- sugar
- cinnamon, optional
- quick-cooking tapioca or Pie Filling Enhancer ( I didn’t have any more of the Pie Filling Enhancer, so I just used the recommended amount of Instant ClearJel they state in the Tips From Our Baker’s section at the end of the recipe, and it also directs you to other ideas for thickening!)
- almond extract
- salt
- butter, optional
It’s also really simple to put together, first you prepare you pan with your crust of choice. Next, add the drained cherries and 2/3 cup reserved juice from them into a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, cinnamon (if using) and tapioca or Pie Filling Enhancer (or thickener of choice!). Add this mixture to the cherries, then stir in the salt and almond extract.
At this point, you’re ready to spoon the cherry mixture into the prepared pan, and top with the second crust in the style of your choice – I chose to do a lattice crust. Pie crust and I have a love/hate relationship, so if I can detract from my ugly edges, lol, I will!
Now it’s time to bake it in a 425°F oven for about 40-45 minutes, on a parchment covered sheet pan (to catch potential drips), until golden brown and the filling is bubbling.
Remove it from the oven and cool completely on a rack so it has time to set up before you cut it. That’s it!
I can tell you right now, that I will be making this again – I really, really enjoyed this pie! The sour cherries are so yummy, I could just eat the filling without anything else! (But I do love pie crust, I must admit!) Not only does it taste fabulous, it’s really easy to make – the canned cherries make it pretty convenient as well. Next I’d like to try the recipe with frozen sour cherries, if I can find them in my neck of the woods!
If you want a yummy cherry pie, that takes a teensy bit more time than using a prepared pie filling, do give this one whirl – there’s nothing there to disappoint at all!!!
Looks like you’re into high end baking these days. Hope you turn your attention to scones, which have become an obsession for me.