First Apple Pie of Autumn

In honor of my super-awesome new Cranberry Stone Pie Plate from Pampered Chef, and the luscious bag of Honey Crisp Apples I scored at the Farmer's Market, I give you my first pie of the season:

Another iPhone pic, sorry

I don't know about you, but I can not WAIT for Isa and Terry's new cookbook: Vegan Pie in the Sky to come out in October.  The PPK website has shown us a few mouth watering previews of what's to come, and THIS pecan pie recipe ALONE has sold me on the book.  But, alas, none of the previews have included the actual pastry pie CRUST recipe.  I realize they can't give too many recipes away in advance, but I, for one, am VERY interested to see what their secret is!

In the past, I've used this Flaky Pie Crust recipe, with excellent results.  But, I've had Vegan Pie in the Sky on the mind, so I went back to Veganomincon to see IF there was a pie crust there...  and there was!


Veganomicon's crust has a couple extra ingredients that my original pie crust recipe does not:  a bit of baking powder, and a touch of apple cider vinegar.  Both of these ingredients ensure a bit of tenderness to the flour for the ultimate "tender, yet flaky" pie crust perfection. (Alton Brown is my hero...)


I am not sure I tasted a huge difference between this crust, and my old stand-by, BUT I am definitely willing to try this recipe again... (I did also purchase a pie shield for my next attempt).  Reviews of the pie were  favorable, overall, but the edges of my crust did get a little bit dry for my liking.

Now for the apples:

My usual "go-to" mix of apples for pie are half Granny Smith and half Golden Delicious.


When I made this pie, I had on hand, a beautiful bag of Honey Crisp from a local orchard here in Rhode Island.

I googled a bit about the use of Honey Crisp in apple pie, and found some mixed results: Some say NEVER, some say they have inconsistent results, and some say AMAZING.  

I, however, decided to go for it:  ALL Honey Crisp, five (5) apples in total.  I did add 3 TBSP of flour instead of my usual 2, because Honey Crisp are super juicy, and I didn't want a runny pie.  I also used 1/4 cup organic white sugar and 1/4 dark brown. MY RESULTS:  I loved it, Two thumbs way up! The apples baked up nice and tender, with the perfect hint of cinnamon-y sweetness.  No runny pie at all! ^_^


What are your favorite apples to use in pies?