Tag Archives: Arlington Orchards PEI

There is something warm, inviting, and nostalgic about walking into a kitchen to the tantalizing scent of an apple pie baking. In my opinion, one of the best desserts is homemade apple pie, especially when topped with a nice round scoop of high-quality vanilla ice cream! Fall is a great time to make apple pies (and some extras for the freezer) because the apples are so fresh and there is a great selection. The house smells so divine while the apple pie bakes!

One of my favorite fall rituals is to go picking apples. I love being out in the middle of an orchard on a crisp, sunny autumn day surrounded by trees heavy laden with gorgeous big apples. Typically, we make the annual trek to Arlington Orchards, west of Summerside, to pick a supply of apples. It’s fun to load up some apple baskets into one of the orchard’s little red flyer wagons and strike off through the orchards. They have many different varieties of apples from which to choose.

I like making pastry and baking pies and have been doing so since I was about 11 years old. I watched my mother and grandmother make pies and as soon as I could mix the dough and handle a rolling pin, I was off and running! And, apple pie just happens to be one of my favorites to make. For my pie pastry recipe and tips and hints on making pastry, click here.

Not all apples are suitable for making pies. Some (like MacIntosh variety) are just too soft and, essentially, become apple sauce while the pie cooks. Soft flesh apples that have no crunch when you bite into them are not suitable for pies. It is important to choose apples that have good structure – i.e., those that will cook well but, at the same time, hold their shape. A slice of a good apple pie will reveal the apple slices still in tact and recognizable.

My favorite apples for pies are Cortlands, Spartans, Honeycrisps, Lobos, and Pippins. The one thing each of these apples has in common is crisp texture which makes them ideal choices for pies because they don’t break down in the baking process. I also like to use more than one kind of apple in my pies because each brings its own flavor and characteristics and, in my opinion, a blend of different apple varieties with various degrees of sweetness, tartness, and juiciness will result in a pie with a great depth of flavor. Cortlands are a bit tart and quite juicy and, of these five varieties, perhaps has the least crisp texture which means it will soften the most in the pie and that will help to bind the filling . Honeycrisps have a sweet-tart flavor and are quite aromatic which gives the pie that lovely scent while it is baking. Spartans are juicy and have an ideally balanced sweet-tart apple flavor. Lobos are a bit tangy and Pippins have juicy flesh, are very aromatic, and reveal a balance of sweetness and acidity. A combination of any three of these apples will yield a tasty pie. Some apples of each variety can, of course, be used in the pie if you have them.

For this 9” pie, 3½ pounds of apples are needed. It may look like a lot but the apples will settle as the pie bakes and the pie looks more impressive if it has some depth to it.

I peel, core, and quarter the apples when preparing them for pies. I then slice each quarter, horizontally, into slices about ¼” thick and toss them with a tablespoon of lemon juice to keep them from turning brown.

A perfect blend of spices is necessary to enhance the flavor of the pie. I use cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. It is important that just the right amounts of spices be used because they are meant to enhance, not dominate or mask, the flavour of the apples. Because apples are juicy, some thickening agent needs to be added to the pie – either all-purpose flour or cornstarch works for this. I like to use a blend of brown and granulated sugars in my pie. I find the addition of brown sugar gives a deeper flavour and an enhanced color to the pie filling.

Mix the sugars, spices, a bit of salt, and the thickening agent (flour or cornstarch) together in a small bowl then toss the dry ingredients with the prepared apples to coat them. Immediately transfer the apples to the pie plate fitted with the bottom crust pastry, ensuring that they are arranged so that any gaps are filled in. Dot with some pieces of cold butter.

Once the top crust pastry has been placed over the apples, be sure to cut slits in the pastry to allow the steam to escape as the pie bakes. I also use the tines of a fork to prick the pie pastry in various places. It’s important that the steam have an escape valve as, otherwise, it may cause a soggy pie crust if it is trapped inside with the filling.

I don’t always brush an egg wash on the top crust of the pie but, for a more rustic looking pie, it does give a nice finish and appearance as it browns well. If the pie browns too quickly before the apples are cooked, simply loosely tent a piece of tin foil over it.

I recommend placing the unbaked pie in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to allow the filling to settle and to chill the crust to prevent shrinkage during baking.

Fruit pies are known for bubbling out as they bake, even if they are well vented. I think, so long as they aren’t too messy, some filling that has escaped to the top pie crust just makes the pie look like a good homemade pie and it really doesn’t bother me too much at all. However, the one thing I do not like is a messy oven to clean after the juices of a pie have boiled out. For this reason, I recommend placing the pie on a rimmed cookie sheet lined with tin foil. If the pie does boil out, it’s on the disposable tin foil making clean-up easy.

For this pie, I pre-heat the oven to 425°F and bake the pie at this temperature for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 400°F for the remainder of the baking time. Be patient. This pie will take at least 50 minutes (maybe a bit longer) to bake. To check for doneness, carefully insert a fork into the center slit of the pie – the apples should be fork tender, not baked to mush, but not too firm that they will taste somewhat raw in the pie.

What follows is the apple pie recipe I have been making for many, many years. I hope you enjoy it!

[Printable recipe follows at end of posting]

Rustic Apple Pie

Ingredients:

3½ lbs apples, peeled, cored, and sliced ¼“ thick (any combination of Spartans, Cortlands, Pippins, Honeycrisps, Lobos)
1 tbsp lemon juice

Pastry for double crust 9” pie

2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
¼ cup all-purpose flour or cornstarch
1¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp allspice
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter, chopped into small pieces

1 large egg yolk + 1 tbsp milk
Apx. ½ tbsp granulated sugar

Method:

Prepare apples, place in large bowl, and toss gently with the lemon juice. Set aside.

Roll pastry for bottom crust to approximately 1/8” thickness. Transfer to pie plate and trim pastry flush with edge of pie plate.

In small bowl, combine the flour or cornstarch, sugars, spices, and salt together. Mix into prepared apples.

Arrange the sliced apples in the pie plate, taking care to ensure that any gaps are filled in. Top with small pieces of butter.

Prepare pastry for the top crust in the same manner as for the bottom crust. Brush edges of bottom crust along pie plate edge with a bit of water to moisten. Transfer pastry to the top of pie filling. Trim excess pastry from the pie plate edge. Press the edge of the pastry all around the pie plate rim with tines of fork to adhere top crust to bottom crust. Cut slits in top of pie pastry to allow steam to escape as pie bakes. For additional venting, prick the pie in several places with tines of a fork.

In small bowl, lightly beat the egg yolk and milk together. With a pastry brush, lightly brush the pie with the egg-milk mixture. Sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Place pie in refrigerator for 30 minutes to allow filling to settle and to chill pastry to reduce shrinkage while it bakes.

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Transfer pie to oven. Bake at 425°F for 10 minutes then reduce heat to 400°F. Bake for another 40 minutes then test with fork inserted into slit in center of pie to determine if apples are cooked. Apples should be fork-tender when pie is done. If not done, return pie to oven and check every 5 minutes until apples are fork tender. If pie browns too quickly before it is cooked, loosely tent pie with tin foil. Remove pie from oven and transfer to cooling rack.

Yield: 1 – 9” pie (apx. 6 servings)

Yum

Rustic Apple Pie

Yield: 1 - 9" double-crusted pie

A classic apple pie made with a combination of sweet and tart apples and a perfect blend of spices.

Ingredients

3½ lbs apples, peeled, cored, and sliced ¼“ thick (any combination of Spartans, Cortlands, Pippins, Honeycrisps, Lobos)
1 tbsp lemon juice
Pastry for double crust 9” pie
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
¼ cup all-purpose flour or cornstarch
1¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp allspice
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter, chopped into small pieces
1 large egg yolk + 1 tbsp milk
Apx. ½ tbsp granulated sugar

Instructions

Prepare apples, place in large bowl, and toss gently with the lemon juice. Set aside.
Roll pastry for bottom crust to approximately 1/8” thickness. Transfer to pie plate and trim pastry flush with edge of pie plate.
In small bowl, combine the flour or cornstarch, sugars, spices, and salt together. Mix into prepared apples.
Arrange the sliced apples in the pie plate, taking care to ensure that any gaps are filled in. Top with small pieces of butter.
Prepare pastry for the top crust in the same manner as for the bottom crust. Brush edges of bottom crust along pie plate edge with a bit of water to moisten. Transfer pastry to the top of pie filling. Trim excess pastry from the pie plate edge. Press the edge of the pastry all around the pie plate rim with tines of fork to adhere top crust to bottom crust. Cut slits in top of pie pastry to allow steam to escape as pie bakes. For additional venting, prick the pie in several places with tines of a fork.
In small bowl, lightly beat the egg yolk and milk together. With a pastry brush, lightly brush the pie with the egg-milk mixture. Sprinkle with granulated sugar.
Place pie in refrigerator for 30 minutes to allow filling to settle and to chill pastry to reduce shrinkage while it bakes.
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Transfer pie to oven. Bake at 425°F for 10 minutes then reduce heat to 400°F. Bake for another 40 minutes then test with fork inserted into slit in center of pie to determine if apples are cooked. Apples should be fork-tender when pie is done. If not done, return pie to oven and check every 5 minutes until apples are fork tender. If pie browns too quickly before it is cooked, loosely tent pie with tin foil. Remove pie from oven and transfer to cooling rack.

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If you are looking for a gluten-free apple pie, you may enjoy my recipe here.

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Desserts, General

Old-fashioned Apple Crisp

November 6, 2014 Barbara99

One of my all-time favorites is the traditional old-fashioned apple crisp dessert — the sweet apple flavour filling topped with a crisp, crunchy streusel. And, oh, the heavenly scent in the house when the apple crisp is baking!

Apple crisps are not hard to make and basically use pantry staples for ingredients. The key to a really tasty apple crisp is to use a blend of apples. I find honeycrisps, cortlands, humes, and ginger gold varieties work really well. Using a blend of apples allows their flavours and textures to play off of each other. The honeycrisps and cortlands are sweet-tart, juicy apples. The ginger golds and humes are less tart. The cortlands and ginger golds hold their shapes particularly well when cooked so they don’t cook to mush and the apple chunks or slices are still visible in the cooked crisp, giving it a pleasing texture.

I don’t always put four varieties of apples in a crisp. Frankly, I’ve made quite acceptable crisps with just one kind of apple. Essentially, I use whatever apples I have in the house and, most often, use only a couple of varieties. The apples I have used in my apple crisp today have come from Arlington Orchards, west of Summerside, PEI. This is a large apple orchard where many different varieties of apples are grown. It’s an annual October trek to Arlington Orchards for us and sometimes I get carried away and come home with lots and lots of apples for eating and baking! The photo below is just a sampling! I think I brought home seven varieties this year!

Apple crisps are best made and allowed to cool for about 30 minutes before eating. This allows the true flavours of the apples to be appreciated when the crisp is still warm but not too hot to eat.

Apple crisp freezes very well. I often make the crisps in individual ramekin dishes and freeze them, unbaked. Crisps can also be frozen after they are baked, then thawed and reheated in the microwave. However, I find there is some texture deterioration in the latter method.

[Printable recipe follows at end of post]

Apple Crisp

Streusel Topping:
¾ cup flour
¾ cup brown sugar
¾ cup rolled oats
¼ tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ cup cold butter
¼ cup chopped pecans (optional)

Apple Filling:
2½ lbs apples (e.g., Cortlands, Honeycrisps, Humes, Ginger Gold, individually or in any combination mixture)
2 tsp lemon juice
⅓ cup white sugar
⅓ cup brown sugar
¾ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp cornstarch

Method:

Place oven rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 375°.

Streusel Topping: In medium-sized bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, rolled oats, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Using pastry blender, cut in cold butter until mixture is crumbly. Stir in pecans. Cover mixture and place in refrigerator while preparing apple filling.

Apple Filling: Peel, core, and cut apples into chunks about ¼”- ⅓” thick or so. Place in large bowl. Sprinkle with lemon juice and toss to coat.

In separate bowl, combine sugars, spices, and cornstarch. Mix well. Add to apples and toss to coat.

Transfer mixture to greased 8”x8″ baking pan and arrange apples evenly over bottom of pan.

Sprinkle streusel topping evenly over apples.

Place baking pan on rimmed baking sheet (lined with tin foil for easy clean-up should apples bubble out).

Bake for 50-55 minutes, until topping is crisp and golden, apples are tender when knife-tested, and juices from the apple filling are bubbling up through the crisp topping. Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes before serving.

Serve plain or with a dollop of whipped cream or your favourite vanilla ice cream.

Yield: 6-8 servings

Old-fashioned Apple Crisp

Apple Crisp is an easy-to-make baked dessert made with chopped apples covered with a crisp rolled oats-flour-butter-brown sugar topping.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 6

My Island Bistro Kitchen My Island Bistro Kitchen

Ingredients

Streusel Topping:

¾ cup flour
¾ cup brown sugar
¾ cup rolled oats
¼ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ cup cold butter
¼ cup chopped pecans optional

Apple Filling:

2½ lbs apples e.g., Cortlands, Honeycrisps, Humes, Ginger Gold, individually or in any combination mixture
2 tsp lemon juice
⅓ cup white sugar
⅓ cup brown sugar
¾ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp cornstarch

Instructions

Place oven rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 375°.

Streusel Topping: In medium-sized bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, rolled oats, cinnamon, and salt. Using pastry blender, cut in cold butter until mixture is crumbly. Stir in pecans. Cover mixture and place in refrigerator while preparing apple filling.

Apple Filling: Peel, core, and cut apples into chunks about ¼”- ⅓” thick or so. Place in large bowl. Sprinkle with lemon juice and toss to coat.

In separate bowl, combine sugars, spices, and cornstarch. Mix well. Add to apples and toss to coat. Transfer mixture to greased 8” baking pan and arrange apples evenly over bottom of pan.
Sprinkle streusel topping evenly over apples. Place baking pan on rimmed baking sheet (lined with tin foil for easy clean-up should apples bubble out).
Bake for 50-55 minutes, until topping is crisp and golden, apples are tender when knife-tested, and juices from the apple are bubbling up through the crisp topping. Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes before serving.
Serve plain or with a dollop of whipped cream or your favourite vanilla ice cream.

Recipe Notes

Yield: 6-8 servings

——————–

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General, Jams

Crabapple Jelly

October 6, 2014 Barbara99

It’s apple season in Prince Edward Island and orchards are filled with trees bearing wonderful apples of so many varieties. There’s nothing like heading to a U-pick orchard to pick your own apples. I typically pick several pecks each fall — in fact, sometimes it’s easy to get carried away and pick too many! However, they do get processed into pies, crisps, sauces, and jellies like this Crabapple Jelly.

For apple jelly lovers, now is the time to make that rich red crabapple jelly that is so flavorful. The apples I used in the recipe I am sharing today came from Arlington Orchards in Arlington, west of Summerside, PEI. I knew by the color of the tiny apples that they would make a good crabapple jelly and I was not disappointed. They are the Dolgo Crabapple variety.

Now, crabapple jelly is not particularly difficult to make but it is a lengthy process and does take a bit of skill and know-how to get it cooked to the correct jelly state.

First, you have to wash and cut off the stem and blossom ends of the tiny crabapples. Then, they have to be cooked to the “mushy” stage. I take a potato masher and mash down any remaining chunks of apple after cooking as I find this helps the mixture to drip better once it is in the jelly bag. The “mush” (pulp) gets bundled into a cheesecloth bag, tied, and hung over a bowl or pot to catch the juice dripping from the cooked apples. I use a double weight of cheesecloth because I don’t want any apple seeds or pieces of apple peel or pulp coming through. If the cheesecloth weave is very loose, I suggest using a triple layer. The objective is to have the juice as clear as possible so it does not make a cloudy jelly. The aim is to have a transparent crabapple jelly.

The time-consuming process is waiting for the juice to slowly drip from the pulp in the jelly bag– it takes several hours and I usually leave it overnight. The bag has to get suspended to allow the juice to slowly drip out. Specific jelly bag and stand units are available for this purpose. However, I concoct a really “sophisticated” outfit for this — I simply hang the jelly bag on to a broom handle and suspend the broom between two chairs with a bowl or pot placed under the bag to catch the juice. Really high tech, don’t you think! Nevertheless, it works and gets the job done. The big tip I have here is to resist the temptation to squeeze the jelly bag to hasten the juice flow or to extract more juice from the pulp. This can cause some of the bits of the pulp to make their way through the cheesecloth and into the juice and this can very likely cause a cloudy jelly.

Once it’s apparent that there is no more juice dripping, discard the contents of the jelly bag. Measure and pour the extracted juice into a stock pot. Add the sugar and lemon juice and start the cooking process. I add sugar at the ratio of 3/4 cup sugar to 1 cup extracted apple juice.

Place 2-3 freezer-proof saucers in the freezer — these will be used to test the jelly’s state of “jelling”. Once a small sample of the jelly is put on a cold saucer, placed in the freezer for a minute, removed, and starts to “wrinkle” when pushed gently with a finger, it has reached the jelly stage and is ready for bottling and processing in a hot water bath.

You will need some equipment to make this jelly and here’s my checklist:

5 half-pint jars and 1 quarter-pint glass canning jar for the jelly (plus 1 more half-pint jar to take up extra space in the canner basket, if needed, during the hot water process)
6 – two-piece lid and screw band sets (lids must be brand new and not previously used; screw bands may be re-used provided they have no dents or rust on them)
Heavy-bottomed stock pot for jelly
Large-sized pot for sterilizing jars
Small saucepan for heating jar lids
Water bath canner with basket
Jar lifter tongs
Wide-mouthed canning funnel
Ladle or heat-proof glass measuring cup
Chopstick or small non-metallic heat-proof spatula
Magnetic lid lifter
A timer

[Printable recipe follows at end of posting]

Crabapple Jelly

Ingredients:

4 lbs crabapples
7 cups water

Granulated sugar (see Method below for amount)
3-4 tbsp strained fresh lemon juice
1 tsp butter

Method:

Wash apples.

Remove stem and blossom ends from apples.

Leave apples whole. Place in large stock pot.

Add the water.

Cook, covered, for approximately 40-45 minutes or until apples have softened and begun to break down into mush.

Gently mash any large chunks of apple with a potato masher.

Place a double, or triple, weight of cheesecloth in a large colander. (It’s a good idea to pre-dampen the cheesecloth with water before adding the pulp – I was busy taking photos and started pouring in the pulp to get ready for a photo before realizing the cheesecloth had not been dampened.)

Place the colander over a large pot. Pour the apple pulp into the cheesecloth-lined colander.

Let mixture drip for about 20 minutes or so to get some of the initial juice out of the pulp.

Gather up the ends of cheesecloth and tie tightly with an all-purpose kitchen twine or heavy string, making a loop by which to hang the jelly bag to allow the juice to drip out.

Hang the jelly bag on a broom handle and support the broom between two chairs. Place a large pot or bowl under the jelly bag to catch the juice as it drips.

Allow this to drip on its own for several hours (i.e., at least 3-4) or overnight, until no more juice is seen dripping through. Resist the urge to squeeze the jelly bag to hasten the juice flow, or to extract more juice from the pulp, as this can cause some of the apple pulp to escape the bag resulting in a cloudy juice and jelly.

Place 2-3 freezer-safe saucers in the freezer. You will need these to test the jelly for “jelling” status.

Fill a large pot with hot tap water, about three-quarters full. Place six half-pint jars and one quarter-pint jar upright, into the water. Ensure the jars are fully submerged, each jar filled with water, and that the water is at least an inch over the tops of the jars. Cover, bring to a boil, and boil for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and leave the jars in the hot water while the jelly is cooking.

Fill the hot water canner about one-third to one-half full of hot tap water. Cover and bring to a boil to have it ready for the filled jars. Once it comes to the boil, reduce the heat to a gentle boil.

When jelly bag is done dripping, discard bag and apple pulp. To determine the amount of sugar needed, measure out the extracted juice and add ¾ cup of sugar for each cup of juice.

Pour juice into pot. Look at that gorgeous color of juice!

Add the lemon juice and sugar to the extracted apple juice.

Stir to dissolve sugar.

Add 1 tsp butter to reduce foaming (some is likely still to occur and will need to be skimmed off before bottling).

Bring mixture to a rolling boil.

Continue to boil over medium high heat for about 20 minutes or so, stirring occasionally, then test for status of jelling.

To test for jelling, remove one of the saucers from the freezer and place a couple of teaspoons of the jelly on it. Place the jelly in the freezer for one minute. Remove it from the freezer and push the jelly gently with a finger. If jelly wrinkles, it is done.

If it doesn’t wrinkle, keep cooking the jelly, testing every 4-5 minutes until it is done. Do not overcook. Remove jelly pot from stove while conducting jelling tests.

Skim off any foam that may still remain on top of the jelly. Bottle hot jelly into sterilized jars, using a wide-mouthed canning funnel and either a ladle or a heat-proof glass measuring cup. Leave ¼” headroom in each jar. Wipe rims with clean damp cloth to remove any stickiness that could prevent lids from sealing properly.

Heat jar lids and immediately place over hot filled jars. Apply metal rim bands to jars, fingertip tightening each. Process jars in hot water bath. Allow jelly jars to sit at room temperature for 24 hours to set then store in cold room out of light.

Yield: Apx. 5½ – 6 cups

Crab Apple Jelly on Fresh Biscuits — Crabapple Jelly on Fresh Biscuits

Be sure to read through the printable version of the recipe several times before making the jelly to ensure understanding of the process and that all the necessary equipment is at hand.