Do you ever see something, talk yourself out of buying it, and then eventually go back and get it? That's just what happened to me with the adorable Lattice Pocket Pie Mold at Williams-Sonoma. I saw it a few times (because I stop into Williams-Sonoma every time I'm remotely near the store), but each time I found some way to convince myself I could get by without it. Then it dawned on me that we're deep in pie season and I needed to have that lattice pie mold. What if I were going to a dinner or party and wanted to bring different types of pie? Clearly, the mold was essential.
Having convinced myself that this was now a necessary purchase, I brought the mold to the register. Upon seeing my intended purchase, the sales associate asked me if I had seen the jars of peach pie filling on sale for $4 and wondered if I wanted to buy some. I quickly dismissed that idea, announcing that I planned to make my own filling. "Oh, ambitious," he said. I smiled, took my pie mold, and headed home.
But then I got to thinking... is making pie filling all that ambitious? Is making pie even very ambitious?
Now that there are food processors, making pie dough is, well, as easy as pie. And filling varies a little, but if you're making apple pie, that's just peeling and chopping some apples and stirring them up with brown sugar, cinnamon, and lemon. I think sometimes we forget how easy it is to make things from scratch.
Making these pies wasn't really all that ambitious... but the amount of filling I made was! I had so much filling leftover that I threw together a free-form apple tart too. You can make as much as I did and pile the extra filling onto any leftover dough, or just cut the filling recipe below in half.
Ambitious Pocket Apple Pies (adapted from Williams-Sonoma and The Art and Soul of Baking
)(Print this recipe)
Equipment
Food processor
Lattice Pie Pocket Mold
Ingredients
Dough
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cubed
6 to 8 tablespoons cold water
1 egg, lightly beaten (with 1 teaspoon of water if desired)
Filling
6 medium apples
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Topping
Leftover egg wash
Vanilla turbinado sugar
Preparation
In food processor, pulse together the flour, salt, and sugar until combined, about 5 pulses.
Add the butter, and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 pulses.
Add 6 tablespoons of water, and pulse twice.
Scoop some dough up with your hand, and squeeze it together. If the dough holds, it's perfect. If it crumbles, add more water, 1 teaspoon at a time, pulsing twice after each addition.
Turn the dough out onto the counter, and divide it in half. Pat each half into a disk, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.
Once the dough has chilled thoroughly, make the filling.
Peel, core, and cut the apples into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Cut each slice in half.
In a large bowl, toss the apple pieces with the brown sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon.
Remove the pie dough from the fridge, and let stand for 5 minutes to soften slightly. Set out a sheet pan lined with parchment. (I used a plate here because my sheet pans don't fit in my freezer.)
Dust countertop or work surface with flour, and roll out 1 disk into a round about 1/8 inch thick.
Using the pie mold, cut out 7 bottom pie pieces.
Roll out the other dough disk into a 1/8-inch-thick round, and cut out the 7 top pie pieces.
Save the dough scraps to make a free-form apple tart, if desired.
Place a bottom piece in the pie mold, and cover it with a scoop of apples.
Brush the edges of the dough with the egg wash and top with a top pie piece. Close the mold, and press lightly to seal and crimp the edges.
Place the pie on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Freeze the pies for 30 minutes before baking.
While the pies were freezing, I used my leftover dough and apples to make a free-form apple tart. I patted the dough out into a round, topped it with apples, and sprinkled some sugar on top. I baked the tart at 400 degrees for about 30 to 35 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush the pocket pies with the egg wash, and sprinkle turbinado sugar on top.
Bake the pies for 20 to 24 minutes, or until crust is golden brown all over.
Transfer the pies to a wire rack, and let cool for 10 minutes. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream, if desired.
The little pies were fun to make and tasted great too. I came across one design flaw with the pie mold, though, which is that little bits of dough get stuck in the lattice cutout. I had to keep a toothpick handy to clean the dough out.
Looking for other apple treats? Try my apple cider doughnuts, applesauce, or apple crisps!
What kind of pie would you make if you had this pocket mold?