Thanksgiving Vanguard

Time for the pre-cooking to begin! Our first order of business was apple pie, essential for those who can't/won't eat pumpkin pie (I'm looking at you, Nathan). I used one of my favorite recipes from the excellent Baking in America, by Greg Patent. I'm not normally that into apple pie, but this is just delicious. I'll include directions here if anyone wants to try it.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 lbs finely sliced apples (use several kinds)
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
3 tbs flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs cold butter (cut in small pieces)
2 tbs cream or water
extra sugar
double pie crust


First you (rather laboriously) peel and slice all the apples. I used five different kinds: Granny Smith, Braeburn, Jazz, Jonagolds, and Jonathans.

my lovely assistant

You need to have two and a half pounds of sliced apples. We had extra, which I froze and saved for later. Next, I juiced a lemon. You can used bottled juice, but lemons were on sale and this is an easy step so I went with the fresh stuff. I made more than the recipe called for since I planned on freezing some of the apples and didn't want them to turn brown.
Mix the lemon, sugars, cinnamon, flour, and salt into the apples. I used my hands to mix since I wanted to have everything evenly distributed. If you want you can mix the dry stuff together first to help with this step. I was lazy and didn't want to have to dirty another bowl.

After everything is all mixed dump the ingredients into your pie crust, mounding it up in the middle. Place the butter evenly on top of the filling and brush the edges of the crust with water.

Put the second crust over the filling, sealing down the edges, trimming off any excess, and fluting the edge. Brush the top with water or cream and sprinkle with sugar. Use a sharp knife to cut a six-line spoke pattern on top. Bake on a cookie sheet at 450 degrees for 20 minutes, then at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Cool for several hours before serving.
I'll post pictures of what it looks like baked tomorrow!


I also had to prepare the squash. Butternut squash is delicious, but also a pain in the butt to peel and dice.


I'll roast it on Thanksgiving morning. Look how much I have: