Thanksgiving is this week. I’m usually the pie-and-hot roll girl when it comes to divvying up the meal duties. I make two standard pumpkin pies for the adults, one egg-free and dairy-free pumpkin pie for the allergic ones, and one big slab apple pie good for everyone.
I first had apple pie squares at the Flour House Bakery when I worked in Sanford, Maine. That bakery single-handedly sustained me through my second pregnancy! When we moved back to Michigan, I was pleased to find a similar treat in my mother-in-law’s baking repertoire.
The crust is a triple-batch of my standard recipe found in my 1936 copy of the Boston Cooking School Cook Book. The recipe barely makes enough to roll out for the top and bottom crust, and that’s a good thing. You want a thin delicate crust.
For the bottom crust I actually roll it out in the pan with a mini roller or a small cup, and just press it up the sides. The top crust is so big and thin, that it always falls apart during the transfer. Don’t stress, just patch up the top as best you can. The broken crust kind of bakes together in the end and gets covered by the glaze anyway.
For the filling, I adore Northern Spy apples if you can find them, but any combination of Macintosh, Ida Red, Golden Delicious, Jonathan will work.
Sorry about the inexact measurements on the filling, but that is what makes this so fun. I usually peel & slice 10-15 or so apples, (I have an awesome apple peeling & slicing contraption for this), enough to pile up to the rim of the baking sheet. I sprinkle on 3/4 to 1 cup of sugar, depending on how tart my apples are, sprinkle the cinnamon and a few dashes of vanilla, maybe a few splashes of applejack or calvados.
It seems a little haphazard, but it will all work out.
Waiting is so hard!
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Apple Pie Squares for a Crowd
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 1 sheet pan 1x
Description
This makes a big sheet pan of apple pie squares. The recipe is loose, because it can be. Just eyeball this and it will work out.
Ingredients
- 1 recipe of Dairy Free Pie crust for Slab Pie (recipe below)
- Apples–10-15 peeled cored and thinly sliced.
- Sugar–about 1 cup
- Cinnamon–1-2 teaspoons
- Vanilla–a few spoonfuls
- Maybe a few splashes of applejack, calvados or other brandy
Glaze
- Juice from 1/2 lemon
- Powdered sugar
Instructions
- Roll out half the dough and press into and up the edges of a 13 x 18 inch jelly roll pan.
- Peel and thinly slice 10-15 apples into the sheet pan. I have a cool peeler-corer-slicer for this task. Add enough apples to fill the pan completely, up to the pan edge.
- Sprinkle cinnamon over the apples, about 1-2 teaspoons to taste.
- Sprinkle sugar over the apples, about 1 cup.
- Sprinkle some vanilla over the apples, 1-2 teaspoons.
- Roll out the second half of the crust, very thinly, and place over the apples. Seal the edges the best you can. Cut steam holes in the top.
- Put the whole pan in the freezer while oven preheats to 375.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the filling bubbles in the center.
- Make the glaze by mixing enough powdered sugar into the lemon juice to make a drizzly glaze.
- Allow the pie to cool a bit before glazing.
Notes
Northern Spy is the worst apple to eat fresh, but the most amazing apple to bake with. If you can find them, this will be heavenly.
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 30
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Dairy Free Pie Crust for Slab Pies
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 1 double crust for a sheet pan 1x
Description
If you’re new to crust making, see my post Dairy Free Pie Crust 101 for more detailed instructions.
Ingredients
- 4 1/2 cups flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/2 cups frozen & chopped shortening (I put 1 1/2 cups of shortening in plastic wrap and flatten it down into a disk and freeze, then chop right before using)
- 3/4 cups ice water
Instructions
- Measure the flour and salt into the bowl of a food processor and give it a few pulses to mix.
- Add half the shortening and pulse until there are no big pieces at all.
- Add the second half of the shortening and give it 6-8 pulses until the shortening pieces are small, about the size of a pea.
- Sprinkle the ice water on top and use a knife to gently swirl the water around the dough in food processor bowl.
- Pulse another 6-8 times until the crumbly dough comes together, but don’t overdo it.
- Dump the dough out onto the counter, divide into two pieces.
- Form into two disks, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to an hour.
- Prep Time: 20
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
These are a blast from the past but I can't for the life of me remember where I had them! I have 29 lbs of apples arriving this evening so I will most definitely be making these tomorrow! I'm going to try coconut oil for the fat….
We used to go to my Aunt's farm in the summer for a family reunion and she always served the most wonderful apple pie slices. This post brought back a lot of memories and, as the pie baker for Thanksgiving, I am thinking about doing the squares instead of two apple pies.
Camille, I love the idea of using coconut oil for a crust. Coconut oil is 'solid' at room temp/freezer, so you could use it like shortening. Or you could melt it a bit and use it like oil for an oil crust. The Flour House Bakery in Maine actually used a canola oil crust for theirs. I've tried the King Arthur Oil Crust recipe, it is very easy, but the flavor is lacking. I bet this recipe would be great with melted coconut oil. Also a triple batch of the KA recipe would use less oil than mine (1 cup vs 1 1/2 cup), which is good because coconut is expensive, even when you buy it in big tubs! Let me know what happens!
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/oil-pie-crust-recipe
SK, there is a coconut oil pastry recipe in Bryant Terry's "Vegan Soul Food Kitchen" book (the recipe is online somewhere if you google it). I've tried it and it makes a nice flaky/crumbly crust (more flavor than a canola oil crust but still not as tasty as butter…)
One question for you: where do you buy Rich's Whip? I've been trying to track in down here in San Francisco with no luck!
There are very few culinary 'benefits' to living in the Midwest over SF (Our every 18m visit to SF follows food: Ferry Building, Cheeseboard Collective, Chez Panisse, eat north into Sonoma Valley, take a few cooking classes, head west and then eat south through Napa, return home happy.) But one perk is finding Rich's Whip easily at our local food service store, Gordon Food Service. You might check Rich's Whip website, and see if a restaurant service place might sell you a few cans (actually, it seems to come in cartons now). http://www.whiptopping.com