For Valentine's Day, celebrated the day after due to Alex's commuting schedule, I made him and Amaya an apple strawberry pie. Pie is love. I used Fuji apples and frozen strawberries. Cascadian Farms frozen fruit is pricey but well worth it. The quality definitely backs up the cost. The frozen strawberries have been consistently small and ripe and since they've been teaching the kids to eat the rainbow at school we've been buying a lot of frozen organic fruit.
Alex and Amaya both like a crunchy, sugary crust so I brushed the top crust with cream and sprinkled a mix of raw and granulated sugar over the top.
I pressed the trimming together to make patchwork hearts. It seemed to fit the theme of the day because love is a perfectly imperfect thing. I knew the hearts would still be beautiful, even more so because they were made from recycled scraps (another big theme in first grade).
The pie was delicious. The strawberries permeated the filling with their sweet floral aroma and the apples added texture and their own special savor. A hint of vanilla pulled everything together. It was a very happy end to Valentine's day.
Apple Strawberry Pie FIlling
Makes enough for one 9-inch double crusted pie
2 pie crusts: 1 pressed into a greased 9" pie pan and 1 rolled out and ready to lay over the top
One 10-ounce bag of frozen strawberries, no need to thaw
3 medium apples, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
3/4 cup / 150 grams sugar, your choice
2 tablespoons /16 grams corn starch
1 tablespoon / 7 grams tapioca starch
1/2 teaspoon / 3 grams fine sea salt
1 teaspoon / 4 grams vanilla paste or extract
2 tablespoons / 28 grams heavy cream
1 tablespoon / 14 grams raw sugar
1 tablespoon / 12.5 grams sugar
Preheat oven to 425°F. (218°C.)
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Put the strawberries, apples, sugar, cornstarch, tapioca starch and salt in a medium bowl and mix gently with a rubber spatula to blend. Add the vanilla and mix gently to blend. Pour the pie filling into the pie pan lined with crust. Use the rubber spatula to spread the filling evenly inside the piecrust.
Be sure the crust has been trimmed to have a 1-inch border around the top. Lay the top crust over the fruit and trim it so that it has a 1.5-inch border around the edge. Fold the top crust over and under the bottom crust, rolling the two together to form a border around the edge of the pie. Use your thumbs and forefingers to pinch the pie crust all the way around the edge to seal it together and create a decorative border. Use a pastry brush to brush the cream over the top of the pie. Add any decorative pieces of crust made from the trimmings and brush them with cream too. We don't vent our pies because the fruit cooks more evenly when the steam stays inside. Mix the raw and granulated sugars together and sprinkle them over the top of the pie. I do this on the counter top because any sugar left on the sheet pan burns in the oven. Put the pie on the prepared sheet pan and set it on the bottom rack of the oven. Bake for 20 minutes.
Rotate the pie, reduce the heat to 350°F. (175°C.), and bake for 1 hour more. If the pie starts to get too dark, cover loosely with foil.
Remove from over and let cool completely before serving.
Years Past
Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Maximum Flavor: Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook
Gluten Free Flour Power: Bringing Your Favorite Foods Back to the Table
