Pie Weekend!

We have been looking forward to pie weekend since, well, this time last year. We first tried apple pie cookies around Halloween and vowed to make them (and every flaky bit of their delectableness) an annual fall tradition. Our first from scratch apple pie came together (in the middle of the night) in preparation for the Popovich Thanksgiving of 2011 and there was no way we could survive Thanksgiving 2012 without another. In standard Sarah and Stacie fashion we decided to undertake an enormous amount of pie, hence the need to reserve a full weekend for the creation of this monstrous amount of pie. This adventure took about 9 hours, with two breaks for snack-age, so when we say it was a commitment, we don't do so lightly.

As we decided yesterday, it's only too much of one thing if the cashier says something to you and Sarah made it out of the store with 7 pounds of apples without that happening, so despite the heaping pile of fruit, we think we were fairly reasonable. After all, we settled on four batches of apple pie cookies and an apple pie - that's a lot of apples! (And flour, we went through nearly 7 pounds of that also...don't worry, we are planning to purchase a case to share in the near future).

Our friend Deb from Smitten Kitchen was our go to for the recipes for this adventure and we started with nearly frozen butter that we tirelessly folded into 6 recipes worth of pie dough. It's important to keep pie dough cold the whole time so that it doesn't get so sticky it's impossible to work with. This may lead to bruises on your hands from the mixing and rolling, but it's way better than a sticky unmanageable mess of dough - trust us. 

Each recipe has to be halved (or quartered if you doubled it to start) and wrapped in saran wrap to chill in the fridge (really, don't play around with warm pie dough). The 'leaning tower of dough' display is not a necessary part of the pie process, but it does rather nicely display the epic nature of this process. 

Another thing you don't want to play around with is a poorly floured surface - be generous, both with the rolling pin and the counter. 

Each of the cookies needs a top and a bottom crust layer. We used biscuit cutters, but any round cookie cutter would do the trick. 

The actual pie crust is less precise, though it will roll out into a much more even circle if you start with a disc from the fridge. Once you've reached the desired thickness, roll the dough around the rolling pin (yep, that's really how you do it!) and roll it back out onto the pie pan. Gently push the sides together to allow the middle to sink into the pan and then carefully press the dough into the sides and corner of the pan.

Coat your sliced apples (4 gala and 3 granny smith) with cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg, all spice and a little lemon juice. Once evenly coated, heap into your prepared crust. 

The lattice might be the most fun part of the pie! Cut strips into rolled out dough (as evenly as possible) then weave them together into a lattice pattern. 

Carefully flip the lattice onto the prepared pie (this is a great place to call in some extra hands) then press the two crusts together. To complete the seal, crimp edges with a fork. You're ready to bake! Make sure to tent the edges of the pie with aluminum foil so they don't burn while the rest of the pie is cooking through. 

Smitten Kitchen suggests using apple slices for the apple pie cookies. We did that last year, and while delicious, we decided that it would be easier and tastier to chop the apples into tiny pieces and stuff the cookies that way. We are so happy with the results - we both agree that this year's cookies are better than last year's. 

We used the same spices for this filling as for the full apple pie, though there was slightly more lemon juice in an effort to keep the apples from browning during the chopping process (which took close to an hour, and that doesn't include peeling time). Mix well and drain any extra juices, if the mixture is too wet it will make the stuffing process miserable. 

Put a tablespoon full of the apple mixture onto one of the discs. Coat the rim in water with your finger. 

Add the other disc and press the edges together. You really want to make sure that there is a seal to avoid apples everywhere once the cookies hit the oven. 

Use a brush to coat the lid in egg whites, this will help with the golden brown color.

Drizzle with sugar.

Use a knife to make small slits in your cookies. Do not forget this step. If you do, your cookies may explode. No really. But, the design doesn't matter - use whatever appeals to you!

Crimp the edges with a fork for an extra flourish of adorable. 

The pie bakes for about an hour, but you should check it frequently in between. And really, don't forget to tent the edges. Think burnt pie, fire extinguishers, etc. The last step in the somewhat arduous (though totally worth it) process of these cookies is baking them. Unlike most cookies, they take a solid 20-25 minutes per tray. When you make four batches (totaling over 100 cookies) that's a loooong time. BUT, they are an absolutely delicious way to tide over any apple pie cravings that cannot be truly satisfied until Thanksgiving. Even better, they freeze well, so go ahead, make a few dozen!