Mentioning to Mamma Sal I was interested in making apple crisp this weekend, she replied with this email:
I don’t follow a recipe I make an apple pie, make sure you add 2 tbsp or so of flour, sugar and cinnamon and a tbsp of butter, broken up and spread around.. the topping is something like a cup of bisquick, about 3/4 cup sugar, about a half stick of butter, nuts and choc chips. it should be like little pebbles, cover the top of the pie, cook pie at first on the bottom shelf at 350 for 10 min then move up and cook till apples are tender when you stick a fork in them
do you have a crust recipe?
Call me when you make this
love mom
The woman could whip something delicious in her sleep. It’s second nature, a stream of consciousness. That’s what I love about her. She can look in a fridge, find the most discordant ingredients and make something everyone at the table will surely request again.
Clearly from an early age, I appreciated low-brow humor. Still makes me laugh. This picture was taken on a day my mom and I went apple picking at Tougas Farms in Northboro, MA. Mamma Sal was very pregnant with my brother but it didn’t stop her from climbing the trees to get the best apples.
So here’s how it went.
Ingredients:
Pie Crust:
Single Crust Pie Dough
(Makes enough for one 9 inch pie)
Courtesy of Cook’s Country ‘Lost Recipes’
1 1/4 cups (6 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons vegetable shortening, cut into 1/4 inch pieces and chilled
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces and chilled
4-6 tablespoons ice water
1. Process flour, sugar, salt in food processor until combined. Scatter shortening over top and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal, about 10 pulses. Scatter butter pieces over the top and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs, about 10 pulses; transfer to large bowl.
2. Sprinkle 4 tablespoons of ice water over flour mixture. Stir and press dough together using stiff rubber spatula. If dough does not come together, stir in remaining water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it does.
3. Flatten dough into 4 inch disk. Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Before rolling dough out, let it sit to soften slightly, about 10 min.
4. Roll dough out to 12 inch circle, about 1/8 inch thick, on lightly floured counter. Fit dough into 9 inch pie plate, letting excess hang over edge. Trim, fold, and crimp edges. Freeze unbaked pie crust until firm, about 30 min, before filling or baking.
I was jammed for time so I wimped out and bought pie crust. Immaculate Baking Co. Pie CrustFilling:
4 large Cortland Apples
1 Granny Smith
2 1/2 tablespoons of cinnamon
1 cup of pancake mix, like Bisquick
3/4 cup of sugar
1/2 stick of butter, chilled, broken into even pieces
1.Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Slice all apples into even sized pieces. (cut into 1/6). Add cinnamon, making sure to evenly coat the apples. Pour into unbaked pie crust.
3. In a bowl, mix Bisquick and sugar. Add chilled, butter pieces and mix. It should look crumbly.
Optional: Add walnuts, sliced almonds or chocolate chips.
4. Pour topping mixture on top of apples, ensuring the crumbles get in between the apples.
5. Place apple crisp on the bottom shelf of the oven set at 350 degrees. Set timer for 10 min.
6. After 10 min. move the pan up to the middle-top of the oven for about 20 min. or until apples are just soft enough to stick a fork in them.
Serve with vanilla bean ice cream.
apple crisp (Photo credit: bookgrl)
New American Kitchen 
Whadaya Think?