The Apple Pie Of My Eye
There’s something about an apple dessert the sings of peace and contentment . That was the tune set by Gretchen Larson’s apple pie and apple crisp at the end of our Locally Grown Meal.
Gretchen and our chef Leon work together and have bonded over common interests including their love of preparing foods. Leon extended an invitation for Gretchen to join us and to provide the apple dessert. She was given a bag of Rivers Bend Orchards (Fergus Falls, MN) Honeycrisp apples and she prepared the two desserts. One was an apple pie with homemade crust. (My kudos to you, Gretchen!). And she made a gluten-free apple crisp which met the dietary needs of some in our group.
She is no stranger to preparing a meal nor tackling any dessert. She learned from the best - her mother, Elysia Larson. She recalls her mother’s cooking-from-scratch methods and the foods the family ate in Ukraine where her parents - Elysia and Paul Larson - served as missionaries.
They lived on the east side of Kiev in a very agrarian area of the country, she said. Their home was across from an abandoned Russian military factory.
“It almost seemed like things hadn’t progressed,” she said. “It was very different.”
The family returned to the U.S. around 2008 when Gretchen was 9. Several years later she began working at Inspiration Point Bible Camp near Battle Lake, MN.
She writes:
My second summer working out at camp, I was assigned to be an assistant cook, and (long story short) that turned into a three-year career as the head Food Service Manager running the entire food service operation and the staff that made it happen. We served thousands of plates of food, three times a day all summer and many retreats and school groups throughout the school year, too.
I never set out to be in food service long-term, but it was rather something that happened upon me when I didn’t have a lot of ideas of what was next. My time at camp running the kitchen was fruitful and joyous, but also refining and challenging in many ways.
After my time at camp, cooking became wearisome and I swore I never wanted to touch a knife or stovetop again. Yet, as I have transitioned into a new season of life, the zest of creating delicious things and serving others through the gift of food and hospitality has returned.”
Gretchen, we were blessed by you and through your culinary creations!
She continues:
I find myself pulling out my mixing bowls (gifted to me by my parents while in middle school in a season of epicurean rage and culinary inspiration) more often these days and the demands of holiday cooking have been well-met in my tiny kitchen.
While cooking and baking for 300+ people daily, I needed to rely on the tried-and-true recipes of cooks past, but my flair for creativity and gastronomic interest warranted some bushwhacking into creative territory and I found myself looking for new recipes that were reliable and easily multiplied.
Sally’s Baking Addiction is a blog I often reached for whenever I craved something new or seasonal. Anyone can make a blog and record a recipe, but it takes skill to write a recipe worth eating.
I think Sally has that skill.
After being asked to create an apple pie for the Local Grower’s meal, I had a plethora of recipes to choose from, but I went for the ol reliable, “My Favorite Apple Pie” recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction with its accompanying “All-Butter Pie Crust. https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/apple-pie-recipe/
I like to adapt and change most recipes Icook from, but this one needs little adaptation save for the addition of cloves, which I cannot live without in an apple pie.
The crust does not call for blind-baking before arranging the filling and lattice work, but it is essential to make sure it is fully chilled prior to rolling it out. As noted in my pictures, my favorite way to transfer the rolled out dough into the pan is by folding it into quarters and unfolding it in the pie pan. With apples sourced from Rivers Bend Orchards, I crafted the filling, allowing it to cool slightly before placing it in the crust. You can fill the crust with raw filling, but pre-cooking the filling before baking allows for less shrinkage which can lead to awkward gapping and disappointing volume in the end result.
My dear mama taught me to create a lattice and crimped edge between my thumb and forefingers, but I am always trying to improve the finish of my pies. This time I added a braid within the lattice work!
I think it is important to note that this recipe can we well-adapted for gluten free baking with a few key changes. Seeing as one of our own attendees eats gluten free, I made sure to create a dessert she can have, too! In the camp world, it was always important to find ways to create equally as delicious food for the kiddos with food allergies, so as to not make food a distraction from hearing about Jesus and having fun at camp. Plus, it’s great to help a kid feel included amongst their friends by creating equivalent dishes for them to eat!
In this particular instance, I made a small apple crisp by using gluten free flour as the flour blend in the pie filling. My current favorite GF all-purpose flour is King Arthur’s Measure-for-Measure Gluten free flour , but Namaste makes a great all-purpose flour for a decent price at Costco.
I separated enough filling for a small apple crisp dish and I used the rest for the regular pie itself.
Although I have no particular recipe for the crisp topping, I usually create a topping by feel.
Generally it involved equal parts brown sugar, GF flour and GF oats mixed with enough melted butter to create a texture that feels like moist sand. I like to include plenty of spices in most recipes I make (usually involving almost doubling many given spice in the recipe, haha) so I added cinnamon and few other things to the crisp topping.
I baked both the pie and the crisp for about the same amount of time, as indicated by the recipe, but his may need to be adjusted for oven temperatures and the browness of the crust.
Served with Haagen Daas Vanilla Bean ice cream, this pie was a treat on a fall day!
—Local Growers Note: To honor Sally’s site, her recipe creation and her work, I direct you to her site for the recipes that Gretchen followed.
Go to:
https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/apple-pie-recipe/
This was a flaky, delicious crust and the filling was flavorful and filled with the spices you expect in an apple filling without being spice forward! Pleasant. Mouthwatering. And the ice cream was the perfect topping!
It is evident that Gretchen loves life and enjoys the camaraderie of those around her. We are planning more
ocal Growers Meals for the future. And we look forward to Gretchen taking a turn in the kitchen. Can’t wait to taste what she prepares and enjoy more fellowship with her!
Thanks, Gretchen! A perfect dessert!
