This is a very old-fashioned New England pie that manages to be both an apple pie and a cream pie. It is shockingly good.
- Pie pastry dough for a single-crust pie — don’t let anybody crust-shame you if you decide to use pre-made frozen dough. It’s pie crust, not a purity test.
- Enough apples to give you two pounds (around 900 grams) of shredded flesh. The apple’s, not yours. For this experimental first recipe, I used seven Honeycrisps.
- 3 Tablespoons lemon juice — It can be fresh squeezed, but its purpose here is more about acidity than flavor, which will probably be overwhelmed by some of the other, more assertive ingredients. We are using it to keep the apples from oxidizing and turning brown.
- 3 Tablespoons sherry — this will give the apples a lovely, slightly boozy smell as they cook, but most of the alcohol will be cooked out.
- 2 Tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
- 2/3 cup (132 g) granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup (227 g) cream or evaporated milk – I used half-and-half
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg – this is one of those snooty cook things that really matters. Freshly ground nutmeg is a whole different beast than nutmeg dust that has been sitting in your spice cabinet for — who was president when you bought that?
- Large pinch of kosher or coarse sea salt.
Heat your oven to 350°F.
Blind-bake your pie crust. This means to pre-bake it. (This is a process that pretends to be complex but is actually relatively straightforward. Every single baking book will guide you through it.)
Peel the apples, then use a box-grater to shred them. In a bowl, combine them with the lemon juice and sherry.
In a wide-bottomed skillet or pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat, until it gets foamy. Add the apple mixture and sugar, and stir together. Cook until the mixture comes to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook until almost all of the liquid is gone, probably at least 20 minutes, so this would be a good time to listen to a podcast or have a heart-felt conversation with a teen, where you have a good excuse not to make eye contact.
When the apple mixture has cooked, set it aside to cool for a few minutes. In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, cream, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together into a custard base. Stir in the apple mixture, then transfer the filling to your pre-baked pie crust, which you have thought to place on a baking sheet, just in case Destiny decides to intervene while this pie is baking.
Bake for 40 minutes or so, until the filling is set but hasn’t browned. Remove from the oven and let it cool for at least half an hour or so before serving with vanilla ice cream. Or at room temperature the next morning for breakfast.
Featured photo. Marlborough Pie. Photo by John Fladd.
