By: Angela Keyser, Marketing Manager
My Grandma Lina was pretty special. We weren’t related. She was my Grandma’s best friend. But, throughout my entire childhood, she was like a Grandma to me – watching my siblings and I when our parents were away or letting us come over and “play work” (my younger sister and I had this fascination with playing with junk mail). 😉 When I think about it, Grandma Lina was probably the most impactful person on me when it comes to the sustainable values I hold today. She grew almost everything she ate, made her own soap and butchered her own chickens, among other things. Without preaching it, she showed me how to live simply, sustainably and well. (There’s not a meal at Grandma Lina’s I can’t remember loving. I do, however, recall my pants always feeling much tighter after leaving the table!)
Grandma Lina lived her in farmhouse until the beautiful age of 98 when she suffered a stroke and soon passed. Her simple love for food and family are summed up in the recipes I now make in her honor. There’s at least one for every season. When I make them or eat them, I slip back in time to those fresh-aired days on her farm, picking flowers, playing with the kitties, smelling the freshly baked goodies from the oven and feeling her rough, hard-working hands on mine. She was a kindred spirit, for sure, and is always missed and even more celebrated in the great food she taught me to make.
One of my fall favorites is Grandma Lina’s Apple Slices. I hope they inspire some family apple picking and baking traditions in your home. After all, you never know how far those special family traditions will be carried down through the generations. Enjoy!
Grandma Lina’s Apple Slices
Pie Crust
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter
1 egg yolk (reserve the egg white for later)
½ cup milk
Filling
5-7 apples
1 to 1 ½ cups sugar (we use about ¾-1 cup because we don’t like these super sweet)
2 tablespoons flour
1 or 2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
To Make the Pie Crust
Mix all pie crust ingredients together in a medium bowl.
Form two equal sizes of dough.
Rolling out the crust.
Flour a large surface, a rolling pin and the top of one dough ball. Roll out the dough ball to fit the bottom and sides of a jelly roll pan (approx. 12 ½ inches by 17 ½ inches and 1 inch sides).
NOTE: Be sure to keep the surface underneath the pie dough floured. This will help the dough spread into a beautiful and even thin layer. (I.e. Every once in a while, peel back half of the pie crust and sprinkle a little flour on the surface. Then, repeat with the other side.)
After the dough is rolled out, carefully fold it in half and transfer it to your jelly roll pan. Unroll it and cover the bottom and sides of the jelly role pan.
For the Filling
Placing apple slices on pie crust.
Peel and slice 5-7 apples. Place the apples in rows on top of the pie crust.
Combine the flour, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle over the apples.
Place small pieces of the room temperature butter over the apples and then sprinkle with vanilla.
Roll out the second dough ball following the same instructions above and place over the apples. Be sure to pinch the bottom and top crusts together around the edges.
I sprinkled some extra cinnamon on the top.
Brush the top of the pie crust with egg white and then cut a few slits in the crust to allow steam to escape.
Bake 45 minutes.
Allow to cool and frost with powdered sugar icing: 1 cup confectioners sugar and 1-2 tablespoons water. Add more water until a thin consistency is created. Or, serve with vanilla ice cream.
