As if you needed another excuse, here are six of the best reasons to fall off the diet wagon this season. These must-try apple pies are available throughout the Chicago area and nearby. From cornelian cherry-apple pies to apple pies baked in paper bags, these are some of the tastiest ways to get your apple a day.
Double Crust Apple Pie, Windy City Pie Company, Wilmette
Sara Montmorency’s double crust apple pie celebrates one of her Grandma Sylvia’s recipes. “It tastes like Grandma’s Sunday night dessert after dinner.”
Today, the apple pie is among the pies — savory and sweet — at Windy City Pie Company in Wilmette. Among the savory pies are pulled pork, smoked salmon with sweet potato and even Irish stew. Other sweet pies that show off seasonal ingredients are honey maple pecan, chocolate pecan and even another apple variety — apple crunch top, which is made with apples with cinnamon and sugar topped with a crunchy oat and brown sugar crumble. For more information, visit www.windycitypieco.com.
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Honeycrisp Apple Pie with Cornelian Cherries and Fennel, Patchwork Pies, Chicago
Kate Albing and Patrick McGuan, co-founders of Chicago-based Patchwork Pies, discovered a rare treat on a foraging trip in northeastern Michigan: cornelian cherries. “You can gather this tiny stone fruit once it falls from the branches of the flowering dogwood tree,” Albing said. “They are tart, floral and bright.”
They decided to showcase the bright red, tangy-flavored berries in a good old apple pie. “Their tartness complements the mild floral flavors of Honeycrisp apples,” she said. “Cooked cornelian cherries have the texture of cranberry sauce, which balances the apples’s snap.” Albing said cranberries are a close substitute for the cornelian cherries.
And the crust puts this pie over the top. “We swear by an all-butter crust made with cultured pasture butter. The high butterfat content produces a crust that shatters and then melts on the tongue,” Albing said. “This pie tastes like the culinary bridge between summer and fall.” www.facebook.com/PatchworkPies
Apple Pie Crisp, Sweety Pies Bakery, Skokie
The popular apple pie crisp at Sweety Pies Bakery in Skokie is a recipe co-owner Arden Kruger had tucked away some 36 years ago after receiving it from a co-worker. Now, Kruger has perfectly nailed the apple crisp — peeling the apples by hand and placing the slices individually in pie shells.
“The apple pie crisp is full of texture,” said co-owner Jason Davidson. “We bake our pies so there is just a tender bite to the apple, but they have not lost their integrity — no mushy, pre-made apple filling here!”
The topping is made with oats, cinnamon, brown sugar, a bit of coconut, a few chopped walnuts and butter that bakes up and browns on top. “Buttery, nutty, sweet and tart all in one,” Davidson said. Visit www.SweetyPiesBakery.com.
Caramel Apple Pie Baked in a Paper Bag, The Elegant Farmer, Mukwonago, Wis.
That smiley face on the side of the yellow barn visible from Highway 43 in Mukwonago, Wis. really does have something to smile about: The barn is home to The Elegant Farmer and inside is where owner John Bauer and team make their signature caramel apple pie baked in a paper bag.
“Many people ask, why the paper bag?” Bauer said. He explained that baking the pie in a brown paper bag, a technique dredged years ago from an old cookbook, helps keep the apples as slices while they bake, rather than the applesauce-like filling of most. The apples also retain more juice when baked in paper. After the apples are cooked, a hole is cut out of the top of the bag and the pie is returned to the oven to bake for a few more minutes for the crust to get crisp. For home bakers, the paper is also an answer to messes that a bubbling pie can make while baking.
Just as unique and sought-after is this pie’s thick, decadent top crust. “It has been described as a sugar cookie-like crust,” Bauer said.
And the caramel apple pie is even more decadent with a slathering of real — and creamy — caramel. “It has been a favorite for more than 30 years,” Bauer said. See www.ElegantFarmer.com
Sack Apple Pie, Bennison’s Bakery, Evanston
Bakers at Bennison’s Bakery in Evanston use the paper bag technique for their sack apple pie. “It’s my favorite,” said Owner and Baker Jory Downer. “The theory is that the steam from the apples gets trapped in the bag and melts the top, and softens the apples as it bakes. The top gets super crunchy.”
What’s more, the team invested in an apple peeling machine from Germany a few years ago, so now all the apple treats made there are made with 100 percent fresh apples. “We pile in sliced fresh apples — a blend of Fuji and Granny Smith — with cinnamon, sugar and a special top made with loads of butter.” www.BennisonsCakes.com
Apple Pie, Elsie Mae’s Canning, Kenosha, Wis.
When baker Kelly Deem was 14 she wondered if her grandma might be playing favorites between her and her cousin, since her grandmother seemed to prefer her cousin’s apple pie to Deem’s pecan pie. As it turns out, the only favoritism involved was Grandma Alta’s preference for apple pie. “I learned the importance of developing a good apple pie recipe,” Deem said. Some 15 years later, apple pie is the cornerstone of Deem’s popular business.
“Apple pie is almost everyone’s favorite,” Deem said. “And it is usually associated with special memories of times spent with our families.”
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Deem starts with a buttery, flaky crust, and then slow cooks a variety of sugars and butter, to develop notes of caramel, which creates a balance between the sweet and tart flavors of the apples. “Our crust is flaky and buttery with a moist and thick filling, which works, well with the slight crispness of the apples,” she said. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/elsiemaes.canning.
Save your fork. There’s pie.