A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine posted this divine recipe for Apple Slices on her blog. Here's the link: http://www.ala-murphala.com/blog/2013/10/cheating/. I was excited to try them, but had a hard time convincing my family that we needed to move this recipe up in the queue. [We always have a long line of recipes we're wanting to try.] I eventually won out, and it was a quick job to make these up with three of us mixing, cutting and rolling. We made half a batch in a 9x13 pan.
Then we went out and moved a lot of gravel.
I took a quick break to come in and glaze the cooled pastry so they'd be ready to snack on when we were done.
These were a HUGE hit. There were threats to drop something on them so I couldn't take a pic and, 'Darn. We'd have to make them again.' I got the pics, quick, but we're still going to make a lot more of these this winter. They are fantastic the first day and if you cover them with plastic they'll soften up and be even better the second day. They won't last longer than that.
Here's the recipe. It's a half a batch of the recipe here.
April's Apple Slices
www.rurification.com Adapted from Flour, Water, Yeast & Salt.
Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shortening or butter
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup water to start, plus a bit more if necessary
Filling:
5-6 cups cored, peeled, sliced apples. I used 4 large apples
1 cups sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Glaze:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk
Preheat the oven to 400.
We started with the filling. Peel, core and slice the apples. [I'm too lazy to peel, so we left ours on. Delicious!] Put them in a big bowl. Mix the sugar, 2 Tablespoons of flour and cinnamon in a smaller bowl and sprinkle over the apples. Let sit while you prepare the crust.
Combine the crust ingredients except the water with a pastry blender or a food processor. Put the crumbles in a bowl and add the water. Mix with clean hands - it's the only way I've found to really know how wet or dry the dough is. Add a bit of extra water if the dough won't stay together.
Divide the dough in half and roll one half out right in a 9x13 pan. I have a small pastry roller with a small roller on one end and a larger one on the other end. This worked great. Roll the other half of the dough on the greased back of another pan - I used a jelly roll pan.
Put the filling in on the first crust in the 9x13 pan. Sprinkle the extra spice mix from the bottom of the bowl all over the apples. Invert the other crust on top of the apples. It's all right if it's not beautiful. Prick all over with a fork.Bake for 40 minutes on a lower rack in the oven - the bottom crust gets done well this way.
Remove and let cool. When cool, make the glaze and drizzle over the pastry. Let the glaze set up and then serve.
These are fantastic re-warmed and served with ice cream.
Note: This is a short pastry. You don't need a pan with tall sides. You can double the recipe and make it in a large jelly roll pan. Great for serving crowds!
