Grandma June’s Caramel Apple Pie
Original recipe makes 1 –deep dish 9 inch pie (Glass or stoneware pie plate is best)
Ingredients:
– pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie (I just use Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts)
-1 egg white
-1/2 cup butter
-3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
-1/4 cup water (minus 1 tablespoon)
-1/2 cup white sugar
-1/2 cup packed brown sugar
-1 tablespoon vanilla extract
-1 teaspoon cinnamon
-dash of nutmeg
-6 large Granny Smith apples or combo with Honey Crisp – peeled, cored and sliced thin
Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
-Place one crust in bottom of pie plate. Brush with egg white. Cut remainder crust into strips for lattice top. Weave strips into lattice on wax paper and set aside.
-For Caramel Sauce: Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, sugars, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let the sauce simmer. (Keep it warm during remainder of process so it doesn’t solidify.)
-Fill bottom crust with apples, mounded slightly. Pour ¾ of the caramel sauce over apples and gently mix.
-Cover with lattice-work crust. (May brush remainder of egg white over lattice)
-Gently drizzle remainder of caramel sauce over the crust.
-Bake about 40-45 minutes in the preheated oven until apples are soft
Pan de Muerto
This bread is featured in Zephyr Stone and the Moon Mist Ghost in the chapter in which Zephyr and her friend bring it, along with traditional marigold flowers, to a cemetery as they seek answers to a mystery.
-Makes two rounds
(Read the whole recipe before beginning)
-500 grams (4 cups) bread flour
-2 Tablespoons active-dry yeast
-100 grams(1/2 cup) granulated sugar, divided into two ¼ portions
-1 teaspoon salt
-80 grams (1 stick) salted butter at room temperature + 30 grs., melted, to brush bread after baking
-80 grams (1 stick) unsalted butter room temperature plus more for bowl and pans
-4 large eggs room temperature
-Orange zest from 2 oranges
-60 ml (1/4 cup) warm water about 110 degrees
-1 teaspoon orange blossom water, or orange essence, or orange extract (I used orange extract)
-1 large egg lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon of water to brush the bread before baking
-Granulated sugar to decorate the bread at the end.
1-Place the 4 eggs, unsalted butter, salt and ¼ cup sugar in the mixer bowl. Using the Hook attachment start working the dough for about 2 minutes. Add the flour in small amounts alternating with the water. Add the dry active yeast and mix until well combined.
2-One at a time, add the salted butter, orange zest, the remaining ¼ cup sugar and the orange “extract,” mixing well after each addition until soft dough forms.
3-Remove the dough from the mixer bowl and place onto work surface; knead until smooth, dusting work surface lightly with flour as needed if the dough begins to stick. Knead for a couple more minutes. Coat the interior of a large bowl with unsalted butter; transfer dough to bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let stand in a warm place, 45 minutes to 1 hour until it about doubles in size.
4-Transfer the dough from the bowl onto work surface, set aside 300 grams (about 1/3) of the dough to form the decorative bones and skulls later on. Cut the remaining 2/3 of dough in two equal pieces. Prepare 2 greased baking sheets, set aside.
Shaping and baking the Pan de Muerto:
1-Take the two equal dough pieces and shape each into a tight ball, rolling the dough on the surface. Place one ball on each of the prepared baking sheets. Press the dough slightly.
2-Place the reserved 300 grs of dough onto the work surface, dusting with flour if needed, and knead until the flour is integrated (this is for the bones to decorate breads.)
3-Take portions of the dough and roll in 4 “logs” putting a little pressure with the fingers to form the bones (2 bones for each round.) Brush a cross shape over top of each round with the egg/water mixture. Once marked, cross the bones over the round, pressing them very gently onto the egg/water mixture marks. (Brush a little egg/water mixture on top center of first “bone” for second “bone” to adhere to.)
4-With the leftover dough, form two small balls. On the top center of each round, press in a small indention where the bones come together, brush on egg/water mixture, and place the ball there. (This represents the top of a skull.)
5-Cover baking sheets with greased plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until about doubled in size, about 2 hours.
6-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
7-Add a pinch of salt to remaining egg/water mixture and brush over the top and sides of rounds before placing in the oven. Transfer to oven and bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. (When the bottom of the bread is golden, it is ready.)
8-Brush with melted butter and dust with sugar. Cool on rack to room temperature.
