Apple Blossom Pie for Iduna

A friend once asked me for a good apple pie recipe, for she wanted to make a pie to bring in offering to a ritual honoring Idunna. I liked this idea and when I decided to write about Idunna for September’s Deity of the Month, I decided that I would make it a point to offer pie (and other apple dishes if folks want to contribute them) recipes. 

I’ve always found it difficult to find a really good apple pie recipe. This one was given to my by a former student and colleague J. Barnes. I do not know where he acquired it but while I find this recipe more complex than most, I also find the resulting pie really, really good! So here y’all go: 

Ingredients

One 9 inch pie crust (make it from scratch, people; store bought pie crusts suck)
4-5 cups sliced, peeled Red Rome apples (about 4-5 medium apples).
½ cup apple-pear juice blend
½ cup water
2 Tablespoons honey
1- 1 ¼ cups sugar, divided into 1 ½ cup and then the rest
2 Tablespoons cornstarch (or 3-4 tablespoons all purpose flour)
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon clove
1/8 teaspoon mace (optional)
¾ cup reserved liquid from cooking apples
1/8 teaspoon salt
2-3 Tablespoons of Butter (I usually use 5-7)
Sugar
Half and half

Step one: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Combine apples, apple-pear juice and water in a large saucepan on medium heat. Bring to a boil. Stir in honey and ¼ cup sugar. Cover. Reduce heat to simmer. Cook 10-15 minutes or until apples are tender.

Step two: drain apples, reserving ¾ cup liquid. 

Step three: combine remaining 3-4 -1 cup sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, clove, mace, and salt in large saucepan. Add reserved ¾ cup liquid. Cook and stir on medium heat until mixture begins to thicken. This takes as long as it takes. Stir in butter and apples. Cool slightly before pouring into unbaked pie crust. Moisten pastry edges with water. 

Step four: lift top onto pie. Trim ½ inch beyond edge of pie plate. Fold top edge under bottom crust and crimp. Cut slits in the top to allow steam to escape (I like to use any left over pie crust dough. I roll it out and use a cookie cutter to cut cool shapes and then decorate the top of the pie with these). 

Brush the top of the pie with half and half and sprinkle with sugar. (I use cinnamon sugar). 

Step five: bake at 425 degrees F. for 10 minutes. Cover edge with foil if you have to in order to prevent over-browning. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F. 

Step six: bake 45-60 minutes or until filling in the center is bubbly and crust is golden brown. Serve barely warm with vanilla bean ice cream.