Easy as apple pie

So, what type of apples do you like? Green or golden, pink or red? Sugary sweet or puckery sour? And how do you like to eat your apples? Piping hot, baked with raisins and walnuts? Cold and crunchy, right from the refrigerator? Or do you prefer one of America's favorite desserts, apple pie?

Baking fruit pies from scratch is one of the easier dessert tasks. Depending on your time and your equipment, you may elect to bake apple pies strictly from scratch or indulge in a little speed scratch.

APPLE VARIETIES

The first step to making a fresh, aromatic pie from scratch is to learn about the countless number of apple options. After all, the flavor of your apple pie will be decided by the variety of apple you select. If you'd like to stick with cooking apples, look for Rome, Granny Smith, or Pippins. Cooking varieties handle heat well, as they have more fiber and less juice. This allows them to hold their shape when being baked, sauteed, broiled, or microwaved.

Red Delicious are the good ol' standbys of eating apples, but they can be cooked for a firm, rather than soft, pie filling. Mix the Red with the Golden for a change of pace. If you like the sweetness of Red Delicious, you'll like Cameo (very sweet with a nice crunch), Fuji (sweet and crunchy), and Gala (a cross between a Golden Delicious and the New Zealand Orange Red). For a more rounded flavor, sweet with some overtones of tang, choose Braeburn, Pink Lady, or Jonagold. Look in farmers' markets or specialty produce stores for heirloom or antique varieties, such as Maiden Blush, Winesap, or MacIntosh, or for fairly new varieties, such as Honeygold and its brand new cousin, Honeycrisp.

MAKING APPLES INTO PIE FILLINGS

Apple pies can range from simple and traditional to modern and fusion. You can use one type of apple, a mixture of sweet and tart apples, or apple and pear combinations. Filling add-ins can include dried cherries, golden raisins, currants, dried cranberries, and finely chopped nuts. Depending on the season, you may want to branch out to fresh pear, nectarine, peach, apricot, or plum pies. You can follow the apple instructions in this article, just adjusting cooking times for the ripeness or softness of your fruit.

A rule of thumb for filling a 9-inch pie crust is eight to nine medium apples, tossed with 3/4 cup vegan sugar and 1/4 cup all-purpose or whole wheat flour. Spices--which can include ground cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, clove, cardamom, lavender, ginger, and/or dried orange zest--should total one Tablespoon all together.

Slice peeled and cored apples into even slices that are no thicker than half an inch. Thin, uniform slices help to ensure even baking. If fresh apples aren't available, you can use frozen, thawed apple slices. When you're ready to bake, place approximately half of the apples into an unbaked bottom crust and dust with half of the vegan sugar, flour, and spice mixture. Top with the rest of the apples, and sprinkle them with the remaining sugar mixture.

PIE CRUSTS

A great pie filling needs a great pie crust. If you'd like to make your crust from scratch, be certain to follow these guidelines:

* There are four ingredients in a crust--flour, fat, liquid, and salt. Flour is necessary to form the structure and bulk of the crust, fat adds moisture and helps to keep the crust flaky, liquid keeps the dough somewhat pliable, and salt enhances the flavor and browns the crust.

* Before making crusts, chill the fat (vegan shortening or margarine) and the liquid (soymilk or water). Chilling will prevent the fat pieces from dissolving into the flour. Stir the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Cut the shortening into the dry mixture using a pastry cutter or by pinching the fat into the mixture with your hands. The resulting mixture should have fat lumps no smaller than peas.

* Pour in the chilled soymilk or water, a small amount at a time, mixing gently with a fork until the dough is wet enough to be packed into a ball. The dough should be handled as little as possible to prevent the blending of all of the fat lumps, as a crust without fat lumps will become dense and hard.

* Split the dough into two equal amounts, roll them into balls, and wrap them in plastic before placing them in the refrigerator. Chilling for at least 30 minutes will prevent the flour from absorbing the fat and give the crust a lighter texture when it is baked. Well-wrapped, chilled crust can last up to three days in the refrigerator.

* Generously dust a clean, dry surface with flour and remove one of the packages of dough from the refrigerator. Flatten the dough slightly and dust the top of the dough with flour before rolling it out with a rolling pin or wooden dowel.

* Start rolling at the center of the dough and work outwards. Some people prefer to do this between sheets of parchment or waxed paper or plastic wrap because it makes rolling and cleaning up easier.

* Quickly roll the dough into a circle, either 1/4-inch or 1/8-inch thick. The size of the circle should be approximately four inches wider in diameter than the pie pan. You don't want to overwork the dough, as you'll lose some of the flakiness. Roll the dough only as much as is needed.