Photo by Muffy Aldrich
The Modern Guide to The Thing Before Preppy

Saturday, November 12, 2022

Apple Pie For Breakfast

Photos by Salt Water New England.
To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.
To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner.
To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.
To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.
And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast. 
- Attributed to E.B. White
This time of year many diligently carry on the family tradition of eating apple pie for breakfast.

A favorite apple variety for pies is the Greening (Rhode Island Greening, circa 1650,  Green's End, Newport, Rhode Island), but that variety has become difficult to find.  So in its absence,  one can use a blend of other local apples like Cortland (mild/tender), Baldwin (somewhat tart/hard), Stayman ((hard/tart) and McIntosh (somewhat tart/tender), combining them for flavor and texture.

Apple Pie Recipe

8 cups of peeled and cut up apples
1 tsp nutmeg
¾ to 1 cup sugar
1 ½ Tablespoon butter

Nutmeg, Not Cinnamon
Mix together the apples, nutmeg and sugar.

Ingredients for Crust 

This is an incredibly simple and reliable crust, for the top and bottom of one pie.

1 cup white flour
¾ cup whole wheat flour (If whole wheat flour is anathema, use all white instead. Whole wheat gives it better flavor.)
1 teaspoon salt (don't leave out)
½ cup canola oil
¼ cup whole milk

Mix together, divide in half.
Roll each half flat between two pieces of waxed paper, the thinner the better.




Put into 9 inch pie pan (with crust).
Cut up butter into small chunks and distribute evenly on top of apple mixture.


Place top crust over apples and make 6 or so slits in crust.


Bake for about 1 hour at 425, or until crust is golden.


Repeat Often

39 comments:

  1. And to a Vermonter who eats apple pie for breakfast, a Yankee is someone who eats it with a knife.

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  2. With cheddar cheese.

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  3. Ahh yes. Another Yankee Vermonter here and can eat apple pie any time of the day. A glass of warm apple cider doesn't hurt either.

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  4. This morning. With cheddar. Best breakfast.

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  5. Glad to see Stayman listed. Favorite. I can not find this apple anywhere and I have looked. Will keep looking! PA

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  6. And those of us New Hampshire Yankees eat Whoopie Pie for breakfast.

    Aiken

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  7. Nothing wrong with pie for breakfast....Apple or otherwise. I'm a Southerner and had pecan pie for breakfast last week.

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  8. Apple pie with gruyere baked in the crust.

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  9. I heartily endorse apple pie for breakfast (or its first cousin---warm apple dumplings). My son loves cold pumpkin pie for breakfast more than anything, but we are Texans, and pumpkin pie is more popular than apple pie. But we don't get the sustained cold needed for truly great apples (and pumpkins don't care).

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  10. P.S. I like that your apple pie recipe eschews cinnamon---a spice which I think is highly over-rated, and it gives me indigestion. Two thumbs up for nutmeg.

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  11. Try adding a single pear to the apples. It complements the whole dish.

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    Replies
    1. You are right, pear does pare well with apples. I make an apple pear crisp but never thought about putting a pear in pie. Anon@12:30 mentioned quince and I'll bet that is delicious too. (Quince is my favorite jelly outside of marmalade!) When I'm in a hurry and don't have time to make a crust, I do what my mother did - I peel and slice about 6 apples into the bottom of a pie plate and then make a batter for over top consisting of 1 cup flour, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. Baking powder, 1 beaten egg, 1 cup sugar, and 1/2 cup butter. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes until golden and crusty, and you have a wonderful dessert to serve with ice cream.

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    2. Oops, so many pears...that should read pair well!

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    3. Pears grow in our part of the world unlike apples, and there is nothing like a summertime pear cobbler.

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  12. Adding a quince is even better.

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  13. I didn't know the quote of E.B. White on the top of the post, I just love it and take me a smile!

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  14. Muffy, I made your apple pie today and served it with a little scoop of Talenti vanilla bean ice cream. It was delicious, and the pie looked just like yours! The nutty taste of the crust combined with the nutmeg made this pie superb. I used three varieties of apples.

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    1. you are missed...from your page-
      http://www.definingmanners.com/learning-manners/

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  15. I've used your pie and cookie recipes to the great satisfaction of my guests. Thank you.

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  16. To a Texan, a Yankee is anyone North of the Red River.

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    Replies
    1. Those north of I-10 are suspect.

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    2. Maybe that's where Texas should build a wall. I know, because I've been there, north of the Red River.

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  17. Oh, Muffie. The pies in your wonderful photo look soooo delicous.
    So delicious, I'm afraid, that around me, they would be classified as a controlled substance.

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  18. I was in an Indianapolis furniture store the other day and the young male clerk spoke of going to a car race near Atlanta and as soon as he said a few words, he was called a Yankee! He said no, he wasn't a Yankee. The men asked him where he was from. He said Indianapolis. Here, we think we are in the Midwest. One of the men said, "No....you are a Yankee!" The young man went on to say everybody couldn't have been nicer and so polite, even though they had to deal with "a Yankee!"

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  19. You’re using King Arthur flour and Cabot butter. This is proper for someone who eats apple pie for breakfast. Well chosen!

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  20. I love a good apple pie, whether American or European. This made me look up apple pie recipes, so for the Community, here is a Food & Wine web link to a few recipes: https://www.foodandwine.com/desserts/pies/apple-pie/apple-pie. That said, my favourite apple pie is the Viennese Apfelstrudel; that with a good, strong coffee is heavenly (Kaffee Alt Wien!).

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  21. Death by Yankee apple pie wouldn't be the worst way to go !

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  22. My mom always preferred McIntosh apples for her pies. And all this apple talk now has me hungry for some homemade applesauce! (Lumps and all!)

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  23. Warm, good sized slice, with cheddar. Sustenance for a morning of finance meetings.

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  24. Yes, apple pie for breakfast. Any pie, actually. But apple is the best. A special on PBS a few years ago reported that pie was originally created as a breakfast food. I wish there were pie available in stores which is not full of preservatives and saturated fat. But alas. Also, sugar free apple pie is my favorite. Apples are very sweet and I see no need to add sugar. Thanks for this post. Now I have to run out and get some apple pie. If one is in the Leesburg, Virginia, area, look for a little stone building, a tiny building, across from the legendary home of General George Marshall, called Mom’s Apple Pie. The pies are made in a factory, so it is somewhat of a front, but they are amazing, as are their Bourbon Walnut pies. JDV

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  25. Cheddar cheese is a must!

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  26. Granny Smith apples. I like some dark brown sugar tossed with the apples as well. Adds richness.

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  27. Love the quote. Thanks for the recipe.

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  28. I'm so happy to see the cheddar cheese comments! My maternal grandmother, born and raised in the tippy top of New York state on the St. Lawrence River, always ate cheese with her pie. I thought it must have been a tradition handed down to her from her Yankee ancestors mother/grandmother etc., but my husband, who is all Mayflowery and such, had never heard of such a thing. Ha! I knew I was right! That's okay. I'm a DAR candidate (endless paperwork) and I'd rather be a rebel than a puritan any day. ;) Heidi

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  29. I use your crust recipe to top chicken pot pie. Sometimes I double the milk and makes a light biscuit crust. Delicious!

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  30. Why do Americans eat so much sugar? You're all eating like you have a publicly funded health-care system!

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    Replies
    1. We need it. It gives shy people the strength to get up and do what needs to be done. There's also rhubarb pie but I don't want to change the subject like I usually do.

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  31. And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast with warm cheddar on top.

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