Monday, November 30, 2009

How To Bake Apple Pie

By Carla Bacon

There's nothing like finishing off a delicious meal with a nice, warm piece of apple pie with a scoop of cold vanilla ice cream on the side. Apple pie is good for almost any occasion and pumpkin pie doesn't have to be the only dessert for Thanksgiving. People enjoy eating apple pie at nearly any time of the year, and they've been eating it for many years past.

Apple pie has a long heritage-the origins of apple pie are in England, where people began eating a type of apple pastry from-81. The old English "apple pie" actually didn't have any sugar in it, which is practically impossible today. Instead, it contained pear juice to sweeten the pastry, and other fruits like figs and raisins were added as well. From England, the apple pie recipe spread to the Netherlands, where the Dutch created their own variation. Dutch apple pie contains additional flavorings like cinnamon and lemon juice, and it comes with a lattice upper crust.

Apple pie eventually traveled with the colonists over to America, but it wasn't so widespread in the beginning since apples were mainly used to make cider. However, apple pie has experienced a popularity boom since then and now it has become an iconic American dessert. Someone even coined the phrase "as American as apple pie" in the course of American apple pie consumption, and apple pie is consistently voted the number one favorite pie in the US. Apple pie has come a long way from being a simple pudding pastry to becoming a classic dessert.

Variations on the apple pie still exist today. There's the deep dish apple pie, and the Tarte Tatin, a French spin on the apple pie that's upside down with caramelized apples in it. There's also apple strudel, or Apfelstrudel, which is a layered pastry with an apple filling. The apple filling in apple pies can range from using fresh apples to using canned or dried apples.

The crust can also vary- it can be double crust, lattice crust, or without a top, and flaky or more "crusty." Apple pie can also be served with a variety of toppings and compliments. It is commonly eaten with whipped cream, custard, and of course ice cream. Evidently there are numerous ways to spice up apple pie. The possibilities may be endless, but whichever way it's eaten, consumers are enjoying the great taste of centuries of innovation.

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