Wendy breaks from midterms to slice up some pie

For the last few weeks, I've had an intense craving for pie. Unfortunately, I was prohibited by Wellesley's "midterm" season (which we know is really all year long). Four papers and two presentations: gross. But this last Friday, with only one paper left, I finally had the time to make pie. Hallelujah!

The big question then became, "What type?" When asking this question, there are several categories you must confront: audience, texture, season and price. Audience is simple; I mean it really isn't even a factor. I take my advice from "Field of Dreams:" "If you build it, they will come." Or in my case, "If you bake it, they will eat it." Besides if I ended up with an entire pie to eat all by myself, would that really be all that terrible?

Next, the texture. I place pies' textures in three categories which are inextricably linked to the season. However, since it is March right now and very few things are actually in season (unless I want to make a purple broccoli-sea kale pie), texture will have to fly solo. Do I want smooth, crunchy and crispy or fruity? In the realm of smooth pies, you find your pumpkin pies, chocolate mousses and lemon meringues; I'm snobby and find "pudding" pies to be a travesty brought to us by the 1950s. When I consider crunchy and crispy, I think of pies with pecans or other nuts. Fruity, I believe, is fairly obvious. Big juicy chunks of apple or strawberry that are soft, but not so much so that they lose their shape and begin to melt into the category of "smooth."

I'm not really one for smooth pies, but I knew I wanted to do something with apples, considering that the dining hall seems to have its own private orchard of perpetual growth (this is where price comes in: free is best!). The problem was, I had already made apple pie.

Solution? Recently, I discovered the deliciousness of pecans, but didn't want an entirely chewy pie. So why not combine both apples and pecans? The sweetness of the apples melds perfect with the nutty taste of the pecans producing the ultimate in baked apples (I also cut out about half the amount of sugar most people use, resulting in a sweet, yet not overly sugary result). I could definitely eat this pie for breakfast.

It came out with the golden apples virtually floating in the warm auburn of the pecans. Absolutely perfect and without a hitch - except for the part where my friend decided to burn his palm, while I cut my hand and tried to peel my finger. Blood burns off in an oven, right?

Apple Pecan Pie

Dough:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon cinnamon

2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into ¼ inch cubes and chilled

½ cup ice water

Filling:

5 medium apples (Granny Smith or any other baking apple)

¾ cup dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

½ tablespoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

4 eggs

¼ cup light corn syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 ½ cups pecans, coarsely chopped

Dough: Whisk together flour, sugar and salt together in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Sprinkle the chilled cubes of butter over the flour and using the tips of your fingers, begin working it into the flour (if you have a pastry blender, go ahead and use that). This won't take long and you can stop once all the pieces of butter are roughly pea-sized.

Drizzle ½ cup of ice water over the dough. Using a spatula, work the dough together. You may need a bit more water so add it a tablespoon at a time. Gather the damp dough clumps together and gently knead it in your hands into a mound. Divide the dough in half and shape into a disc. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and fridge for at least 1 hour (2 is ideal).

To roll out the dough, flour your work surface generously. Place one disc in the center and flour that as well (you can always dust the flour off once the dough is rolled out). Start rolling out your dough from the center, rotating the dough a quarter turn every few rolls (this makes sure that you not only get a pretty circle, but also that your dough doesn't stick to your surface). Continue doing this until you have a 12 inch circle of dough.

To transfer the dough into the pan, loosely fold it into quarters and unfold it in the pie pan. Press it gently into the pan. You should have a half inch overhang. Fold it over and using your index finger and thumb, crimp it together in a pinching motion.

This pie does not have a top so you will have an extra ball of pie dough.

Filling: Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Slice the apples into sixteenths. In a bowl, toss with a little lemon juice and set aside.

Mix sugar, flour and salt in small bowl. Whisk eggs in a medium bowl. Add corn syrup, vanilla and sugar mixture, and continue whisking until smooth. Stir in pecans.

Add the apples to the crust, arranging them so there are slightly mounded in the center. Pour pecan filling into crust. If needed, use a rubber spatula to evenly distribute the apples. Lightly sprinkle with brown sugar.

Bake pie until filling is set in center, covering edges with foil if browning too quickly, about 70 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool completely.