BRUISED APPLE PIE

INGREDIENTS
For Pie Filling:
10 medium-sized (about five cups) peeled, cored and sliced gravenstein or granny smith apples
1 to 1 1/2 cups whole blackberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 to 3/4 cup raw sugar
1/2 to 3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
3 tbsp lemon juice

For Pie Crust:
2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup raw sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1.2 tsp salt

PREPARATION
For Pie Crust:
Mix all dry ingredients. Combine vegetable oil and milk to dry ingredients just until incorporated. Split dough in half and roll out one half of the dough between two sheets of wax or parchment paper to the shape of your pie pan. Turn out dough into pie pan and cook for fifteen minutes at 350°. Set aside crust to cool. Roll out second ball of dough between two sheets of wax or parchment paper to the shape of your pie pan. Remove top sheet of paper, place back on the dough and flip. Remove paper and cut venting holes in the middle of dough.

For Pie Filling and Pie Cooking:
Mix all filling ingredients except blackberries in a large bowl. Pour filling into cooled bottom crust. Add blackberries to the top of the rest of the filing. Apply top crust and bake in 350° oven for 30 to forty-five minutes, until crust is golden brown and you see the filling bubbling up through the vents.

THE STORY BEHIND THE RECIPE
I was a willful child. Once I had decided I was ready and really wanted to do something, there was no stopping me. When I was eight, I started harping on my mother about letting me cook. She told me I was too young, but her real concern was the state in which I would leave her kitchen when I was done. My mother has a touch of OCD so you’ll have to forgive her this concern. Also in her defense, she was also responsible for cooking meals for her family at a very young age and didn't want me to have that same level of responsibility.

I waited for a Saturday when she was out shopping, leaving my father in charge (which meant he was getting drunk in the garage while “fixing” a car and afforded me a lot of freedom). I called my grandmother for her pie recipe. Grandma and Grandpa had 12 1/2 acres that included gravenstein trees, blackberry bushes and walnut trees—and my Grandma was the best cook I knew. A parent during the Great Depression, my grandmother was the original innovative cook. She discovered through necessity, how to incorporate foods easily available to her—so began her blackberry-apple pie. When I called her, she didn’t ask any questions—she knew I was ready to cook, and as grandma, wasn’t concern about the details.

By the time my mom returned home from shopping, there were two bruised apple pies cooling on the counter. The smells of the kitchen were so inviting and the smile on my face was so broad that she noted, but instantly dismissed the fact that she would spend an hour cleaning the flour and apple juice from me and her kitchen.

I was now allowed to cook under direct supervision.

CHEF’S NOTES
If you are vegan or dairy intolerant substitute rice milk for the milk in the pie crust.

Gravenstein apples are in my opinion the best apples in the world. They are the perfect balance of sweet and tangy, and the flesh is firm, but not too tough. I love them for sauce, pie and just for eating. The closest substitute is granny smith.

My grandmother’s recipe included 2 tablespoons of tapioca to help the filling gel and keep from soaking the bottom crust, which she didn’t bake and cool before adding the filling as I do, so if you want to skip a step and save some time, add tapioca.

DIETER’S INFORMATION
As far as desserts go, this one is definitely low fat.