Wednesday, Sep 8, 2010 5:01 PM UTC

Seriously good heart-healthy apple pie

Don't laugh! Here are the secrets to a state-fair-winning crust with essentially no saturated fat

By Cathy Elton

more
- All Share Services

Topics: Guest Chef, Baking techniques, Food, Life News

After heart problems forced me to stop eating saturated and trans fats, I thought I would never make or eat pie again (and believe me, I cried myself to sleep over that one). Then I saw a crust recipe in Saveur made with white flour, vegetable oil and whole milk. The old Cathy would have scoffed at this idea, but I had to give it a try – especially considering that a pie with this crust won the Iowa State Fair pie contest!

I gave the recipe a bit of a health makeover by using half whole wheat pastry flour, plus organic canola oil and fat-free milk. The result was shockingly good, and I was a Pie Queen once again. Not a good thing for my waistline, but great for my happiness level.

Don’t be skeptical, you butter lovers. This crust is so tender and flavorful, people will shake their heads in disbelief when you tell them it’s made with oil. My mother-in-law proclaimed it as good as her grandmother’s lard crust, and that’s about the highest compliment I could receive. A few people who commented on the Saveur site had problems with the crust, but I think it’s nearly foolproof if you follow my instructions and these three rules of thumb:

1. Measure everything accurately. A tablespoon means right to the top of the measuring spoon!

2. Measure the flour by spooning it gently into your measuring cup rather than scooping, then level off with a knife.

3. Never refrigerate the dough.

Heart-Healthy Apple Raspberry Pie

Ingredients

Filling

5 cups peeled, thinly sliced apples (about 5 apples)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 1/2 cups fresh raspberries (about 12 ounces)

Crust

2 2/3 cups flour, half all purpose and half whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup organic canola oil or high-oleic safflower oil
6 tablespoons fat-free milk
1 teaspoon milk and 1 teaspoon sugar, for brushing top crust

Directions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Combine the apples, lemon juice, spices, sugar and corn starch in a large bowl, then gently fold in the raspberries.
Whisk the flour and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Pour the oil in a glass measuring cup and add the milk, without stirring. Pour this mixture into the flour and stir briefly, just until combined. Divide the dough in half and form two balls.
Place a 15″ long piece of wax paper on your work surface, putting a few drops of water under the paper to keep it from sliding around. Put one ball on the paper and press it into a 6-inch circle. Top with another piece of wax paper and roll it out with a rolling pin to a 12-inch circle (the edges may extend beyond the top and bottom of the wax paper slightly, but you can loosen it with a knife when you lift the dough.) If your circle is uneven, simply tear off a piece from one part and add it to another – it’s easy to make repairs.
Remove the top sheet and turn the dough over into a 9-inch pie pan, pressing to remove any air pockets. Pour in the filling. Roll out the second disc between fresh wax paper and place it on top of the pie. Fold the top crust under the bottom all the way around, and crimp the edges. Cut some slits in the top, then brush very lightly with milk and sprinkle on a little sugar.
Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 and bake about 45-50 minutes, until the crust is lightly golden and the filling is bubbling. Cool 3 or more hours before serving.

More Cathy Elton.

more
- All Share Services

The week in 10 pics

close X

Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
Credit: AP/LM Otero
Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
Credit: AP/Matt Rourke
A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
Credit: AP/Molly Riley
Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite
Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster
O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid
Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield
When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin
A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin
Recent Slide Shows

28 Comments

RSS Feeds

Get Email Updates

SALON

Seriously good heart-healthy apple pie

Don't laugh! Here are the secrets to a state-fair-winning crust with essentially no saturated fat