Pie and Serendipity

I made apple pie on the fourth of July, which means that we didn't get to actually eat apple pie until the fifth. My recipe is definitely better a day later.



And then, a day after the day after the fourth, I decided it was time to go to Serendipity, an ice creamery not far from our house. I noticed recently that Serendipity will be participating in the Art of Food event coming up this month on the 25th. We'll be out of town then, but we're not out of town now! With the thrill of the possible alive in my mind, I loaded the kids into the car.

Turns out their ice cream is wonderful, homemade, and creative. Star & Dandelion both got sprinkles on their scoops. They had Blow Pop (bubble gum flavored with crushed lollipop in it) and Cookie Monster (a fruity blue ice cream with cookie dough mixed in). Aunt Terra got chocolate peanut butter but passed on the sprinkles. As for me, Ginger caught my eye. Could it be, I thought, could it really be ginger? I asked to try some--I wasn't sure I wanted to commit to a whole scoop. But that one taste was perfect. It had all the complexity of the hot/spicy/sweet root herb that I have come to love in savory dishes. Blended with ice cream, it was nothing short of divine.

I've since learned that a lot of ice cream makers have this flavor. I didn't know, and discovering it for myself was nothing short of serendipity.

A Variation on My Aunt's Apple Pie Recipe:

Filling
3 lbs Granny Smith apples; peeled, cored, sliced
1-1.5 c sugar (depending on tartness of the apples)
1 t cinnamon

Mix all this together. Let it sit for an hour before it goes into the pie crust

Crust
3 c flour
1 t salt
3/4 c canola oil
6 T water

Preheat oven 350˚ F. Mix crust ingredients together until uniformly combined and it forms dough that can be rolled out. Add more flour or water/oil if needed to achieve the right consistency. Divide into two balls and roll out between sheets of wax paper. Transfer the first to the pie pan. (I always bake mine in a rather large round cake pan because I don't own a pie pan, believe it or not). Add the apples & all juices from the cinnamon and sugar. Cover with the second rolled-out half of the crust recipe. Make it pretty if you know how and feel like doing it, though it will taste just as good without embellishment. Place pie onto a cookie sheet and bake ~ 90 minutes (should any juices overflow, the cookie sheet will save you a horrific amount of clean up). If the top begins to brown excessively you can cover it with foil, but I never have had this happen.

Remove from oven, wait a full day, and then . . . at long last . . . enjoy.