One of my friends has the tradition of spending the day before Thanksgiving in the nearest major city, visiting museums and shopping because it is not crowded.
Thinking this is a great idea, I decided at Thanksgiving to give the whole frozen apple pie thing a try. I've heard for years that you can make pies ahead and freeze them.
So in 2008, I made 2 apple pies.....one for our celebration, and one for the freezer.
Now, several months (including a power failure) later, I decided it was time to cook that pie!
It was wrapped in 2 layers of plastic and then 2 layers of foil.
I just needed to cut slits in the crust, brush with egg white, sprinkle with sugar and pop it into the oven.
At some point, I found that America's Test Kitchen recommends cooking a frozen apple pie without thawing, and lengthening the cooking time by 5-10 minutes.
It looks good. It did bubble over very early in the cooking process which is a little unusual.
When I cut it open, it's pretty watery inside. Too watery.
Unfortunately, although the top crust is delicious, the bottom crust is too soggy and the apples are somewhat unevenly cooked.
Frozen apple pie failure! (But, at least in cooking, we can often eat our mistakes!)
This pie recipe, which I originally found at America's Test Kitchen, is usually outstanding.
I'll have to figure out some other way to remain Thanksgiving Pie Goddess, while spending the day before in Boston!!
(And I definitely don't mean to constantly bleg, but if you have ideas about making this work, I want to hear them!!)
7 comments:
I mix the apples with spices and freeze in ziplock for future use. I usually make an extra pie crust when making pies for the holidays. That way when everyone feels like pie it only takes time to defrost the crust and assembly.
Hi there,
I am a mad keen apple pie fan, I really like to use a mixture of apple varieties, 3 at least. I make my filling and put it in the platic lined pie pan that I'm going to use, shape it and freeze it; when frozen I take the pan away and wrap the filling in foil, back into the freezer. When I'm ready for pie I make my pastry, put it in my glass pan and add an extra bit of flour to the bottom crust to absorb any extra juices then pop the frozen filling into the pan, and bake as usual adding a few extra minutes. Works every time for me. I also make my crust in bulk and freeze it pie amounts. Thaw, pop in the filling and bake.
I am a freezer of things but I have to admit that I have never tried freezing a pie.
I like the others suggestions! We do have a lot of apples in the fall and making pie filling in a large batch sounds like a fine idea!
LOL, well I'm no help, I just get up extra early on turkey day and do the pies before the turkey.
We love pear pies and there are a large variety available in Southern Oregon at Thanksgiving time.
Interesting post! I usually make my Thanksgiving pies (one apple and one pumpkin the day before.) I always freeze my leftover pie crust dough, but never tried freezing a whole pie. I love all the suggestions. One day I will give this a try.
BTW, you mentioned snow in your comment. We got snow yesterday too! Our first for this winter. I'm counting on at least a few chilly days to wear my sweater! (No next knitting project in mind yet.)
The idea to freeze the filling and then the crust separately makes sense. I'm sometimes plagued by crust failure - where I can't get it to roll out and the more you try the more you ruin it. So the idea of freezing the entire pie appeals to me - except that it didn't work!
Do I sound like a bitter, bitter woman when I say I can't believe it's anyone's first snow of the winter? Let's just say, I hope the 7+ inches and still snowing are the LAST snow of the winter for us!! (I know....I live in NH....what do I expect??)
Sue
I've never frozen an unbaked pie and sure do appreciate all the suggestions. The only pie I've made with my own frozen fruit was rhubarb and when thawed was very watery.
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