Brown Butter Apple Hand Pies at Lightning Pine

I'm glad we had that hot spicy chili Friday night because Saturday morning we woke up to frost,brr it was cold last night-23 degrees F. Autumn has definitely arrived in the Methow Valley and Winter is not far behind. When we woke up Saturday morning the grass and bright yellow Cottonwood leaves had a sparkly coating of frost. We were warm and toasty inside Ruby with the furnace running quietly in the background,hot coffee on the stove and the sun shining through the windows. Another gorgeous day ahead of us on the Methow River.

Jim's out fishing  and I decided to take advantage of the apples that surround us.  I'm going to try to  make Brown Butter Apple Hand Pies in my little convection oven.  I'd like to try them on the Cobb Grill but the weather was starting to look a little iffy and I'm not up for sitting in the rain turning pies !

I spotted these beauties over on WhiteonRice's blog and couldn't wait for the opportunity to make them.  And here we are at a campground surrounded by fresh apples right off the tree.  Nothing like picking your own apples. Instead of farm to table this is campground orchard to table ! I picked some Delicious,Goldens and Macintosh apples and mixed them all up for the Brown Butter Apple Hand Pies.

It's always a challenge to set up my mise en place inside Ruby-my workspace is very limited so I have to be really organized and methodical with my prep work.  Rolling the dough was hysterical on my tiny little counter.  I finally got the bright idea to roll out each individual 4 inch circle instead of trying to roll out a large piece of dough and cut out the 4 inch pieces.

Head over to Todd and Diane's blog for the recipe.  The only thing I changed was the pie dough-I'm happily addicted to Kate McDermott's Pie Dough and it's the only recipe I use these days. If you are interested, Kate does regular pie making classes. Check out my SeattlePastryGirl posting about the class by going here.

Click here for the recipe for Brown Butter Apple Hand Pies

Kate's Pie Crust
for a Double Crust Pie (which is what you need to get a dozen hand pies)

2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached White Flour
8 Tablespoons of leaf lard,cut into various small pieces from pea size to walnut size
8 Tablespoons if Kerrygold Irish butter-unsalted,cut into various small pieces like the leaf lard
1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
6-8 Tablespoons of ice water (this is just an average,depending on humidity you may use more or less)

Combine all ingredients but the ice water in a large bowl.
With clean hands,blend the mixture together until it looks like coarse meal with some lumps in it.  The lumps make flaky pies.
Sprinkle ice water over the mixture and stir lightly with a fork.
Squeeze a handful of dough together. Mix in a bit more water if it doesn't keep together.
Divide the dough in half and make two chubby disks about 5 inches across.
Wrap the disks separately in plastic wrap and chill for about an hour.
Take out one disk and pit on a well floured board.
Sprinkle some flour onto the top of the disk.  Thump the disk with your rolling pin several times.
Turn it over and thump the other side.
Sprinkle more flour onto the top of the crust if needed to keep the pin from sticking and roll the crust out from the center in all directions. Roll the dough out about 1/8 inch thick.  Using a 4 inch ring cut out circles and wrap in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator.
Proceed to the recipe for Brown Butter Apple Hand Pies and start processing your apples.

Make these pies-they are so buttery and nutty tasting from the brown butter being added to them.  Absolutely delicious-this recipe is a definite keeper.  I've given some away to our fellow camper neighbors, Virgil and Tara from Moses Lake and still have a platter full on the counter. Ruby's kitchen smells wonderful and the sun is back out, the storm has passed.  

I'm going to enjoy the view, have another cup of coffee and maybe another hand pie.  While Hailey waits patiently for her master to return.