Renowned Chef Gale Gand Treats MGPL to a Slice of Heaven

Morton Grove Public Library patrons got a special treat this past Saturday as award-winning pastry chef Gale Gand taught them how to make one of her most famous desserts, "Ella's Best Apple Pie Ever."

The recipe is named for her daughter Ella, "who eats this pie for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if I let her," according to Gand.

Program attendees got an inside look at Gand's techniques as she demonstrated the pie making process from mixing the dough to adding the filling and pinching the crust together.

If you missed the presentation, don't despair. Gale has graciously offered up her recipe to the Morton Grove Patch community. Happy baking!

Ella’s Best Apple Pie Ever

Makes one 9-inch pie

To make the crust:
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut up and chilled
8 tablespoons shortening, scored and frozen (See description below)
About ½ cup water
1 ice cube
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

For the filling:
7 large apples (preferably Granny Smith or Honey Crisp), peeled, cored, and cut into wedges
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 ½ tablespoons corn starch
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter

Milk for brushing
Sugar for sprinkling

To make the crust, cut the butter into small cubes and refrigerate. Spread the shortening on a piece of foil about ¼ inch thick and score it with a spatula to make a grid of lines, then freeze it. This will form cubes of shortening, once chilled and hardened. Place an ice cube in a one-cup measure and add enough water to bring it up to ½ cup; then add the vinegar to this and set aside to chill and melt.

In a mixer with a paddle attachment, place the flour, salt, sugar, chilled, cut-up butter and frozen shortening (bend the foil back to cause the shortening to release from the foil) and mix on low ‘till the fat pieces are the size of large peas. Add the ice water/vinegar and turn the mixer on; count to 25, then turn the mixer off. Form the dough into 2 disks and chill overnight or at least 2 hours.

On a floured surface with a rolling pin, roll out one piece of dough and line a 9-inch pie pan with it, gently easing the dough into the corners of the pie pan, leaving the edges overhanging. Chill it while you roll the second piece out, then let it rest on a parchment or wax paper-lined sheet pan, in the fridge (or a cold screen porch or garage-ssshhhhh!) while you make the filling.

For the filling, (do we need to say to “peel, core and cut the apples into wedges” here?) in a large bowl, place all the ingredients except the butter and toss or fold them together to mix. Pour it into the bottom crust, even it out a bit and dot with the butter. Brush the edge of the bottom crust with water and then lay the top crust over the filling. Pinch the two layers together, trim it and crimp as you wish. Brush the top of the crust with milk, sprinkle it with sugar and cut 6 slits in the top for vetting, to help it release its steam without bursting during baking.

Bake at 400 degrees for 60-70 minutes ‘till the top crust is golden brown and a few clear juices are bubbling out of one of or more of the vent slits. Let cool and serve in wedges for dessert (we even like this for breakfast!).

-Gale Gand