Grandma's Dutch Apple Torte
 
Fast, never fail, delicious family “standard!”  The crust is like shortbread.  This is the recipe of Cape Cod-er, Barbara Soller, grandma of Champlain Orchard’s owner, Bill Suhr.  Versatile recipe with other fruits, too.

1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
nutmeg, several shakes
2 tablespoons sugar
1½ tablespoons butter
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
milk, about 2 tablespoons
apples – 8-10, enough to mound into 9-inch pie pan
sugar to taste (about ¼ cup)
cinnamon to taste (3 or 4 good shakes)

Preheat oven to 425F.  Mix flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and sugar.  Cut in butter with pastry blender.  Mix and add the egg, vanilla, and milk.  With floured hands, press dough into lightly buttered pie plate.  Toss apples with cinnamon and sugar.  Mound apples into crust.  Sprinkle apples and edges of crust with sugar.  Dot with butter, bake for 25 minutes until bottom is golden brown.  Cover if top browns too quickly.  Cool slightly.  Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Variations:

• If making a 10-inch torte, double the crust recipe.
• Add ground or chopped nuts to dough for added crunch – nice with almonds; substitute almond extract for vanilla.
• Vary seasoning on apples to include choice of cardamom, ginger, lemon zest, other baking spices.
• For Thanksgiving, add cranberries to apple filling.
• If using peaches or plums or blueberries, add about a tablespoon of flour or cornstarch to fruit, and also mix some flour and sugar and spread mixture on top of crust before filling the pie with fruit.  If making blueberry torte, when it is removed from oven, immediately sprinkle small handful of large perfect berries on top of hot pie.

Back to Recipes