There are many Instagram worthy pies out there. As a beige wonder, this is not one of them. However, the taste makes up for whatever its appearance lacks. This is a pie my mom used to make, and it was a favorite of mine and of my cousins’. However, with time and fewer large family Thanksgiving dinners, it was forgotten. By that, I mean my mom forgot about the pie. I kept reminding her it was a perfect Thanksgiving pie, only to get blank looks from her because my mother has made too many pie recipes in her life to remember all of them.

Last year over either Thanksgiving or Christmas, I started going through my mom’s loose recipes: things cut out of magazines or printed on butter boxes. All of those gems that mock the KonMari organization method with their nonstandard sizes and formats. 

And I found the pie.

And a surprise. It turns out my favorite Thanksgiving pie is a product of the fat-phobic nineties. One of its ingredients is something called Land O’Lakes lean cream, which I am guessing is probably some discontinued fat free sour cream, as I recall my mom using sour cream in this recipe. There has been some tweaking, as my first version did not turn out quite right, but there is a picture of the original at the very bottom of this post if you want to see it.

Apple Custard Pie


  You don’t need eagle eyes to see the recipe has an oat crumble trust, while my photo does not. Let’s just say the oat crumble was the best part of my first attempt. 

Ingredients
Butter pie crust (Recipe below. Or use a store bought pie crust. This blog is a no judgment zone.)
3 cups chopped apples
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup sugar
8 oz sour cream
3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons butter, melted
¼ old fashioned oats
¼ cup brown sugar
Directions
Preheat oven to 375. In a medium bowl, mix chopped apples with a tablespoon of cornstarch. In a large bowl, combine sugar, sour cream, egg yolks, cinnamon, lemon juice, and vanilla. Fold in apples.


Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a 12-inch circle. Transfer to a 9-inch pie pan. Tuck the overhang under and crimp the edge with a fork or flute it between your thumb and index finger. Pour the filling into the crust.


In a small bowl, combine melted butter, oats, and brown sugar. Crumble over pie. Add a pie shield to keep the crust from burning.


Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until filling is set. Cool completely before serving.

Butter Pie Crust


  This is for a single crust pie.

Ingredients
¾ cup whole-wheat pastry flour
½ cup all-purpose flour 
½ teaspoon salt 
½ teaspoon sugar
8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes 
3 to 4 tablespoons ice water
Directions
Mix pastry flour, all-purpose flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Mix the butter into the flour mixture, using either your hands or a food processor until your butter cubes are butter flakes. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough is evenly moist (but not wet) and is just starting to clump together. Do not overmix. Pat the dough into a 5-inch disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a 12-inch circle. Transfer to a 9-inch pie pan. Tuck the overhang under and crimp the edge with a fork or flute it between your thumb and index finger. Pour the filling into the crust.