Morris House Apple Pie

by Sheila Connolly

Mixed Apple Pie with Hazelnut Crumb Crust and Maple Cream
Sometimes things just come together when you need them.

My very own apples--but this is from only
one tree!

My apples are ripening at an alarming rate, and even after sharing with the hungry squirrels I have an awful lot of them. Of course I welcome new apple recipes, but I don’t expect them to drop into my lap. Well, this one did.

This arrived in an email from Morris House, the small hotel in Philadelphia where I’ve stayed multiple times (it’s delightful, and less expensive than the nearby big chains). The last time there I ate at the restaurant (which appears in one of my Museum Mysteries), and I shared my version of the entrée recipe here on MLK (Scallops with Ginger-Soy Aioli in May 2015). They have a great chef!

The email included a detailed recipe for (drum roll) Apple Pie. Not just any apple pie, but one that called for a hazelnut crust you don’t have to roll (I’ve whined here before about my issues with pie crusts), and a crumbled topping, and best yet, it uses “mixed apples.” Boy, do I have mixed apples!

Apples come in many varieties, with different properties. Some are good for eating, others not so good to eat but great for pies. Some should go straight to cider—you wouldn’t want to eat them. If you mix up your varieties, you benefit from the best properties of all the kinds in the pie, both for flavor and for texture.

All right, I’ll get off my apple soapbox and show you how to make this delightful apple pie from Morris House in Philadelphia.


Mixed Apple Pie with Hazelnut Crumb Crust and Maple Cream
The Crust

1 cup old-fashioned oats

1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup toasted hazelnuts, finely chopped
1/2 cup butter, melted

Combine the oats and next 5 ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Drizzle butter over top and mix well. Press mixture firmly and evenly into the bottom and sides of a 9- or 10-inch greased pie plate to form a thick crust.

The Filling

6 cups mixed apples, peeled, cored, 

Peeled with my antique peeler!

and cut into 1/4-inch slices

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus 1/2 teaspoon zest
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
3 tablespoons flour

Preheat oven to 375° F.

A note on the apples you choose: taste them! If they seem kind of tart, you can add sugar to the recipe at this point, but remember there will be a sugary crust.

Place the sliced apples in a large bowl and drizzle with lemon juice and maple syrup; mix well. In a small bowl, combine lemon zest, cinnamon, allspice, and 3 tablespoons flour. Sprinkle the mixture over the apples and toss to coat. Evenly distribute filling into unbaked crust, taking care to layer the apples. (This will ensure your pie doesn't fall apart when you cut into it.)

Yes, there's a pink apple in there

The Topping

1/2 cup brown sugar
5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3/4 cup flour

For the topping, combine the flour, brown sugar, and butter in a medium bowl. Using a pastry cutter or your fingertips, rub in the butter until pea-sized clumps form. Sprinkle topping over filling and pat neatly into place.

Ready to bake

Bake the pie for 45 to 60 minutes, or until the apples are soft and the crust is browned on the edges. If the top seems to be browning too quickly while baking, loosely cover with aluminum foil. Remove pie from oven and allow to sit for at least 2 hours (this makes it a whole lot easier to slice!).

Tangy Maple Cream

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, chilled
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon maple extract OR maple syrup

While the pie is baking, chill a medium-sized glass or stainless steel bowl in the freezer.

Pour the cream into the chilled bowl and beat with a whisk or hand mixer until stiff peaks form. Beat in yogurt and maple extract or syrup until just combined. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge until ready to serve.

Another note: this topping is not sweetened, except for that dash of maple syrup. If you like things sweet, add a bit of sugar after you’ve whipped the cream.
Once the pie has cooled, cut it into slices and top with a dollop of Maple Cream before serving. Serves 6 to 8.

I have to add: this pie smelled wonderful while it baked, throughout my entire house. There really is something different about apples used the same day you pick them!

Eleven days until A Gala Event comes out!

I can't believe it took nine books for Meg and Seth to figure out they were meant for each other. Of course, nothing went smoothly in planning the wedding, and then there was this crime to solve...and some wandering alpacas to watch out for. Life in Granford is full of surprises.

You can pre-order it at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

www.sheilaconnolly.com

Scallops with Ginger-Soy Aioli

by Sheila Connolly

You know you’re a foodie when the first thing you do when visiting the country’s great cities is find a market.

I just came back from a conference/research trip (the MWA Edgar Awards, Malice Domestic, and an upper-crust party in Philadelphia) that took twelve days and covered multiple states. I’m not complaining (except for the humongous suitcase that I came to hate and would gladly have tossed under a train), although I think I left my brain somewhere along the way. But worth it!

Grand Central Market

The first stop was New York, where the conference hotel sat literally atop Grand Central Station. While I had taken trains in and out of there in the past, I never realized there were other parts of the station I knew nothing about. Thanks to a friend who dragged me off to lunch, I discovered the Market and the Food Court. Oh joy.

I ended in Philadelphia, where I used to work. The first thing I did (after checking into my hotel and getting rid of that suitcase) was to head straight to the Reading Terminal Market and eat a cheese steak at the Down Home Diner. The market has been around for well over a century and has an amazing array of foods. I try to stop in every time I’m in town to buy mushrooms (did I mention that Pennsylvania is the mushroom capital of the world?) that I can’t get anywhere else. Chanterelles (you don’t want to know how much they cost), hen of the woods, beech mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, trumpet mushrooms—I snagged them all, and this week my husband and I are eating a lot of mushroom recipes (starting with a lovely risotto…).

Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market

Mushrooms--yes, I bought them all

But the recipe I wanted to share came from my hotel in Philadelphia, Morris House. A colleague alerted me to its existence a few years ago. It’s a tiny place (15 rooms) in an 18^th century house in center city, close to all the historic monuments I want to visit. It has been lovingly restored, and each room is different. Where else can you find a real fire burning in the fireplace in the breakfast room?

It also has a restaurant called M. In last year’s book in the Museum Mysteries series, Razing the Dead, I set a romantic scene there, between my protagonist Nell Pratt and her FBI whatever-he-is James Morrison. Nell is sure he’s trying to break off their relationship (she was wrong). For details you’ll have to read Razing the Dead and the forthcoming Privy to the Dead.

I ate at the restaurant in honor of Nell and James. In the kitchen the woman chef called out orders to the kitchen staff, and I was reminded of Gordon Ramsay. I like to know how things work, including kitchens. Gordon came to mind again when I ordered the scallops (if the show Hell’s Kitchen is any indication, Gordon doesn’t think anyone in the world can cook scallops right).

I’m getting to the food, really. After all this, I’m giving you a quick and simple recipe.

Scallops with Ginger-Soy Aioli

I wish I could tell you that I went to the kitchen and demanded this recipe after the first bite, but I managed to restrain myself.

1/2 cup mayonnaise (if you’re a purist you can make your own—I used Hellman’s)

3 Tblsp soy sauce

1 Tblsp coarsely grated fresh ginger

1 Tblsp fresh chives, diced finely

Juice of half a small lemon

Simple, isn’t it? Just mix them together and you’re good to go. One piece of advice: taste as you add the ingredients. The amounts are suggestions, and you can tweak them as you like. You could also add garlic (with restraint!), or cayenne (just a dash) or horseradish (a pinch).

The aioli--looks so innocent, doesn't it?

Sauté your scallops briefly in butter, with the aioli on the side for dunking. Serve immediately with salad greens lightly tossed with vinaigrette. I found that the scallops are the perfect complement to the aioli, because their sweetness cuts the tartness just a bit. But you can use any white fish. Heck, use the stuff as a marinade for chicken—it’s that good.

Look, Gordon--I can cook scallops!

BTW, for a cheese course I ordered unpasteurized sheep cheese (which the menu described as “musty”), which came paired with a dollop of butterscotch sauce. I know, it sounds crazy—but the combination worked. That invisible chef has a wonderful sense for flavors.

Privy to the Dead (Museum Mystery #6), coming June 2nd!

Nell Pratt, president of the Pennsylvania Antiquarian Society, has something to smile about thanks to a generous donation from a major Philadelphia developer who’s willing to help update their museum. But renovations have barely begun when a man is struck by a car in front of the building and killed.

The victim is a construction worker who found a curious metal object while excavating an old privy in the museum’s basement. Nell thinks the death is somehow connected to the Society, and her suspicions are confirmed when an antiques expert reveals a link between the objects from the cellar and a fellow staff member’s family.


Now Nell must unearth a mystery with ties to the past and the present. Because when someone is willing to kill over scrap metal, there’s no telling what they’ll do next…

Available now for pre-order from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.