`Easy as pie” is such a common expression but making a pie from scratch isn’t all that easy.
First you’ve got to make the pastry, which calls for careful measuring, mixing, kneading, chilling, rolling out and cutting. Then you prepare the filling and assemble the pie. Finally you bake it, and cross your fingers that you’ll get picture-perfect wedges when you cut and serve your pie.
Of course, modern convenience foods can make it easier. Some frozen, ready-to-bake pie crusts are fine, though they can’t compare to dough you’ve made yourself.
I love making real pie, but I’ve got to admit I’m often too busy to make it from scratch–and I’m sure that many of you feel the same way. So, rather than taking shortcuts, I would rather find a way to make something quicker from scratch that offers the same basic pleasures of a great pie.
Enter egg roll wrappers, one of my favorite ingredients from Asia. You can buy them packaged and refrigerated in ethnic food stores and many supermarkets. They’re a simple, honest product made, like pasta, from a few ingredients–flour, eggs, water, oil and salt. While I like to use them in the traditional way for Asian appetizers, I also think they make an excellent dessert pastry wrapper when deep-fried or baked, cooking up golden and delicious.
So I use these convenient wrappers as the basis for a dessert featuring fresh, sliced, quickly sauteed apples.
Pick a firm, crisp apple variety that you would use in a pie, one that holds its shape well during cooking. Some of my favorites are Golden Delicious, Northern Spy, Pippin and Rhode Island Greening, though I especially like tart-sweet, juicy Granny Smiths. You can vary the filling from my recipe by using dried cherries or dried cranberries in place of the raisins; adding some chopped toasted walnuts or almonds; including a tiny pinch of grated nutmeg; or, if you like, replacing the lemon juice with a splash of rum or brandy.
Then, just follow the instructions for shaping the pouches, pop them into the oven, and dessert is ready a quarter-hour later. Add a scoop of good vanilla ice cream so you can enjoy the pouches just as you would a great pie, a la mode!
Baked apple pouches
Preparation time: 35 minutes
Cooking time: 17 minutes
Yield: 8 servings
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
2 large Granny Smith apples, about 1 pound, peeled, cored, thinly sliced
1/4 cup each: granulated sugar, golden raisins
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
16 large, square egg-roll wrappers
3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
1 to 2 pints vanilla ice cream, optional
1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut kitchen string into 8 pieces, each about 8 inches long; set aside. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the butter; melt. Carefully pour all but about 3 tablespoons of the butter into a heat-proof bowl; set aside.
2. Return the pan to the heat; add the apples, granulated sugar, raisins, lemon juice and cinnamon. Cook, stirring often, until the apples are tender, about 6 minutes; remove from heat.
3. Place an egg-roll wrapper on a flat surface with one of its corners facing you so it looks like a diamond. Lay another egg-roll skin centered on top of the first with one edge facing you, creating a star shape with the two skins. Place 1/4 cup of the filling in the center of the wrappers; gather the wrappers up around the filling to create a pouch. Tie the pouch closed with a piece of the kitchen string; carefully transfer the pouch to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining ingredients; brush the pouches with the remaining melted butter.
4. Bake until the wrappers are golden brown and crispy, 10-15 minutes. Transfer with a spatula to dessert plates. Carefully snip and remove the string. Sift confectioners’ sugar through a fine-meshed sieve over bundles; add scoops of vanilla ice cream alongside, if desired.
Nutrition information per serving:
307 calories, 34% of calories from fat, 12 g fat, 7 g saturated fat, 30 mg cholesterol, 48 g carbohydrates, 5 g protein, 253 mg sodium, 2 g fiber
