Shania Twain's Apple Pie

If you haven’t made Shania Twain’s Canadian Bannocks, rush right out to the kitchen and whip up a batch. They are perfect for these crisp fall mornings.

Perfect for crisp fall evenings is Shania Twain’s Country Apple Pie. The Country Music Star’s addition to this classic fall treat is raisins. Perhaps that comes from her Canadian heritage? Her crust is a little different to with lemon juice, butter and egg yolk which makes for a rich, yellow crust.

Tune her “From This Moment On” on the CD player and crank out this luscious pie. When your man comes through the door, he’ll sing, “Honey, I’m Home” and dig into this pie. You’ll be singing, “Man, I Feel Like A Woman” after the kiss that this great pie will bring.

Shania Twain’s Country Apple Pie:

¾ cup light brown sugar
½ cup flour
¼ cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon salt
8 apples
1/3 cup raisins
Juice of one lemon
2 tablespoons melted butter

Shania says that the best apples for this pie as Granny Smiths. Peel, core with apple corer, and cut apples into wedges.

Make your favorite double pie crust, or try Shania’s version below, and place into a large pie pan.

Juice the lemon with a juicer. In a large mixing bowl, mix the brown sugar, flour, white sugar, spices and salt. In another mixing bowl, mix the apples, the lemon juice, butter and raisins. Add brown sugar mixture to the apples and lightly toss.

Spoon the apples into the crust and chill for 15 minutes. Roll out the top crust and place on pie. Use remaining dough to cut out decorations for the top of the crust. Beat one small egg with a tablespoon of water and brush over the top of the pie. Add decorations (like little apples or leaves) cut from the remaining dough and brush again. Sprinkle top with white sugar.

Bake in a 375 degree over for about 50 to 60 minutes until the crust is golden. Cool on a wire cooling rack. Serve hot or cold. Serves 10.

Shania’s Double Pie Crust:

1 ½ cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
Grated zest of a lemon
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold butter
2 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening
1 egg yolk
3-4 tablespoons ice water

Mix flour, zest, salt, sugar in a mixing bowl. With pastry blender, cut in the butter and shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix ice water and egg yolk and stir into flour one tablespoon at a time until dough just starts to form. Divide dough in half, and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, or up to 2 days.

Shania Twain's Canadian Bannocks

To be truthful, Max, I have never heard of Carolyn Dawn Johnson, but if her music is a good as her Carolyn Dawn’s Chicken Asparagus Casserole, this gal is a winner.

A Country Music Star that even I have heard of is Shania Twain, and my son sent me a couple of her recipes. He tells me that she is from somewhere in northern Canada and spent some time as a cook in a tree planting camp. There she fried her Bannocks like a pancake over an open fire. Since Bannocks are in the same family as Baking Powder Biscuits, it is no surprise that Shania says that she used to eat these for breakfast with butter and raspberry jam. Actually they are good with any kind of jam or jelly.

Shania Twain’s Canadian Bannocks:

2 cups flour
¼ cup nonfat dry milk powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 teaspoon salt
½ cup raisins (omit if you are serving bannocks as a bread)
1 cup water
1 tablespoon oil or melted butter
1 tablespoons melted butter, optional
1 to 3 tablespoons of sugar if you like sweet breadMaple syrup

Stir the flour, milk, baking powder and salt together in a mixing bowl. Stir in the raisins if using. Add the water, oil or melted butter and stir until the dough clings together--like biscuit dough.

Spread the dough in an 8 x 8 x 2 inch baking pan. Brush with the second 1 tablespoon of melted butter. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes or until golden. Serve with maple syrup, or blackberry jam, or cinnamon sugar, or any kind of sweet preserve.

Serves 6.

I think that Bannocks are an Irish or Scotch invention, aren’t they?

Fried Green Apples

Yesterday, as I was thinking about how to incorporate all the fresh garden vegetables, and blackberries, into menus I realized that one fruit that was missing out of the mix was green apples. Thanks that to that late April freeze, we have hardly a dozen apples on any of our trees. Usually by now the trees are having their first drop of excess hard little green apples. As a kid it took only one encounter with a sour green apple to learn that they were unedible, and good for nothing but throwing at friends. But they do make delicious Fried Green Apples.

This treat must have developed back when you only ate what you grew so nothing could go to waste. A mess of Fried Green Apples could be made by the least skilled cook on an open hearth. All you needed was a heavy iron skillet over some coals, apples, and some sort of sweetener. I suppose pioneers used honey or molasses and ate them tarter than we do. Green apples for most farm families were the first fruits of the season, and what a treat it must have been to have some fresh fruit.

Unless you have your own apple trees, nobody fixes the Fried Green Apples anymore. I know Max, that you have some apple trees so you can try this heirloom recipe. If using the green apples, you will probably need to add a bit of water and cook longer on a lower temperature. Ripe apples cook up in as little as 10 to 15 minutes.

Southern Country Fried Apples:

6 apples
3 tablespoons fresh bacon fat, or butter
1/3 cup sugar

Peel, core, and slice the apples. (We sometimes did not even peel them.)

Heat the bacon fat, or butter, is a hot heavy skillet with lid. When the fat sizzles, add the apples. Cover and cook quickly. Cook until the apple slices are soft and there is still some juice in the pan. Time depends on age and type of apples.

Take off the lid and sprinkle the sugar over the apples. Stir and cook, uncovered, until the liquid is absorbed. Apples should begin to brown.

Serves 6

In the past, Fried Apples were served with the main part of the meal, just like a vegetable. My family prefers them as a dessert with biscuits or cornbread. The leftovers reheat well for supper or breakfast.

Some cooks gussey this up with cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, but then you have Apple Sauce or Apple Butter.