4th of July is a tough holiday for bakers. I want to go all-out with a big dessert, but also it’s not a holiday with many established treats. Ice cream always comes to mind, and of course something red, white, and blue. But Bomb Pop can be a somewhat limiting inspiration to go off of. (Of course, I’ve done well with it in the past) You can also go with something simple and small for a party snack. But this year it’s the 250! I wanted something big and fun, but could also easily achieve in my parents’ kitchen (which is a fantastic kitchen, but was in the process of moving, and is lacking only in an ice cream maker). I finally settled on Apple Pie. As in: “As American as Apple Pie!”
I dyed the crumb red, white, and blue, and attempted a flag design. I was pretty proud of how this turned out, appearance-wise. Sometimes I get an idea in my head and then the reality does not match in the slightest. It can be frustrating. But in this case, it actually worked! It looked how I wanted it to look! And it was very festive!
And in case it didn’t turn out as I’d wanted, I also decorated some USA cookies to ensure we would have some guaranteed patriotic dessert. Also, it gave my niece a chance to decorate some very fireworks-inspired cookies of her own (second slide below).
The America 250 felt like a lot of pressure. 250 feels like a big deal! A nice round number to celebrate, the kind your grandkids will ask if you remember when to 300 rolls around. (Or, that you’ll tell your grandkids you remember when they inevitably don’t care.) But also, the lead-up to the 250 had a lot of personal life events that overshadowed it. A half-marathon, Special Olympics volunteering, a family friend’s wedding, then the logistic of my parents move and the nostalgia of it being my family’s last week in their Indianapolis home. The 4th of July was part of the fun, but also a bit on the back-burner.
In history class, I often wondered how people felt during Big Events in History, but then you get a Big Event and you realize… they were probably all just wrapped up in themselves and their own worlds.
That pressure to have a BIG 250 EVENT feels sort of similar to the pressure that moving brings. That sort of “this is the ONLY 250 day! U! S! A! U! S! A! Let’s make it BIG! This is our ONLY CHANCE!” energy matches the “this is our last week in the house – PACK IT ALL IN!” energy that moving brings.
It’s a lesson that I’ve had to learn probably ten times at this point. You’d think I would remember it. But really, how often do you remember the last of something? I don’t remember my last day of high school that well at all. I remember plenty of other random days though. I don’t remember the last day in the house we lived in in elementary school – I do remember the first, and I also have a whole catalogue of memories from four years of living there.
So it’s not like my last day lounging in the sunroom of my parent’s Indianapolis home is going to somehow become the only thing I remember. I’ll remember the pandemic days reading Percy Jackson, the pandemic evenings watching Jeopardy, my 21st birthday, many Christmases, a graduation party with my grandma, my mom’s 60th, visiting for Heartland Film Festival. All the other quiet mornings in the living room and sunroom spent waking up or winding down. Those memories have already proved their staying power. I’m adding a few more memories of the house being stacked with boxes. The sentimentality and panic of all the lasts is a bit of a trick, but one I fall for every time.
And it’s the same with the sentimentality of the 250! It’s not about the Big Moments, it’s about the accumulation of memories over the years. I’ll remember this 4th, for sure. It was at the Indy house, my Dad ordered decorations, and we picked out the fireworks show together. We saw my niece react to her first fireworks and sparklers, and I taught her how to chant “U! S! A!” My family had matching t-shirts, and the big fireworks show tragically got rained out. I’ll remember all that, but I’ll remember all the others too. Because you know what’s more noteworthy than 250? 251.
Print
Print
PinIngredients
Pie Crust
- 1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon1 granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
- 1/4 cup ice water, plus more as needed
Crumb
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (scoop and level)
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Filling
- 10 cups 1/4-inch-thick apple slices (about 8 large peeled and cored apples)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
Make pie crust
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt together. Add the cold cubed butter on top. Using a pastry cutter, food processor, or two forks, cut or pulse the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse meal. You’re looking for pea-sized bits of flour-coated butter. A few larger bits of butter is OK.
- Drizzle the cold water over the surface of the flour mixture, 1 Tablespoon at a time, and stir after each addition. Stop adding water when the dough comes together easily and begins to form large clumps. The dough will feel moist and a little sticky, but not feel overly wet. Do not add any more water than you need to.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Using floured hands, gently bring the dough mixture together into a ball. Avoid overworking the dough. If it feels too dry or is too crumbly to form a ball, dip your fingers in cold water and then continue bringing the dough together. If it feels too sticky, sprinkle on a little more flour and continue bringing it together. Using your hands, gently flatten each half into a 1-inch-thick disc.
- Wrap each disc tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 5 days before using in a pie recipe.
- After refrigerating, roll the crust out into a circle large enough to line your pie tin, and gently place in the tin, covering the sides. Tuck the dough in with your fingers, making sure it is smooth. Place the pie shell in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.
Make the crumb
- Mix dry ingredients together in a small mixing bowl. Pour melted butter over the dry ingredients and mix until evenly moistened. Transfer to refrigerator while you prepare filling.
Make the filling
- In a large bowl, stir the apple slices, sugar, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg together until thoroughly combined.
- Pour the apple filling into a very large skillet or pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring gently, until the apples begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to slightly cool.
- Preheat oven to 400°F while you finish assembling the pie.
- Spoon the filling into the pie crust and spread out evenly. Sprinkle he top evenly with the Dutch crumb.
- Bake the pie on the middle oven rack for 25 minutes. Place a baking sheet on the bottom rack to catch any bubbling-over juices. After 25 minutes, keeping the pie in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 375°F and add an aluminum foil tent over the top to prevent the crumb from browning too much. Continue baking until the pie is golden brown and the filling is bubbling through the lattice, 35–45 more minutes.
- Remove pie from the oven, place on a cooling rack, and cool for at least 3 hours before slicing and serving. Filling will be too juicy if the pie is warm when you slice it.