I was also in the mood for exploration, so I tried three new things. First, I wanted to add a bit of tang to the pie since Braeburns are one of the sweeter baking apples, so I tried adding dried cranberries (craisins). I also wanted to add more texture to the filling, so I made some candied walnuts and added those as well. For the final touch, I made my first full-size lattice crust.
The most time consuming part of the entire baking process was making the candied walnuts. In the end, it would have been way easier to just buy candied walnuts, but where would the fun be in that? I used this recipe from AllRecipes.com. I was very grateful to have a candy thermometer handy, since everything I've tried in the past going by "soft ball" stage and the like has been pretty hit or miss. In all reality, the only problem I had was baking the walnuts, which you would think would be the simple part. I'm pretty certain I ended up under-baking them because I was terrified of burning them. I've watched enough cooking shows and heard enough warnings to know that burning nuts is bad business (they smell bad and are entirely unsalvageable). That being said, they still had a "crunch", it was just more of a crunch from the candy coating than the nut itself. In the end, the leftover nuts were an irresistible snack and I'll definitely be giving nuts more attention when the holidays come around.
The pie itself turned out fantastic. The flavors from the apples, craisins, and walnuts was great, and the walnuts really added a nice touch of crunch to the overall smooth texture of the apples. I sent most of this pie to work with Chris, and they all seemed to enjoy it. The lattice crust was pretty easy to make, although next time I'll put a little more forethought into getting everything centered first (moving the pieces was not easy when I misplaced something).
-Beth
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