Today I’m going to show you how Granny makes Fried Apple Pies. I bet most of you have already noticed the pie in the picture isn’t fried. If you did you’re smarter than I am. It took me 20 years to figure that out. Well not really. I always knew they weren’t fried, but Granny and all the rest of us call them fried pies. Sometime after I was grown, probably the first time I made them myself I realized we called them fried pies even though they’re not.
First Granny opens a jar of applesauce along with sugar to taste she warms it through on the stove.
While the applesauce warms Granny preheats the oven to 450 degrees and makes the dough.
Granny sifts 2 cups of plain (all purpose) flour and 1 teaspoon of salt into a mixing bowl. Granny says “don’t forget the salt or the pies won’t be any good.”
Next add 2/3 cups of shortening to the flour/salt mix.
Mix the shortening into the flour a pastry cutter works good, but Granny just uses her fingers.
Once the shortening is mixed thoroughly with the flour Granny said to add 5 to 6 tablespoons of cold water or more if you need it.
After the flour has come together in a stiff dough Granny divides it into 6 lumps.
Granny said “everybody has their own way of doing this part and this is how I do it.” She rolls each lump out to about the size of a salad plate.
As Granny rolls each lump out she piles them in a plate with flour between each to prevent them from sticking.
When Granny is through rolling out the dough she puts the excess flour back into the canister “so it don’t waste.”
On a greased bread pan, Granny puts a large spoonful of applesauce in the center of each round, folds it over, and crimps the edges shut with her fingers. She takes a fork and pokes holes in the top of each pie to let the steam escape and then bakes the pies at 450 for about 20 minutes or till light brown. (if you want them a deeper golden brown Granny says to brush the tops with melted butter before you bake them)
So there you have it Granny’s Fried-I mean Baked Apple Pies. They are delicious piping hot straight from the oven, but they’re good the next day with a glass of cold milk too.
I asked Granny why she baked the pies instead of frying I thought maybe her mother did it that way too. Granny said somewhere along the way she started baking them cause she was never pleased with how her fried ones turned out.
Have you ever seen anyone else who bakes them?
Tipper
My Grandma actually made fried apple pies in a skillet on top of the stove. Fried in lard.
My great aunt used to make some similar this with a very thin crust and cooked them on top of the stove with very little grease and they were called fried, but not deep fried and were flatter. I have tried many times to recreate them to no avail. I so wish I would have paid more attention growing up than I did. I am going to try your granny’s recipe. Thank you so much for sharing.
My Grandma Casey made fried fried peach pies. Originally they were made with dried peaches, but later she made a filling using fresh peaches that were cooked down until they looked and tasted like the dried ones. She did “fry” hers on top of the stove, in a huge cast iron skillet in a small amount of lard. Here is the recipe for her peach mixture. She would make it up and freeze in quart containers.
Grandma Casey’s Dried Peach Pie Filling
“My Grandma Casey was an old timey Ozark farm wife. She had little formal education, but she knew about making do with next to nothing. She also knew her way around the kitchen. Like most poor farm women of her era, she knew all about preserving foods. She still dried apples apples in my time, but most of her foods were either canned in jars or frozen. I loved her fruit butters and canned peaches. We still enjoyed a lot of old time stuff, but she also had no trouble adapting to new ways of preserving them. She no longer dried peaches, that I remember, but we all loved the old time fried dried peach pies. Instead of cooking dried peaches, she would prepare this from fresh peaches and either can or freeze it for fried pies. Good stuff, too. She added no spices to it, so if you want to add cinnamon or a pinch of cloves, go right ahead.
1 gallon sliced over ripe peaches with peel
1 cup cider vinegar
4 cups sugar
Mix together and allow to sit overnight. Then simmer until cooked down very thick. Either use at once or freeze or can. Good stuff!
If you want spices, I would say 2 tsp high quality cinnamon, if you like cloves, add about 1/4 tsp or less. Cloves can easily overpower foods if you aren’t careful. “
My husband would love one of these fried, I mean baked, apple pies with his coffee but I’ll just show him the pictures.
such a good tutorial can’t wait to try it!
vickie
Tipper I have been out of town but read your back posts. I have never made fried pies but like to eat them. Now reading your recipe, I’ll try to bake or fry some. You know I am from France – we did not have fried pies when I grew up, but we had some apple tarts then also some fried apple tarts. I have lived a long while in Georgia so I do enjoy southern food.
Yesterday we were at my daughter’s, close to Nashville, and I went into her back yard to find some herbs. Well there were some green tomatoes there. I had eaten some but never tried to fry them myself. I did not know how to cook them but I improvised. She did not have cornmeal in her pantry but some fish-fry flour topping. I used that and some regular flour and added some grits. First I coated the green tomato slices in a mixture of egg and milk, then coated them with my flour mixture, then fried them. Everyone liked them and asked me where I got the recipe – I told them it was a pantry type recipe.
Tipper: I love the fried/baked pie. That is a real treat. I like to put them in a cerial bowl and put milk over the top. It has a great taste that way.
More talent than I’ll ever have. These look delicious!
Rather have them baked, but either way is so good.
There’s that Texasware bowl again. I see it and immediately think of the years and years of meals and delicasies that have been born in and have come out of that bowl.
I had forgotten all these years. When my mom mixed the shortening or lard in the flour she always did it with her pinching fingers. I’ve never seen it done that way since. My wife uses a pastry blender … she’s so prissy.
As I read your recipe story here I saw Mom once again making fried pies for us from applesauce and all of us in the way, over the bowl with our eager eyes wide open and licking our lips in hungry anticipation. Oh, she made such good stuff.
And you make me remember.
I am definitely going to try
the pies Tipper. They look great and I have lots of apple sauce this year : )
I’ve never eaten homemade fried or baked pies.
I’m definitely trying this!!!
Thanks for sharing Granny’s recipe!
Gotta try these. Baked is going to be better for you than fried. And easier too!
Tipper,
That fried ‘baked’ apple pie looks
so good. You just can’t beat the
older generations ways of cooking.
They’ve probably done tried all the other methods so they know what tastes best, I recon. With all these great know-how pictures
and directions, even I can do this. Thanks for showing us how to
make things just taste better. Ken
these look sooooo goood and and you can not know how much it hurts me to look at all these photos. dentist put me on 7 days of soft food only for TMJ to heal, no chewing, only mashed and swallow only. i am on day 3 and suffering. oh how i would love to sink my teeth in one of these
Amazing. The dough recipe is the exact same one I’ve used since my mother gave it to me. I know shortening is not the healthiest thing these days but I still use Crisco and always will. Iced water is the best for flaky crust.
Thanks Tipper, I’ve been looking forward to this! Now I’m in a quandry – guess I’ll just have to try them both ways. Has anyone ever fried a pie made with the pastry dough rather than biscuit dough? Fried or baked, these are bound to be good!
looks delicious, tipper! 🙂
Those pies look so good! On a chilly morning like today that they would make a fine breakfast.
I knew some “fried” pies were baked but I have never done them that way, always fried them in butter.
I’ll have to try Granny’s recipe next time. I’m surprised there is no baking powder in the dough. Live and learn!
You should get Granny to demonstrate her biscuits some time. Everyone I know makes their biscuits a little different from everyone else. I’m always looking for new ideas.
Tipper your grannys pies look so good. The ones I tried to fry didn’t turn out so good. I’m definitely gonna try baking the next time. I bet a scoop of vanilla ice cream would be good with them too!
My mother-in-law used to bake hers and they were oh so yummy!
I may have to make some of those one of these days .. your last picture makes my mouth water.
I loved Grandma’s and Mama’s Apple Pies. Grandma dried all kinds of fruit during the summer — peaches, pears, apples, and canned almost everything!
Thanks for sharing your apple pie memories!
I recently fried some in lard as that is the old fashioned way that I know. I think I got the lard too hot and they browned within minutes and tried to bust loose at the sides…they also turned soggy when they cooled. I think I’ll try Granny’s method next time! Thanks!
Those look yummy! I like that they are baked and am going to try them this weekend. Clontinued Blessings, Tipper.
My husband would love one of these fried, I mean baked, apple pies with his coffee but I’ll just show him the pictures.
such a good tutorial can’t wait to try it!
vickie
My Mother-in-law…made a half-moon pie out of peaches…instead of frying she baked them, then rolled in sugar while warm..but called them “peach fritters”…up until the time I met her and her cooking, I thought all “fritters were fried”.LOL I still think they are really!…
Now what I really want is a “baked fried pie” from grannys and PLEASE SEND IT IN GRANNYS TEXAS WARE BOWL…LOL
Thanks, just kidding Tipper. LOL
Tipper, I grew up just like you. We always had Fried Apple Pies but they werent fried. Honestly , I was married for years before I realized that it was crazy to call them fried. I bake them the same as my Granny . My Mom , 86, calls them fried pies too. Not sure I would like one actually fried after all those years of eating them bakes. They are good. We like them anytime of day. Barbara