Apple Cider Cream Pie w. Cinnamon Whipped Cream
When autumn rolls around, some people (the internet would have you believe only 20-year-old white girls) look forward to pumpkin-flavored everything. While I love their salty, crunchy seeds, pumpkins — even baked into a pie — don’t do much for me.
Instead I am all about apple cider. I love it in any form, freshly pressed, warm and spiced, made into caramels or mixed with booze. When the leaves start to turn, you can bet my fridge is full of cider — it’s as much of a guarantee as death and taxes.
And while I tend to mostly enjoy it straight up and ice cold, I’m more than willing to experiment with it. So when my co-workers decided to have a staff pumpkin carving party yesterday, I had the perfect sweet treat in mind to contribute, this apple cider cream pie.
I have been wanting to make this pie since I first came across the recipe in the Nov. 2011 issue of Food & Wine. The only reason I hadn’t attempted it before is because pie making is not my forte. Unlike my grandmother who can whip up a pie dough so good my mom eats it raw, I am a novice — and a nervous novice at that, which means a lot of second guessing and stressing out.
But for the sake of apple cider, I decided to go for it. Four hours, one new ceramic pie pan and two pie crusts later (it’s a long story, but I had some…issues…this pie should take a normal person 45 minutes plus baking and cooling), I had a wow-worthy dessert.
Apple cider cream pie and a gratuitous shot of my favorite new dish towel.
A heavenly dollop of slightly sweet cinnamon whipped cream.
The custardy center is a combination of reduced apple cider, sugar, eggs and sour cream and it is luscious. Tangy, creamy and rich, it’s the perfect “tastes like fall” pie filling and a nice alternative to the basic apple pie. And the crust actually turned out pretty great — flakey, buttery and tender.
Once it was topped with cinnamon-laced whipped cream, this beauty was almost too pretty to eat.
Almost.
Apple Cider Cream Pie with Cinnamon, Whipped Cream and Cajeta (goat’s milk caramel).
A successful pumpkin carving party — any guess on which one is mine?
Attempts in Domesticity 
I love that you had a staff pumpkin carving party. The results are amazing, but I have no idea which one is yours … hmmm!
Your pie looks so stylishly rustic, really pretty and utterly delicious. I won’t ask what happened to the first 2 pie crusts, but the finished one looks so tempting (and I bet it would taste good raw too 😉 )
I carved the one one the far left — if there’s every an opportunity to carve a kitty cat, I’m all for it. Though I will say those whiskers stressed me out! This pie was equally stressful but it did indeed taste utterly delicious. =) Well worth the trouble in the end.
You Oregonians and your apple cider…
But doesn’t the alcohol cook off!???? {:-(
Well the cider is the non-alcoholic version — fresh, not fermented. But speaking of booze, I think that an apple brandy whipped cream would have been pretty killer on this. Adding booze has never been a bad thing in my experience!
I like your dishtowel! And, really, the pie looks delectable–does it even need the crust? The custard by itself sounds yummy and so much better than pumpkin!
Hmm! This makes me wonder if I could just bake the custard like a creme brulee. A little brunt sugar crust on top and it would probably be amazing. And no crust to torture me. You are brilliant! 😉
I love that burnt sugar crust . . .
oh my. Divine and congrats on the (hard-earned) pie success! I am with you on the whole “easy as pie” thing being not so much. Have never mastered the pie crust. Though I found a recipe that contains buttermilk that went together easily for me. Do you know this book? http://sweetkitchen.regandaley.com/
If you’d like, I’ll send you the recipe.
Oh! I don’t have that book — email me the recipe if you don’t mind. I’ll give it a whirl! =) Yeah normally being in the kitchen is a stress reliever but pie-making is the total opposite for me.
I like pumpkin—though the whole range of pumpkin spice crap would be banned if I was in charge of the world! But, oh my goodness, apple cider is a gift from the gods. And that pie looks incredible!
With pumpkins, I think it’s the smell that gets to me — really pumpkin-y smelling things make me think of cleaning out pumpkin guts prior to carving and that just totally turns me off. This is also my issue with pumpkiny tasting squashes like acorn squash. But yes — apple cider is the best thing ever! I cannot get enough of it this time of year. And the pie was pretty amazing. Totally worth my tears. 😉
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That looks absolutely delicious. Three slices would do for me, thanks,,,
This looks amazing!! A great alternative to the classic apple or pumpkin pie.
Also, the pumpkins look good too 🙂