Vinegar Pie
This pie can easily be made by simply using 5 key ingredients Try it with just eggs, white vinegar, all white sugar and butter in the filling if you want to try a more pared down, old fashioned version.
Pastry:
2 cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
½ cup + 2 Tbsp. butter
¼ cup vegetable shortening (for flakier pastry) or just use extra butter
¼ cup ice water or a little more
1 Tbsp. vinegar mixed with the water
Filling:
4 eggs
4 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
1¼ cups white sugar
¼ cup golden yellow or light brown sugar
½ cup butter, melted
1½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
pinch salt
¾ cup raisins (optional)
To prepare the pastry: Using a food processor or a pastry blender cut cold butter into flour and salt until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Small pea sized pieces of butter should still be visible.
Pour cold water over the mixture and work in by tossing with a fork until dough begins to form. Use your hands as little as possible and working the dough as little as possible, form into a ball.
Flatten the dough into a circle about an inch thick, wrap in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to rest for a minimum of 20 minutes.
You can make your dough the previous day but make sure you take it out of the fridge for 10 -20 minutes to warm slightly before rolling out.
Roll the dough into a 12-13" round and place in the bottom of a 9½" pie plate.
Trim and flute the edges as desired.
Chill the pie crust until ready to use or at least 5-20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C/200°C fan, Gas Mark 7) while preparing the filling.
To prepare the pie filling: Whisk together all of the ingredients in the filling, except the raisins, until the sugars are almost completely dissolved.
If using raisins, sprinkle them evenly over the bottom of the prepared pie shell.
Pour the filling mixture slowly and evenly all over the surface of the raisins. If you pour it all in quickly, in one spot, the raisins will all be pushed to the outer edges.
Bake for 25 minutes, then reduce heat to 375°F for another 10-15 minutes or until the top of the pie is evenly browned. The pie should wobble at the centre like jelly before it leaves the oven.
Cool on a wire rack. Can be served at room temperature when it cools or refrigerate until cold.
Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream if you like.
Any leftovers will keep in the fridge for a few days.
Makes 12 servings.
Cook's Notes:
- This recipe can be made with as few as 5 ingredients. The spices, raisins and vanilla extract are completely optional and meant to make a good thing even better. You can even use plain white vinegar if you like. Please feel free to try the recipe without the optional ingredients if you like, for a taste of what is a recipe well over a century old at least.
- The pastry recipe here, is sufficient to give the pie a thicker than usual crust. I find this very helpful when baking pies like this with wet fillings (such as a pecan pie or pumpkin pie) An initial blast of heat at the bottom of the pan as instructed, with the oven rack on second lowest level, ensures that your pie will not get a soggy bottom.
- Be sure the oven is fully preheated and the crust is well chilled, this also helps a lot. Do not take the chilled pie crust out of the fridge until it is time to fill the pie and then get it into the oven as quickly as possible.