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This post appears in the Face Time in the Kitchen challenge.

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It’s funny how over the years how much your taste for food can change, my son once told me that his science teacher told him that his taste buds change every 7 years. Of course this was when I was trying to get him to eat salad to which he had never had a problem eating it before. You’ve heard me say many times that my kids are very picky eaters. I have found however, that getting my kids in the kitchen and getting them involved in cooking their own food has made a big difference. I started them out young and let them help me with some simple baking recipes first. #outofthekitchen

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As they grew older we started working on recipes with more ingredients where they had to learn to measure and pour. While we still love our comfort food, we have slowly made simple changes to be a little bit healthier. I thought this was going to be a challenge, but since my kids have been helping me in the kitchen, we’ve been able to have deeper conversations about where our food comes from and how using fresher ingredients are better. If you could have only seen their faces when we talked about GMO’s, high fructose corn syrup and preservatives. You see, the things we teach our kids now will hopefully leave a lasting impression on them and stick with them when they grow up and have their own families. I often wonder what kinds of conversations all of these famous chefs had with their moms and dads in the kitchen. Did these conversations inspire them to become chef’s? Was it the memories of cooking in the kitchen with their parents that prompted their love for cooking for others? Face to face interaction is so important for the mind, body and soul. I can’t think of better way of enjoying company with your family, kids or friends then when you surround yourself with food.

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William Sonoma Apple Pie

Ingredients

  • For the dough:
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. granulated sugar
  • 16 Tbs. (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch dice
  • 3 to 4 Tbs. ice water
  • For the filling:
  • 2 lb. Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into slices 1/4 inch
  • thick
  • 2 lb. Pink Lady apples, peeled, cored and cut into slices 1/4 inch thick
  • 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
  • 4 tsp. cornstarch
  • 1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
  • 2 Tbs. cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 1 egg white, beaten with 1 tsp. water
  • 2 tsp. granulated sugar

Instructions

  1. Directions:
  2. To make the dough, in a food processor, pulse the flour, salt, and granulated sugar together until combined, about 5 pulses. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 pulses. Add 3 Tbs. of the ice water and pulse 2 or 3 times. The dough should hold together when squeezed with your fingers but should not be sticky. If it is crumbly, add more water 1 tsp. at a time, pulsing twice after each addition. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, divide in half and shape each half into a disk. Wrap the disks separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.
  3. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out half of the dough into a 12-inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Fold the dough in half and then into quarters and transfer it to a 9-inch deep-dish pie dish. Unfold and gently press the dough into the bottom and sides of the dish. Trim the edges flush with the rim of the dish. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  4. On a large sheet of lightly floured parchment paper, roll out the remaining dough disk into a 12-inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Using leaf pie cutters, make rows of cutouts in the dough, spacing them 1/2 inch apart and leaving a 1-inch border along the edges, to create a lattice appearance. Reserve the cutouts for decorating. Reroll the dough scraps to make more cutouts. Refrigerate the lattice top and cutouts for 30 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile, make the filling: In a large Dutch oven, stir together the apples, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and cornstarch. Set over medium heat, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are just tender but not mushy, about 20 minutes. Uncover and cook until the liquid has thickened and become glossy, 5 to 7 minutes more. Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice and let cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
  6. Position a rack in the lower third of an oven, place a baking sheet on the rack and preheat the oven to 400°F.
  7. Let the pie shell, lattice top and leaf cutouts stand at room temperature for 5 minutes. Transfer the apple filling to the pie shell, scatter the butter pieces on top, and gently invert the lattice top over the pie. Trim the edges flush with the rim of the dish and press the top and bottom crusts together to seal. Brush the underside of the leaf cutouts with egg wash and gently press them onto the edges of the piecrust, overlapping the leaves slightly. Decorate as desired with the remaining leaves. Brush the entire top crust with egg wash and sprinkle with the granulated sugar.
  8. Place the pie dish on the preheated baking sheet. Bake until the crust is crisp and golden brown, about 1 hour, covering the edges with aluminum foil if they become too dark. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and let cool for at least 1 1/2 hours before serving. Serves 8.
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Want to know how to build a successful restaurant? Check out BonAppetit.com’s “Out of the Kitchen”, a glimpse into the inner workings of two successful restaurants. Meet the back of the house inner circle and see how face-to-face relationships keep customers coming back for more.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Bon Appetit. The opinions and text are all mine.

The post Conversations in the Kitchen #outofthekitchen appeared first on My Royal Kitchen.

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Consumer Queen, Melissa Garcia

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Melissa's passion to help consumers save money & enjoy life to the fullest landed her a full time career and now her blog is her family's only income. She has been featured on The Today Show, Oprah Radio Network, Wall Street Journal, ABC.com & more.