Scandinavian Sour Cream Apple Pie (page 2 of 2)

Keywords:	Dessert ¦ Pastry ¦ Vanilla ¦ Apple ¦ My favorite articles
Translations:	Español
Feedback:	44 comments - leave yours!

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This gorgeous, juicy vanilla-flavored apple pie is said to have been winning pie contests in the Midwest for decades. One of the first recipes I ever found on the web!

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I love sour cream and it is the only liquid in this pie.

Fold in cake pan and bake for 40 minutes.

The pie is baked - now we make the topping.

Mix everything to a crumbly texture. Keep in the fridge if you make it in advance.

Cover the pie with the topping. It will melt anyway so don't waste your time trying to make a streusel.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

The topping becomes miraculously crispy with caramelized sugar and the melted butter all over the pie.

If you can't wait and serve the pie straight from the oven, it will look like a very soft crumble. Delicious, but better leave it to cool and firm up for about one hour.

Here is the finished pie. Another success in FXcuisine! I already baked this one 6 times and it's one of my 10 favorites pies.

I would love to be in touch with Mrs Karen Baldwin who published this recipe - let me know if you can find her present details. I fear the worst for she posted heavily on cooking and rose gardening forum between 1994 and 1999, then dropped off the surface of the Internet.

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If you do this recipe at home please let me know how it worked for you by submitting a comment or send me a picture if you can. Thanks!

44 Comments

#1
Comment by John

You missed one step: "Bake in a 9" pie shell for 40 min. at 350 degrees." In
the U.S., pies consist of a flaky pastry "shell," usually about 1/8 "
thick, in which the filling is placed. That's the " 9" pie shell"
referred to in the recipe. The shell lines the inside of a "pie plate",
usually a glass or metal round pan w/ sloping sides (about 30 degree).

#2
Answered by fx

John, thank you so much! The recipe was mind-boggling for a young European cooking enthusiast, and I must have done it differently every single time. Can you imagine I baked the filling without a shell and still turned out a delicious dessert! Here in Europe we don't really have prebaked shells, you can buy ready-made puff pastry dough and line a baking pan. I just assumed 'shell' meant 'baking pan'. But don't let this convince you the recipe is not worth doing. You have the original recipe in its fully glory - by all means try it out. And thanks for the tip - I feel shell-shocked.

#3
Comment by Penny Lane

Heh, that is so cute. I was also reading this recipe and wondering why you decided to do away with the pie shell. But with the extra flour it's more like a cake than a pie anyway. I actually think it sounds better like that.

#4
Comment by Mimi

At least now I understand why you put so much flour in the recipe.When I see bake in a pie shell, that can either mean one purchased from a store, or a batch of pie crust made yourself. If you made a recipe of pate brisée and lined a pie plate with it, it would be perfect.

#5
Answered by fx

Too much flour indeed - a case of a shell lost in translation!

#6
Comment by Marjorie

This sounds wonderful. I'd like to bake it for the upcoming fair. Is there a site where I can print it out without using so much paper for this long recipe plus pics? Thank you!

#7
Comment by sabina

This is a perfect pie for me, since I am the kind of person who discards pie shells and only eats the filling (in most cases). I will try it this weekend!

#8
Answered by fx

To print this recipe in a condensed form just cut and paste the monospace text at the start (from the newsgroups) into Notepad and print it.

Sabina, I agree with you that often the filling is more fulfilling than the shell and you might give up the shell altogether like I did!

#9
Comment by Sarah

This is a great accidental twist on the recipe! Amazing what things can get lost in translation. I always feel that way when I read recipes that call for 'one can of tomatoes' or 'one medium eggplant.' What is medium, what size can? Here in Korea, a medium eggplant is tiny, whereas in Canada, it's huge by comparison!So in the end, how much flour did you end up putting in the filling to make it so cakey?

#10
Comment by agatha

I just tried this recipe last night, I did it with 1 whole cup of flour and it was a HUGE hit. Next time I'll be trying the original version with the pie shell. Thanks for your wonderful site, you have gorgeous photos!

#11
Answered by fx

Thanks for your feedback! Agatha, I am really pleased that the recipe worked for you. A reader sent me the recipe's author email address but she has not replied - maybe she's no longer with us?

#12
Comment by Frances

Hi there, when you say 350 degrees are you referring to Farenheit? Thanks for this delicious recipe.

#13
Comment by Paul Carlisle

Scandinavian sour cream apple pie.I'm a bit puzzled by your approach here. All the recipes I've seen for this are similar, and use a couple of tablespoons of flour - as a thickening agent for the filling. The filling is invariably poured into a prepared pie crust, topped and baked.Your variation - adding a larger amount of flour so that the "crust" is sort of incorporated into the filling itself - is interesting, but I think it is a misinterpretation of the original recipe; when American recipes say "pie shell" they are normally referring to a prepared crust, rolled out and fitted into the pie pan.I'm going to try it your way nonetheless, because it is easier and unusual.

#14
Comment by Paul Carlisle

Oops - never mind. For some reasons, comments weren't showing up until after I posted a comment, and I didn't see that the entire Universe had already mentioned this.

#15
Comment by Jason

Just made this yesterday and it was a huge hit, Thanks!

#16
Answered by fx

Jason I'm glad this recipe from the Dark Ages of the Internet worked for you as it did for me. Did you use the pie shell? I fear the lady who posted this recipe originally might have gone offline for good.

#17
Comment by Jason

fx, I did use a pie shell and this pie would please Eric Cartman (South Park joke). I will try your version in a month or so. What ratio of brown to white sugar did you use? Your brown sugar looks very granular whereas in the US the brown sugar is wet and clumpy. Not to mention your crust is much lighter than mine. I used 50/50.

#18
Answered by fx

Jason, I don't get the Cartman joke (is this a TV serie?). I'm more of a 'Sopranos' person. I'm not sure what ratio I used but the lady recommends a proportion in her recipe - obviously it depends on the sort of brown sugar you use. Here we get all sorts of brown sugars, you can even choose your favorite developing country and get an obituary of the sugar cane. The one you describe sounds like muscovado, very nice sugar of character!

#19
Comment by Jason

My apologies, Cartmanis a character on a silly American adult themed cartoon. Now back to food!

#20
Comment by joseph martorano

Looking for recipe for fisherman wharf apple piepleasethank you

#21
Comment by Johan Van Gompel

fx,

Looks interesting. I'll be sure to try this when the orchard will produce its first batch of fresh apples. My guess is a low amount of flour is used to maximize that creamy apple flavor? Have you tried macerating the apples and folding in a syrup made using the resultant juice? If not, could you try that the next time you make this pie and let us know how it worked out?

Which are your other 9 favorite pies?

I wonder how many other gems are buried in rec.food.recipes? Thanks for sharing this one.

#22
Answered by fx

Johan, this recipe is pretty much perfect and I wouldn´t change much, if you click on dessert just under the title of the article you´ll see a few other of my pet pies!

#23
Comment by Veronica Lopez

Looks great and seems like it tastes amazing but where is the recipe. I only see pics but not a listing of ingredients or instructions. Please help.

FX's answer→ Veronica, the whole recipe is given right after the first picture, in Courier fonts. Have you read the article? Does it not appear properly in your browser? Let me know and good luck with the recipe!

#25
Comment by Marta

I have used a recipe like this one in the past, I wanted to make it for our Holliday, but could not find the copy I had made years ago. The only thing I did differently was to grate the apples, it was more like custard or almost like cheesecake. The bake time might be less because the apple pieces are smaller. I might try it without the pie shell this year.

FX's answer→ Marta, this sounds like a great idea too, grating the apple. I have to try this.

#27
Comment by william o'toole

i made this dessert last night using granny smith apples. i probably used closer to 3.75 cups of apples. i also used 1/3 cup flour as i couldn't decide between a few teaspoons and a cup of flour. so i compromised. i used my springform pan....it was delicious!!! i forgot the cinnamon by the way, and it was still delicious. ii will make this again. probably going to experiment with the flour measurements, using more or less on each try. the interesting thing is that i think the flour helps make a thin crust on the bottom of the pie. oh, and i believe that pears would work with this recipe!!
thanks again for the great recipe...bill

FX's answer→ Glad it worked for you Bill!

#29
Comment by colin

I love this recipie!, i havent made it for a while, the last time i did i didnt have any sour cream so i used half a cup of milk. It was still delicous! it had a sort of custardy texture.

FX's answer→ If you liked it with the milk, you'll love it with the sour cream!

#31
Comment by kookie in london

I made this for family today and thought it was utterly delicious. I used a mixture of granny smith and egremont russet apples and they held their shape very nicely. I used Smitten Kitchen's pie crust which was wonderfully flaky. A fabulous recipe - thanks so much for making it available to us all! I'm off to have the remaining half for dinner....

FX's answer→ Well done Kookie! Next time try to make your own sweet short dough and see the difference it makes, even better!

#33
Comment by Susan

The way you made this recipe sounds more like a less rich version of a clafoutis; less eggs, less milk/cream. It's apple season now and someone on another site raved about this recipe..so I came to have a look! I'm always open to new ways to use apples in baking. I'll give both the orig recipe and your version a try. Both sounds wonderful.

#34
Comment by Kathy

Baked this today, using pie crust I made myself. I did mix the vanilla, egg and sour cream together before adding to the apples. My only problem was the topping. I started with cold butter as directed but the consistency didn't become crumbly, it was more of a solid mass. I added a touch more flour and sugar but by then the butter was probably not cold enough. I used a fork to pull small pieces off of the mass and onto the pie before the final 20 min of cooking. It still came out great, topping and all. I'm really impressed with this after making so many two crust apple pies and liked the strong vanilla taste of the pie.

#35
Comment by Mark

Incroyable!

I've made it 6 times, and each time it's different! The most succesful was the first time! After, I thought I knew the way, the quantities were not the same, and I had different results. They all tasted great, but the cups measuring system did get me a bit confused - thinking it's so simple... So now I'm about to make it for the seventh time, but this time I'm going to go by the book - or by the web page - exactly following your great pics, like the first time, to achieve the best result!
Thanks again for sharing this amazing recipe!

FX's answer→ Mark I am very glad you had fun with this recipe, and indeed precise measurement is essential in getting the proper texture, as is often the case in pastry and confectionery anyway.

#37
Comment by Esperanza

Ayer lo hice, con las medidas que dice la señora, pero además de manzana le puse plátano maduro. Quedó riquísimo. Gracias!

#38
Comment by CJ

I just got a bunch of crème fraiche on sale and had in mind making an apple pie like I had tried in Denmark years ago...so, went searching and found no recipes fitting the bill, then read crème fraiche is almost like sour cream. Low and behold, I found your site and can't wait to try the "scandanavian" recipe. The pics look just like the pie I remember.

#39
Comment by helena

Gracias he pasado unas horas entusiasmada copiando las recetas y planeando las compras para disfrutar estas maravilosas y espectaculares recetas con mi familia. Un caluroso abrazo.

#40
Comment by Jen

Thanks so much for this! It smells wonderful and tastes so good - I could't resist eating a big spoonful while it's still hot. Did reduce the sugar (apple layer) by 20 percent and it's still slightly too sweet.

#41
Comment by Jen

P.S. Loved the crispy caramelised top! I will next try it by subbing sour cream with low-fat quark with 40 percent less sugar and see how it turns out. Thanks again.

#42
Comment by pilar

hace mucho tiempo que navego viendo recetas y la mayor parte son engañosas y no salen bien .Me alucina todas las informaciones que das y teniendo en cuenta que tengo amigas que no dan las recetas (no es mi caso)me encantan tus trucos .Soy de provincias pero me encanta la cocina y valoro el esfuerzo que supone la pagina.Animo.Una galleguiña

#43
Comment by Erica

I'm going to try this without the pie shell, 1/2 cup A.P. spelt flour, sugar substitute (diabetes in the family) in the apples, and quark mixed with sour cream. I guess I'd better try it out before I foist it off on company! It looks great.

#44
Comment by gloria

Hola, muchas gracias, he visto varias recetas de manzana pero necesito una o dos de pays o de tortas con la pulpa, pues de una fabrica de conservas sobro mucha y me dieron y la quiero utilizar, ojala me responda pronto y muchisimas gracias

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