Old Fashioned Apple Raisin Pie

For my second all by myself pie attempt, I decided to really go out on a limb and make up my own recipe. While paging through some vintage 1930s to 50s cookbooks, I found several versions of raisin pie. My mom said that they reminded her of mincemeat. Really??? Apple mincemeat is one of my favorite pies!

So I pieced together a few of the recipes, threw in some apples and spices and came up with my own apple raisin pie. And I have to admit that it turned out pretty incredible! I know what I will be making next Thanksgiving…

3/4 cup brown sugar

3 Tablespoons instant clear gel (if you don’t have this, you can try cornstarch in the hot liquid but I can’t promise the results)

grated zest from 1 orange

1/2 cup orange juice

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1 1/4 cup cold water

dash salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1.4 teaspoon cloves

1 cup raisins

1 cup peeled, chopped apples

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 400.

Mix brown sugar, clear gel and orange zest in a small bowl.

Combine water and juices in a medium sized saucepan. Whisk in sugar/clear gel mixture until smooth and thick.

Stir in raisins and apples.

Aren’t these gorgeous raisins?

 

Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly (it will probably already be pretty thick), stirring constantly. Boil for 2 minutes while stirring.

Remove from heat.

Then roll out pie crust and line a 9” pie plate.

Pour hot filling into pie crust. Roll out and place crust on top. Cut vents into the crust.

Cover crust edge with foil (I LOVE the pie shield I bought!!!) and bake for 20 minutes.

Remove foil and bake for another 25 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Serve pie slightly warm or room temperature with a dollop of whipped cream.

If you are keeping your pie more than a day, store the leftovers in the fridge.