The Best All-American Apple Pie (with Gruyere Crust)

I am so glad to have my oven back!

I watched a lot of TV shows while my oven was incapacitated, and I happened upon a show called “Pushing Daisies” about a pie-maker (yes!). It’s a cutesy Tim Burton-esque show centered on a pie-maker who can raise the dead and uses his super power to solve mysteries. The premise and plot are totally silly but very cute in every way, and I found the show quite charming (especially with a pie-maker as the protagonist!). But I guess not many people thought so because the show was canceled after 2 short seasons.

Surprisingly, there was very little pie-baking on the show. But there was this one pie that stuck out -- apple pie with gruyere baked right into the crust! What a curious combination. I made a mental note to get to it as soon as my oven was revived. 

Finely grated gruyere, 

whisked straight into the dough.

Apple slices, macerating away.

That first slice!

A la gruyere instead of a la mode.

The Pie Bible recipe called for a cream cheese crust, but I think the gruyere worked quite well too. The savoriness and slightly salty taste complimented the sweet filling quite well, almost like an apple quiche. In fact, we had it for lunch and the three of us ate three fourths of the pie. (I am continually shocked by how much my friends and I eat!)

However, I think the gruyere crust recipe (which I got off the internet) needs a bit of tinkering to get to “perfect.” Oh, Grandmaster Beranbaum, won’t you do that for us? Also, I think I prefer the regular-crust apple pie… because it goes better with ice-cream ;)