What’s for dessert? A popular choice in eastern North Carolina…and all across the South…is a fresh batch of fried apple hand pies, also known as applejacks.
Some old timers say the hand pies may have originated during Colonial times in the late 1770s and were once named “crab lanterns,” because the crab apple filling and ventilation slits in the pastry made them resemble lanterns.
Today’s versions of the apple-filled treat typically are shaped like a half-moon or a triangle that can be picked up and eaten with one hand. No utensils required.
Curiously,
fried apple hand pies were popularized by U.S. President Franklin Pierce, who
served one term from 1853-57. Born in Hillsborough, N.H., Pierce was educated
at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.
While
Pierce may have introduced fried clams and “Daniel Webster clam chowder” to the
dinner menu at the White House, he certainly championed the inclusion of fried
apple hand pies on the dessert cart.
Food historians have uncovered the old Pierce family recipe for “New Hampshire Fried Pies,” which called for the use of dried apples. It isn’t very complicated. The recipe can be accessed at foodtimeline.org, under the U.S. presidents’ favorite foods section.
Editors said: “This regional specialty was as much a favorite with the Pierce family as New Hampshire’s ubiquitous maple syrup....”
More recently, in search of the perfect applejack in North Carolina, Our State magazine dispatched Emma Laperruque, a food writer and recipe developer at Food 52 in New York City, to swing by the Wayne (County) Regional Agricultural Fair in Dudley, N.C.
Her assignment was to sample the applejacks prepared by the members of Faith Free Will Baptist Church in nearby Goldsboro, one of the local fair vendors.
The church’s pie filling recipe also calls for dried apple slices and includes unfiltered apple cider and a dash of apple pie spice blend. The pie crusts are folded over to form a half moon and are crimped at the edges with fork tines.
Next,
melt enough lard over medium-high heat to cover the bottom of a large, heavy
skillet. Add 3 or 4 pies to the skillet. Do not crowd the pies. Cook until deep
golden, flip and cook the other side (2 to 3 minutes per side). Adjust the heat
as needed while frying the pies to keep the fat at the correct temperature. Remove
and sprinkle the tops liberally with sugar while still hot. Serve warm.
There
are scores of variations that have been developed for fried apple hand
pies/applejacks over time. Anna Theoktisto, who is a recipe tester for Southern
Living magazine, adds whole buttermilk to the dough. For the filling, she uses
fresh Honeycrisp apples, light brown sugar, cornstarch and fresh cinnamon. For
frying, she prefers Canola oil.
The result? “Tender crust, tart apples and a sugary-crisp coating – these are pockets of yum!” Theoktisto exclaimed.
Lynn
Wells of Greensboro, N.C. (shown below), owner of Thyme Well Spent Personal Chef Service,
said she prefers using Granny Smith apples and includes 2 tablespoons lemon
juice in the filling.
Closer
to home, a recipe for “Mama’s Apple Jacks” is contained in The Morehead City
Heritage Cookbook known as “A Little Taste of Heaven Since 1857,” which was published
in 2007 to celebrate the town’s sesquicentennial observance.
Submitted by Thelma Holland Barselow, the recipe was developed by her mother, Hilda Smith Vinston, using “just made” scratch biscuit dough, red delicious apples, real butter, sugar and cinnamon. “Mother never used dried apples or store-bought pastry,” Barselow said. “The end result was the ‘real deal.’”
Or try your applejacks with a glaze:
President Pierce also enjoyed Apple Pan Dowdy, an old-fashioned baked fruit dessert with a “dowdied” or broken pastry topping (shown below). An apple pan dowdy is traditionally sweetened with molasses or maple syrup...or you could used dark brown sugar, instead.
The term “dowdy” means frumpy or messy. In order to
“dowdy” this baked dessert, break up the crust with the back of a large spoon.
The syrupy juices of the filling coat the edges of the broken crust, which will
cool to create a sweet lacquer over the crispy pastry.
