Browned Butter Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust

Hana turns two on January 15, which feels both distant and imminent. But the days before a second birthday are their own season — the last days of babyhood, the threshold between infant and child, the passage that happens without announcement or ceremony. One day she is a baby. The next day she is a kid. The day in between is today.

She is talking in full sentences now — short, direct, Park-Chen sentences. "Mama, I want bap." "Dada, outside play." "Halmoni, see me." The sentences are bilingual — she mixes Korean and English without noticing, the way I mix doenjang and pasta without noticing, the way our family mixes everything without noticing because mixing is who we are. "Halmoni" is always in Korean. "Outside" is always in English. "Bap" is always Korean even though she knows "rice" in English. Some words belong to one language. Some words belong to the people who taught them to you. Bap belongs to Jisoo. Rice belongs to Karen's kitchen. Hana uses both. Hana is both.

Banchan Labs: Jisoo's Kimchi launches next month — November, the official commercial release. 500 jars for the first production run. Pre-orders opened Monday and sold out in four hours. Four hours. James refreshed the order page at lunch and said, "It's gone. All 500." I said, "Five hundred jars of my mother's kimchi sold in four hours." He said, "We need to make more." He is right. We need to make more. Jisoo's kimchi needs to be in more kitchens. The thread needs more jars. I called Jisoo. She said, "Five hundred?" I said, "In four hours." She was quiet. Then she said, "Make more." I said, "How many?" She said, "As many as the love allows." The love allows a lot. The love allows more than five hundred.

The recipe this week is doenjang jjigae — because Hana asked for it. She said, "Mama, I want jjigae." She said "jjigae." She knows the word. She knows the stew. She is twenty-three months old and she asks for doenjang jjigae by name. The stew that cracked me open in college is now a toddler's dinner request. The thread continues. The jjigae continues. Hana asks for it and I make it and the making is the thread and the thread holds and the stew is warm and the kitchen is full and everything — everything — is exactly right.

November has been almost too full — the kimchi launch, Hana’s sentences arriving faster than I can write them down, Jisoo’s quiet “make more” ringing in my ears all week. When a season feels that heavy with goodness, I want something in the oven that matches it: something warm, something that smells like it’s been waiting. I made this pie the evening after James told me the 500 jars were gone, because the apartment needed to smell like butter browning and apples softening, because Hana needed to fall asleep to that smell, because I needed to do something with my hands while I sat with the feeling that the thread — Jisoo’s thread — had just reached a few hundred more kitchens. The cheddar in the crust is the savory note that keeps it honest, the way doenjang keeps everything honest. It is a pie for a full November.

Prep Time: 45 min | Cook Time: 1 hr | Total Time: 1 hr 45 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

For the cheddar crust:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese, cold
5–7 tbsp ice water
For the browned butter apple filling:
6 cups apples, peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4-inch thick (Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, or a mix)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp fine salt
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
For assembly:
1 egg, beaten with 1 tbsp water (egg wash)
1 tbsp coarse sugar, for sprinkling

Instructions

Make the cheddar crust. Whisk together flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Add cold butter cubes and work them into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some pea-sized pieces remaining. Fold in the shredded cheddar. Add ice water one tablespoon at a time, stirring gently after each addition, until the dough just holds together when pressed. Divide in half, shape each half into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Brown the butter. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the 1/2 cup butter, stirring occasionally. Continue cooking until the butter foams, then turns golden and smells nutty, about 5–7 minutes. Watch it carefully — it goes from brown to burnt quickly. Pour into a large bowl and let cool for 10 minutes.
Make the filling. Add the sliced apples to the browned butter. Sprinkle in both sugars, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and lemon juice. Toss until the apples are evenly coated. Let the mixture sit while you roll the crust.
Preheat the oven. Place a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 400°F (205°C). Line a baking sheet with foil and set aside.
Roll the bottom crust. On a lightly floured surface, roll one dough disk into a 12-inch circle. Transfer to a 9-inch pie plate, pressing gently into the bottom and sides. Leave a 1-inch overhang. Refrigerate while you roll the top crust.
Fill and top the pie. Pour the apple filling into the chilled crust, mounding it slightly in the center. Roll the second dough disk into an 11-inch circle and lay it over the filling. Trim both crusts to a 1/2-inch overhang, fold the edges under together, and crimp to seal. Cut four or five steam vents in the top crust. Brush the surface with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
Bake. Place the pie on the prepared baking sheet. Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 375°F (190°C) and bake for another 35–40 minutes, until the crust is deep golden and the filling is bubbling through the vents. If the edges brown too quickly, tent them loosely with foil.
Cool before slicing. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and cool for at least 2 hours before slicing. The filling will set as it cools. Serve warm or at room temperature, with or without vanilla ice cream.

Nutrition (per serving)

Browned Butter Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust — The Warmth That Holds Everything Together