Community through cooking – Mary’s Apple Pie

The holiday season is a time of warmth, togetherness, and cherished traditions. One of the most meaningful ways to celebrate this magical time of year is by sharing recipes with friends and family. Whether it’s a treasured dish passed down through generations or a new recipe discovered together, the act of cooking and sharing food holds a special power to connect us.

At its heart, sharing recipes is about more than just food; it’s about storytelling. Each recipe has a history—a tale of where it came from, who made it, and the occasions it has graced. By passing along these recipes, we share pieces of ourselves and our families. That secret ingredient your grandmother swore by, or the little twist you’ve added over the years, carries meaning and love that words alone can’t convey.

Counselors and campers coming together to cook and bake is a Farm Camp tradition that we love. Whether that’s putting together apple or rhubarb pies on farm day, creating our tea time snack in the afternoon, or making burritos on unit night, we foster a sense of community and belonging when we make food together. Some of our favorite memories are made working together to create something delicious. 

We would love to share a favorite recipe with you here with the hope that you’ll find joy creating delicious goodies in your own home. Mary’s apple pie recipe is a staple for Farm Day creation where campers share the responsibility of peeling and coring the apples, mixing the dough ingredients and rolling out the crusts. Together, they provide the entire camp with a delicious desert for that evening. We would like to give thanks to Mary Stefanson for compiling and sharing these recipes with us and for all of the work and dedication she has put into her years at Farm Camp. Her ongoing involvement and willingness to share the amazing traditions at camp are invaluable to us all. 

We also want to share thanks to all of the fantastic chefs who have shared their recipes and joy of cooking with generations of Farm Camp staff and campers: Andrew Mross, Tim Schmidt, Pete and Seglinde Fels, Gunnel Lynn, Dori Cann, Alix Barbey, Patrick Miller, Daniel Morgenbesser, Laura Hinefeld, Katie Bates, Toby Wolf, Chris Pippilis, Elise Brewin, Mel DeRoehn, Monserrat Alarcon and Magaly Aguilar just to name a few. 

As we gather this holiday season, let us take the time to not only share the foods we love but to share the stories, traditions, and love behind them. Whether it’s a handwritten recipe card or a phone call to walk someone through your favorite dish, these acts of sharing bring us closer and remind us of the beauty of togetherness. After all, the joy of the holidays is sweeter when it’s shared. As Mary Stefansen quoted in her Farm Camp cook book, “Art, and cooking is surely an art, is what brings people together. May there always be art to share”.

And now our recipe:

Mary’s Apple Pie

Crust:

2 cups unbleached white flour

½ cup (1 cube) butter

¾ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon lemon juice

3-4 Tablespoons ice water

Filling:

5-6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, quartered and sliced into ¼ inch thick pieces

equal parts flour and sugar plus ½ – 1 teaspoon cinnamon (Usually about 3 Tablespoons flour and 3 Tablespoons sugar)

Place the flour and salt in a mixing bowl and stir with the pastry cutter to spread the salt out. Cut the butter into chunks, and add these to the flour. Now using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture has a coarse texture and no globs of butter are bigger than a small pea.

Sprinkle the lemon juice over this dough, and then with a wooden spoon, begin to add the ice water a little at a time.

You want just enough water to hold the dough together, no more.

Divide the dough in two, and shape into a ball. Roll one ball out on a floured work surface, sizing about 3 inches larger in diameter than the pie pan. Fold the dough in quarters and transfer to pan. Fill pan, heaping, with apples, sprinkling cinnamon mixture over each layer of apples. Roll out 2d ball and lay this on top. Wet the edge and press the two together.

Pinch crimp the edge. Cut 4-5 slits in the top and bake in a 400 degree oven until golden. About 40-50