Memories of bakeries, apple slices

By Bill Daley/Chicago Tribune

Q: Oh, how I miss Chicago and its bakeries and so much more. My German and Polish friends used to make a large sheet pan of apple slices, somewhat like a pie. It had a glaze on top and was cut in squares like a brownie.

I have searched and can't find a recipe. I teach cooking classes and was a personal chef out here in Seattle. Any help from your readers would be great.

-Danielle Risdon, Edmonds, Wash.

A: “These are simply called apple slices, and bakeries in the German/Polish/Czech neighborhoods always had them,” says my colleague, Judy Hevrdejs.

Judy says her Aunt Marie is a master of making apple slices. Trouble is, she's 80 and all the recipes are in her head. She “only shows you how to make it,” Judy says. Luckily, there are recipes, such as this one Judy found in the Sept. 14, 1972, edition of the Chicago Tribune.

Apple Slices

Makes: 12 servings

Pastry:

2 cups sifted flour

1/2 teaspoon each: baking powder, salt

3/4 cup lard

1/2 cup water

2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Filling:

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups water

3 pounds cooking apples, pared, cut in sixteenths

1. For the pastry, sift flour with baking powder and salt. Cut in lard until mixture is in coarse crumbs. Mix water, egg yolks and lemon juice; add to flour mixture. Blend gently with a fork. (The mixture will be very moist.) Wrap in waxed paper; chill at least 6 hours.

2. Heat oven to 450 degrees. For the filling, mix sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and salt in a saucepan; add water. Cook, stirring frequently, 5 minutes. Add apples; simmer, 10 minutes.

3. Divide pastry in half; roll one piece on well-floured board into a rectangle about 15-by-11 inches, using a stocking-covered rolling pin; turn out into a 13-by-9-inch baking pan. Bring dough up against sides of pan about 1 inch. Turn apple mixture into pan. Roll remaining dough to fit top of pan. Lay over apples; cut steam vents. Press edges of dough firmly together; seal.

4. Bake, 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees; bake, 30 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into 3-inch squares. If desired, drizzle with confectioners' sugar icing.