It’s been a half-century since the Robbins Memorial Church in Greenfield began selling pies as a fundraiser — in that time, very little has changed. Until a recent upgrade to an electric peeler, the apples were peeled with the same hundred-year-old peeler; the pies used to have three slits in the crust, now they have one.
The recipe, which was created by parishioner Barbara Steiner’s grandmother, Lillian Steiner, and aunt, Rose Woodard, is the exact same.
“The apple pies came out good this time,” said Steiner, 88, of Greenfield, while standing beside cooling pies in the Munson Street church’s basement. On a nearby table, she gestured to a framed Greenfield Recorder article from 1991 depicting her mother making pies with other volunteers. “This is a picture from years ago. They’re all gone now. We’re just carrying it on,” she said.
With hundreds of combined years of baking experience under their flour-covered apron ties, a dozen or so parishioners gather once a month to make 100 to 120 pies — apple, blueberry and strawberry rhubarb, when it’s in season. While simple, the from-scratch apple pies are absolutely delicious: the crust is flakey and earthy, a perfect container for the filling, which is sweet but not overly so with a hint of appley complexity. It’s exactly what an apple pie should taste like. The dough, which is made in bulk the day before the pies are assembled, is comprised of vegetable oil, shortening and a little bit of salt; the filling is made from an assorted variety of chopped apples from Pine Hill Orchards in Colrain — “Whatever he has: McIntosh, Macoun, Baldwin reds; anything, if it’s a good apple,” Steiner said — combined with brown sugar and dashes of cinnamon and nutmeg.
Over the years, the pies have gained a loyal following, according to Allan Keyes, a volunteer. In the past, he’s heard from numerous repeat customers who, after purchasing a pie elsewhere, “cut a slice to taste it and then threw it away because it wasn’t as good as ours,” Keyes said.
One parishioner, Dick Kimball, who passed away last year, even wrote the pies into his will. In life, Kimball donated about 50 pies each year to the Greenfield Salvation Army’s annual Thanksgiving dinner. For the foreseeable future, the church will continue Kimball’s generosity through donations from his estate.
The key to the pie’s tastiness, said Russell Dean, another volunteer, is keeping the recipe simple and using the freshest ingredients they can get their hands on.
“It’s locally made with local ingredients. … Everything is really fresh,” Dean said, noting the apples are typically peeled and sliced the day after they’re delivered. A neighbor, Laura Newton, owner of Bittersweet Bakery & Cafe in South Deerfield, drops off the baking ingredients on her way home from work.
On average, Steiner estimated a bushel of apples makes about 20 pies. The church goes through four or five bushels each month — a drastic reduction from the church’s peak production a few decades ago. When they first started, Steiner estimated the church produced 700 pies in the lead-up to the Franklin County Fair, in addition to its monthly fundraising production. More recently, because of increased regulations and challenges in finding enough volunteers, Steiner said the group no longer rents a booth at the annual fair. Instead, they’re sold exclusively from the church by Steiner and other volunteers, who are at the church Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It’s a key fundraiser that helps keep the church’s lights on.
“Our congregation is very low, now,” Steiner said, “and we don’t have much money.”
In another room, a half-dozen parishioners assembled the pies around a table. Andrea Zimmerman, of Leyden, rolled dough, passing it to Deb Cory, of Greenfield, who crimped it into pans. Then, after Janet Keyes, of Greenfield, filled the pies with four cups of chopped apples and a half-cup of brown sugar/cinnamon/nutmeg each, Dean, of Turners Falls, covered the pies with a sheet of dough, cutting a single slit in the top. Allan Keyes, who is married to Janet Keyes, helped put the pies in the church’s convection oven, where they baked for 35 minutes before heading to another room to cool. The parishioners joked as they worked amicably together.
“This church is rolling in dough, but not the monetary kind,” Allan Keyes quipped, adding, “You’ve got to have a sense of humor.”
In a good month, Janet Keyes estimated the church makes about $1,000. Besides being a charitable endeavor, Steiner says she invests time and effort for “the camaraderie.”
But there’s also a sweeter incentive for the volunteers, Steiner noted: “We have pie, after, with ice cream. That’s our payment.”
Andy Castillo is the features editor at the Greenfield Recorder. He can be reached at acastillo@recorder.com.
The pies are available at Robbins Memorial Church, 55 Munson St, in Greenfield. Apple pies cost $12; blueberry pies cost $13; and, when in season, strawberry rhubarb pies are $14. To purchase a pie call Steiner at 413-325-5449. For reservations or to request an unbaked or sugar-free pie, which are also available, call 413-773-7625. The next pie sale is March 20. There will be another just before Easter.
Notably, the parishioners at Robbins Memorial Church weigh the ingredients and bake in bulk, so the below recipe is not exact. Additionally, the pie crust is not the same, as the church’s crust cannot be replicated at a smaller scale.
Pie crust (see the recipe at the end of this article)
6 cups assorted chopped apples
½ cup sugar
Dashes nutmeg
Dashes cinnamon
Crimp the dough onto the pan. Fill the crust with the thinly chopped apples (to preference). Add the sugar and dashes of nutmeg and cinnamon to taste. Stretch a peice of dough over the top for the crust.
Bake in a convection oven for 35 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (in a conventional oven, bake at about 375 degrees for 25 minutes with foil over the edges to prevent browning, and then another 20 or 25 minutes without). One slit on the top. Let cool for about an hour before boxing.
This recipe was adapted from marthastewart.com. It is not the same recipe used by those behind the pies at the Robbins Memorial Church.
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
¼ to ½ cup ice water
In a food processor, combine flour, salt, and sugar; pulse to combine. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with just a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining.
Sprinkle with ¼ cup ice water. Pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed with fingers (if necessary, add up to ¼ cup more water, 1 tablespoon at a time). To help ensure a flaky crust, do not overprocess.
Transfer half of dough (still crumbly) onto a piece of plastic wrap. Form dough into a disk ¾ inch thick; wrap tightly in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour (and up to three days). Repeat with remaining dough. Makes two disks.