One afternoon, not long after Betty Draper gives birth to her and Don’s third child, she hosts a tea for a few members of the Tarrytown Junior League who are trying to stop construction of a water tank in Ossining that will drain the Pleasantville Road Reservoir. When it’s suggested they need help from the governor’s office, Betty calls Henry Francis, the man she met at Jane and Roger Sterling’s garden party (season 3, episode 3; “My Old Kentucky Home”) who works as an aide to New York governor Nelson Rockefeller. In fact, Henry went to Roger’s party directly from Rockefeller’s wedding to a woman named Happy. Conveniently, Henry says he’s driving upstate the next morning and suggests they have a cup of coffee at Swenson’s Bakery in Ossining, followed by a hike to the reservoir.
At Swenson’s, Henry orders apple pie for them both and asks Betty if she prefers ice cream or cheddar cheese.
“One of each,” Betty replies.
Contrary to the expression, “as American as apple pie,” this popular dessert existed long before Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence. It’s been around since at least the late fourteenth century (if you count the apple tart). The idea of topping apple pie with ice cream dates to the 1890s, but it’s harder to pin down the origins of pairing apple pie with cheese (typically a sharp cheddar). Some say the practice originated in England and was popularized in New England, but even apple pie authority John T. Edge, the author of Apple Pie: An American Story (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2004), threw up his hands trying to ascertain its origins. Most apple varieties, at least until the mid-1800s, were tart, not sweet, and sharp cheese blended well with the tartness of the apples. Major cheese manufacturers such as Kraft and Borden promoted a slice of cheese as a complement to apple pie in the mid-twentieth century, but the practice has since gone out of favor.
To mark what one might call Henry and Betty’s “first date,” an apple pie with a Rockefeller connection seems called for; after all, that’s what Betty was looking for to help save her reservoir—a Rockefeller connection. In 1965, Happy Rockefeller contributed a recipe for glazed New York state apples—that also calls for apricots—to The Congressional Club Cook Book (Congressional Club, 1965), which featured recipes from members of Congress, governors, and the diplomatic corps and their spouses. We turned Happy’s recipe into a pie.
For guidance, and the pie pastry, we used a Pillsbury Bake-Off–winning recipe for apple date pie from Best of the Bake-Off Collection by Ann Pillsbury (1959). The Pillsbury Bake-Off competition began in 1949 (it was called the “Grand National Recipe and Baking Contest” back then) and offered $100,000 in prizes to housewives, including $50,000 to the first-place winner, willing to put their baking recipes to the test at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
Apricot apple pie is easy enough to top with ice cream or cheese, but if you prefer cheese, we suggest a topping from The New Can Opener Cookbook (Crowell, 1959) by Poppy Cannon, one of many period cookbooks built around a new appliance of convenience. “At one time a badge of shame, hallmark of the lazy lady and careless wife,” wrote Cannon, “today the can opener is fast becoming a magic wand.”
Given Henry’s association with Nelson Rockefeller, we think he’d enjoy an apple pie inspired by the governor’s wife. As for Betty, we always had the sense she’d like to bake her own apple pie and eat it, too.
NEW YORK GOVERNOR NELSON ROCKEFELLER AND HIS NEW BRIDE, MARGARETT A LARGE FITLER MURPHY, BETTER KNOWN AS “HAPPY,” IN 1963
FILLING ADAPTED FROM RECIPE FOR GLAZED NEW YORK STATE APPLES FROM MRS. NELSON A. ROCKEFELLER, WIFE OF THE GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK, IN THE CONGRESSIONAL CLUB COOK BOOK (CONGRESSIONAL CLUB, 1965);
CRUST RECIPE ADAPTED FROM PILLSBURY’S BEST OF THE BAKE-OFF COLLECTION (CONSOLIDATED BOOK PUBLISHERS, 1959);
CHEESE TOPPING INSTRUCTIONS ADAPTED FROM THE NEW CAN OPENER COOKBOOK BY POPPY CANNON (CROWELL, 1959)
NOTE: Mrs. Rockefeller’s recipe called for New York state apples. We prefer a mix of New York Empires and Granny Smith apples. However, use the combination of apples you prefer for baking.
If using fresh apricots, use 4 tablespoons of flour.
For the piecrust (recipe for a double-crust pie)
3 cups all–purpose flour
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup butter or vegetable shortening
8–12 tablespoons ice water
For the filling
1⁄2 cup dried apricots cut into small pieces, or 4 fresh apricots, also cut into small pieces (see note above)
5–6 cups apples, peeled, cored, and sliced (see note above)
3–4 tablespoons all-purpose flour (see note above)
1 cup sugar
3⁄4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1⁄4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter
To top your pie with melted cheese:
2 tablespoons melted butter
Cheddar cheese (can be prepackaged slices) sliced into inch-wide strips
Grated nutmeg