- So to make this filling,
we're going to use this giant apple.
Just kidding.
We're using just regular sized apples, just 50 pounds of it.
(lively music)
Hey, my name is Tway and welcome to "Making it Big,"
the show where I turn your favorite foods giant.
Today, I have my friend Alvin visiting me
and I think he has a special challenge for me.
Kind of nervous, but a little bit excited.
So, Alvin, come on out.
- Yo, yo.
- Hi, welcome.
- Thank you for having me.
I have something special for you.
- I'm kind of nervous.
- Look, I'm a big dude,
this is "Making it Big."
I'm gonna do it nice and slow.
- Oh. - McDonald's apple pie.
- I'm already loving this challenge.
I have a few questions for you though.
How big exactly?
- I'm talking big. Big baby big.
- Big baby big?
- Yeah. I think you can make it happen.
- Does it have to look exactly like this?
- I would think that you have to nail the box.
The box is the key to my nostalgia.
- And then how about these little like design on it?
- The lattice?
- Yeah, the lattice.
- The lattice is pretty huge.
- Okay, fine.
- You know what it is too?
Is we need to know that it's an apple pie.
- I guess it's time for me
to make my version of the McDonald's apple pie.
- Boom.
- So first things first, I need to start on the pie dough,
and this is five pounds of flour right into the bowl.
Then I'm going to add some sugar and salt.
Taking my little whisk, whisking this all together.
This is my favorite part of making pie dough, is the butter.
I have two pounds of butter in here
so that means two pounds of delicious-ness.
And then I'm going to coat the butter,
all of this flour together.
And then now I'm taking this pastry blender
aka my Wolverine tool
to really mash in the butter and the flour together.
I just need it to get into the consistency of wet sand.
So when I think about fast food apple pie,
I always think that it's a luxury because growing up,
just ordering desserts in general was a luxury.
As soon as I was able to make my own money,
it was apple pie all day, every day.
I am very happy with my dough.
I'm going to add in some ice into this water
because I want it to be ice cold.
And this right here is the secret ingredient:
apple cider vinegar.
This is what's going to make my pie crust really flaky.
I don't like flaky people, but I love flaky pie, so...
And then I'm going to add three cups of this water
into my pie dough, but no ice goes in the water.
Oh my god. There's ice, there's ice.
Oh, that's much better.
Look at me using my big brain.
Gonna take my spatula and just fold it in.
And we are making a total of two batches
because we need one dough for the bottom
and then one dough to cover the top.
Now I'm gonna go in with my hand and just kind of mold it.
Making pie dough is so tricky because it seems very easy
but it's not.
Baking in general seems like, "Yeah," but it's not.
This is taking everything in me to not knead it,
but you can't knead pie dough
because it'll start to develop gluten
and that won't give you a flaky crust,
and we want a flaky crust.
I'm very happy with how this came together.
Gonna lay down some saran wrap.
And now I bring this bad boy over.
Oh my god.
Oh.
I'm going to shape this into a big rectangle
so it's easier for me to roll it out later.
I'm really happy with this shape.
And I'm gonna just wrap this up.
All right, so this is my first one.
I'm going to make one more
and then let them both rest for an hour.
So to make this filling,
we're going to use this giant apple.
Just kidding.
We're using just regular sized apples, just 50 pounds of it.
In order to make a giant apple pie,
I have to peel and chop a lot of apples.
I have a lot of work, so I'm gonna go right into it.
This is only therapeutic for like two, three apples
and then everything just kind of turns into a blur.
So the first time I had a fast food apple pie
was when I was in culinary school actually.
It was actually perfection.
And now I have this handy dandy apple cutter
and apple corer.
I'm just gonna go ahead and go for it.
This is my first time using this.
Oh, I like this.
Let's keep peeling.
I'm using both green and red apples
because the green apple holds up really well
when it's cooking but it's a little bit tart,
so I'm mixing it with the red so it's a nice balance.
I don't know if you have to be that violent, but I gotta be.
It looks like I still have a lot of work to do,
so I'll check back in about like an hour.
And 50 pounds of peeled and cut apples later, I'm here.
And now I'm going to pour some lemon juice
right over the top of this to prevent browning
and to also cut the sweetness from the apples.
Then I'm gonna go over here adding some cornstarch to a bowl
along with some sugar.
This is nine cups of sugar, some salt and some cinnamon.
And this will be my cinnamon sugar mixture
that will go right into the apples.
And so I'm gonna mix this together
with my hands so I could feel that the apples
are really gripping onto the cinnamon sugar.
This is a bit overwhelming 'cause this is a lot of apples.
Wait, I kind of like this.
Instead of like playing with slime,
I feel like this should be the new wave.
Ah, there you...
There's a lot of liquid down here at the bottom of the bowl
and I'm really happy about that
because when I cook it down
that's going to give it that like syrupy is all going to...
Look at my nails poking through.
Okay, so these are ready.
I'm gonna take them to the stove and cook them.
Well this is the biggest pan that I could find
and I have all five burners on.
I'm just gonna add in two sticks of butter.
Yum. So the butter's melted.
Now I have to add the apples
but I'm probably gonna have to phone a friend
because I can't carry that and put it in at the same time.
Oh, well this is only half of the batch
'cause I don't wanna overcrowd the pan.
I kind of wanna take a bath in this.
So apparently, McDonald's apple pie was the first dessert
to be added to their menu in 1968.
That's older than my mom.
So the original apple pie was fried instead of baked
like how it is today.
I would prefer it fried.
Can they bring that back?
McDonald's uses a variety
of six different American grown apples:
Fuji, Gala, Golden Delicious, Ida Red,
Jonagold and Rome apples.
The filling is done and it looks so good.
It smells even better by the way.
I'm gonna need some help carrying this to over there.
Kelly.
Here we go.
I'm hungry.
This looks so good.
This is only one batch.
I have another batch to cook down.
After that I'm gonna cool them and put them in the fridge.
Now it's time to roll out my dough.
I have like roughly 20 pounds of dough right here
both for the bottom and for the top.
Gonna roll the bottom out to the size
of this sheet pan right here.
So I'm dusting my surface and my rolling pin with flour
just so my dough doesn't stick.
Oh, let's get one out.
I feel like I'm unwrapping a present.
It is a present actually that I made for myself.
Regular pies doughs already difficult to roll out as is,
like, just regular size, but this is a whole block.
(exhales sharply) Let's go.
(fast dramatic music) (Tway groaning)
I feel like this is going nowhere.
This pie is definitely going to hit after this workout.
Alvin better like this pie or else.
So this part is actually not only difficult
because it's 10 pounds of pie dough,
but I have to make sure that it stays cold
so the butter doesn't melt.
I'm gonna flip it over again
just so the butter doesn't get warm.
And about 10 minutes later,
I am here with a full sheet pan-size of pie dough.
I think I am ready to transport this into the tray.
And I do have a special little thing
I wanna introduce to you guys.
This is called a pan extender
and you basically put it in the baking tray
and this is going to support the pie filling.
I'm gonna roll this dough up.
My heart is beating so fast
and okay, we're in.
Now I'm just kind of just pinching the dough to the edge
just so it can stay up.
So the hardest part about making pie is the temperature.
You have to keep it at a cold temperature
so the butter can stay put.
If the butter starts to melt,
then the whole pie dough starts to kind of fall apart,
and then in the oven it falls apart, it gets soggy,
and then you get a soggy pie.
And we don't want a soggy pie.
We want a nice and flaky pie.
This is all nice and folded.
Now I have to put all of this filling into the pie
and I gotta move fast.
Oh yeah.
This is so much apple.
If you've ever wanted to see
what 50 pounds of pie filling looks like, this right here.
Then I'm gonna fold this in.
And the egg wash is basically an adhesive
for the top dough to stick.
Okay, I'm nervous.
This is so technical.
I'm gonna trim off some extra pie dough
on the side right here so it's easier for me to tuck it.
And the reason why I'm tucking it
is because we are making sure that it's nice and sealed
so the filling doesn't spill out.
Whoever said it's as easy as pie, they're lying.
They've never made high before.
This is pretty warm,
so I'm gonna pop this in the freezer
so I can cut out the little design on top.
So I made a special little stencil
that I'm going to use to cut the top of the pie.
I'm gonna lay my stencil down here.
I have my paring knife and my ruler.
I'm ready. Let's go.
I'm feeling kind of nervous,
but the ruler's giving me a lot of confidence.
Oh, it moved. Okay.
And I gotta move fast
because this is nice and cold right now
and I don't want it to melt.
Oh, that looks so good.
This stencil was such a good idea
because this would've been a mess with no stencil.
(sighs) Moment of truth.
Yay.
Egg wash, so it can look nice and golden.
And then I'm going to sprinkle on some turbinado sugar.
This is to add some texture to the pie,
and also visually, it looks really, really pretty.
Into the oven this goes.
I hope that it works out.
I need someone to help me please.
Wow.
Okay.
So this is actually 70 pounds
because it's 50 pounds of filling by itself
and then we have to account for the dough,
and that's another 20 pounds,
so 70 pounds of pie.
And this big baby is going to stay in here for four hours.
Good luck.
I'll see you in four hours.
All right, so the pie is done.
The box is also done.
I'm really, really excited for Alvin to see this,
so Alvin, please come on out.
- (laughs) Yo, what?
(Alvin laughing)
- I can't believe this is happening.
- [Tway] What's your rating on the box?
- 10 out of 10.
Who di that? How do you do that?
- Do you want to do the honors
of pulling the pie out of the box?
- Oh, whoa.
No way.
Wow. That is legit apple pie.
Look at the caramel, it's perfect.
- How many pounds do you think this is?
- Just by opening it, it felt like
it was like a 50-pound behemoth.
- It's actually 70 pounds.
- 70 pounds! Who can even travel with that?
This is beyond what I was expecting.
I can't believe you can make anything this big.
- Let's cut right into this baby.
- Look at the Lattice.
All I'm gonna do one big slice.
Oh, whoa.
Look at that.
That is a real apple pie.
- [Both] Cheers.
- Mmm. That's perfect.
- I'm very impressed with myself.
This is crazy.
- Flavor is magnified.
- Yeah. - 10 times.
I don't think I can eat the entire thing
but I can give it a damn real good try.
- Well, this has been such a fun project to work on.
Thank you for the challenge.
- Of course.
- I can say that I have made a 70-pound pie now.
- And it was delicious.
- So in the comments below,
let us know what we should make next.
See you next time.
- Hey.
(lively music)