Have you met our celebrity at Seagull Bay? If you’ve stayed with us before, you won’t forget our most seasoned employee, Grandma Sue. And yes, she’s really Isaac’s grandma.

Grandma Sue has worked at Seagull Bay doing laundry since 2004 long before Isaac and I owned Seagull Bay. Since then she has been a steady fixture in the Seagull Bay team. She loves greeting guests. And when she isn’t folding sheets and towels you’ll catch her sweeping the sidewalks or deadheading the flowers that surround the motel property.

What you may not know about Grandma Sue is that she is an incredible baker. In the 1970s she was the co-owner of The Community Lunch, a diner located in what is now The Wonderstate Cafe. In the 1980s and 90s, she helped decorate cakes in the beloved Granny and Gramps Bakery.

As a kid, Isaac remembers grandma making jams and jellies, baking cinnamon rolls (one of her specialties), – and of course pies.

With the Bayfield Apple Festival around the corner, it’s more than fitting to share Grandma Sue’s old-fashioned apple pie recipe with you.

Where to Get Bayfield Apples

First things first, you need to get your hands on some apples to make your pie. It’s no secret that Bayfield is unmatched when it comes to growing apples.

The Bayfield hillside is peppered with orchards with over 30 varieties of apples. From the classic varieties of Cortland, Wealthy, and Macintosh to newer varieties like Honey Crisp. And lucky for us, all the orchards are an easy 5-minute drive from Seagull Bay. Wondering which orchards we recommend? You can read it in our recent blog about why Bayfield is perfect for picking apples.

Then begs the question of which apples are the best when making an apple pie? Grandma Sue’s simple answer is “whichever ones you have”. Ok, so what makes the perfect apple pie, and why is Grandma Sue’s recipe so special?

What Makes the Perfect Bayfield Apple Pie

Grandma Sue says that the secret to making any pie lies in the crust. Many bakers and pastry chefs have strong opinions on this topic.

The ingredient that seems to get the excitement of most pie makers is which type of fat is used to make to lightest and flakiness of crusts.

Some say oil helps make a crust that’s easy to work with.

Others argue that butter is the way to go.

Grandma Sue says lard is the only choice when making the best pie crust. It is the key to making her old-fashioned apple pie recipe.

And its old fashioned indeed. Her crust recipe is handed down from generation to generation in Isaac’s family. It’s named Grandma Tootie’s Pie Crust after Sue’s mother, Margaret “Tootie” Boutin who was well known in Bayfield for her baking.

So without further ado here is Grandma Sue’s old-fashioned apple pie recipe.

Grandma Sue’s Old Fashioned Apple Pie Recipe

First and most importantly – the crust. This pie crust recipe makes 4 crusts, 2 crusts for each pie. If only making 1 pie, wrap the other 2 crusts in plastic wrap and place them in the freezer.

Grandma Tootie’s Pie Crust Recipe

Ingredients:

5 cups of flour

1 lbs of lard at room temperature

A dash of salt

*1 egg beaten in 1 cup of cold water

*crack 1 egg into a 1 cup measuring cup and fill with cold tap water beating together.

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees

2. In a large bowl, mix flour, lard, and salt together using a pastry cutter or your hands until you get a fine crumb mixture. Grandma Sue likes to use her hands because they always feel softer after mixing the lard and flour together.

3. Add egg and water mixture to your flour and mix together until a large ball forms.

4. Divide into 4 equal parts.

5. Lightly dust your counter and roll out one crust to overflow the bottom and sides of your pie plate.

6. Add your fruit mixture

7. Roll out the top pie crust on a lightly floured surface.

8. Once it’s to your desired size fold it in half and make slits into the crust using a knife and stab holes using a fork.

9. Place crust on top of your pie. Seal and flute together the top and bottom crusts.

10. Using a pastry brush gently brush the top of the pie crust with milk and lightly sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

11. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until fruit juice starts to bubble up in the slits in the crust. (Save the bottom of your oven by placing the pie plate on a large cookie sheet to catch any juice that spills over the edge.)

12. Cool and serve with Teztner’s cinnamon ice cream for the ultimate pie ala mode.

Grandma Sue’s Apple Pie Filling Recipe

Although Grandma Sue is one of a kind her apple pie filling comes from the back of the Kraft Minute Tapioca box with a few changes she’s made over the years to make this recipe her own.

Ingredients:

**6 cups of sliced apples

2 TBS of MINUTE Tapioca

¾ cup of brown sugar (the original recipe calls for regular sugar, but Grandma Sue likes how the brown sugar adds a caramel-like flavor).

½ tsp of ground cinnamon

¼ tsp of ground nutmeg

**The original recipe calls for 6 cups of sliced apples. But after many years of making pies, Grandma Sue fills her pie plate until it’s heaping full of sliced apples. This way she ends up with a rounded top and a pie filled with apples. Instead of a pie with a filling that has been cooked down too much.

Directions:

1. Mix the above ingredients in a bowl.

2. Let it sit while you make the pie crust recipe above.

3. Line your pie plate with the bottom crust.

4. Fill with fruit mixture and dot the top of the apples with 1 tablespoons of butter

5. Place top crust, seal, and flute.

6. Follow steps 10,11, and 12 from the crust recipe.

There it is – the perfect apple pie recipe to share with your family and friends after coming home from your Bayfield vacation.

Say Hi to Grandma Sue When Staying at Seagull Bay

At 85 years young, Grandma Sue is still one of the hardest working people we have on staff at Seagull Bay. We honestly wouldn’t keep up with all the laundry each day without her. And better yet we have the pleasure of calling her family. And of course, eating her delicious apple pies – yum, yum.

Next time you’re visiting Bayfield and staying at Seagull Bay stop in and say hi to Grandma. She loves it when guests share their Bayfield adventures with her. And better yet, share a picture of the apple pie you made using her recipe. This will truly make her day.

Our staff at Seagull Bay is filled with hard-working friends and family, like grandma. It’s the perfect place to bring your family.

We have a variety of lodging arrangements to fit families of any size. From cozy cottages to the house that was once home to Bayfield’s last milkman and his family.

We have full-size kitchens and kitchenettes so you don’t have to wait until you get home to make Grandma Sue’s old-fashioned apple pie recipe.

BOOK NOW to reserve the room that will best fit your family.

Happy Baking,

Mollie, Isaac, Axel, Ridge, Banks, and Grandma Sue

QUICK LINKS:

Farms & Orchards – Bayfield

Tetzner’s Dairy