Gramps' Granny Apple Pie

Now this is how the grandpas in my family would make an apple pie. Doesn't everything taste better when cooked in an iron skillet or dutch oven? Ok the grandpas did not make this pie. I did, in honor of all the guys in my family who are seduced by anything made in cast iron. I actually saw the idea on television while watching the food show Amusement Park Eats. At Dollywood they make this 25 pound apple pie in a huge deep dish cast iron skillet. Oh yes. This pie girl had to make pie in a cast iron skillet.

After all I have a huge box of granny smith apples in my pantry right now. Now usually I use 3 different varieties of apples in my pie. So I was worried. But it turned out delicious. This pie was a little smaller but it was more deep dish and just the right size that I didn't feel too guilty when I ate half the pie myself. I still used a 10 inch pie crust.

I also liked how the crust turned out. It was really flaky. I will share the recipe I used. As always I am in search of the perfect pie crust. I will reuse this recipe. Of course I may keep looking. The perfect pie crust is my holy grail.

The Pie Crust

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup butter flavored shortening (cold)

3 to 4 Tb of cold water

Heat oven to 375 degrees farenheit.

In a mixing bowl or mixer combine flour or salt. Cut in shortening until consistency of small peas or cormeal. Sprinkle 1 Tb of cold water and mix gently. Add more water until moistened. You should be able to form into a ball. It should not be overly moist. I keep mine just moist enough to roll out and hold together. Dip ball in flour and roll out on lightly floured service. Roll about 12 to 14 inches in diameter. Roll from center out towards edges. 

Place pie dough in a lightly greased 8 inch cast iron skillet. Trim and tuck edges under (This is not a fancy pie)

 

The Apple Pie

8 to 10 cups of granny smith apples peeled and sliced

1/2 cup of sugar (you can use a little less if you are doing the crumb topping and you like a tarter pie.)

1 TB of lemon juice

1/2 tsp of cinnamon

1/4 tsp of nutmeg

1 Tb of Flour.

Toss sliced apples in lemon juice. Add other ingredients and toss to coat apples. Mound apples in pie crust. Remember they shrink -- so you want to make sure that your pie crust is overly full.

Crumb Topping

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 Tb margarine or butter

Combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter or margarine until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Top pie with crumb topping. Place iron skillet on a cookie sheet.

Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until juices are bubbling and top is browned. If pie crust starts to burn cover edges with foil.

Let cool slightly and serve warm (or cold for breakfast). Yum.

Crumb topping

Apple Cider Bars

Here is what happens when your first photo attempts are blurry and you make a yummy new snack. All that ends up being left is an itty bitty little bite left for a photo op.


I love apple cider.Which is odd because I hate straight apple juice. Must be all those mulling spices. I am a spicy kind of gal. The 100 percent stuff is my favorite. But in a pinch I will drink the powdered mix stuff. While you might be able to use the powdered apple cider mix for this recipe if you can have the real stuff go for it. However this is a food storage blog and this recipe would be a great addition to your food storage recipe arsenal.

So how could I resist trying the recipe found on the bakck of the Litehouse Apple Cider. Like I said these bars got gobbled -- for breakfast, for snack, for dessert. I was a little afraid of the Cheerios on the ingredient list but they add a really tasty crunch. I also substituted 1 chopped apple for the dried apple chips because I have a box full of apples waiting to be used. However, I love that I can pull apple chips out of my pantry to make this recipe even when apples are not in season.

The end result: These bars have a mildly spicy tang reminiscent of a warm cup of cider.

The Recipe
1 1/4 Cups sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup softened butter
4 Cups Cheerios (I used Honey Nut Cheerios)
1 Cup Apple Cider
1/2 cup chopped dried apples or 1 cup diced apple
1 egg
1 cup oats
1/2 tsp salt
1 Cup raisins
1 TB vanilla
1 1/2 Cups flour

Heat oven to 350 degrees farenheit. Boil 1 Cup cideer and apples in saucepan until liquid is reduced to 1/4 cup.

Mix sugar, butter, peanut butter, cider, vanilla and egg in a large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients except for Cheerios.

Gently stir in cereal.

Pour into ungreased 9x13 pan and Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool and cut into bars.

Caramel Glazed Crumb Top Apple Pie and Pie Tutorial

I'm off the to the Apple Festival tomorrow with a van full of apple pies and tartlets. When an offer to bake apple pies for a booth at the local apple festival came I hemmed and hawed.
And then I decided to go for it, I was planning on going for fun no matter what. Well, 10 hours later I tell you that I have made 8 pies and 12 mini tartlets. It all looks yummy enough to eat and hopefully yummy enough to buy. But I can barely move.

I love to make apple pies because I love to eat them and I love them in all their forms: two- crust, sour cream apple with walnut topping (it's heavenly and a pain to make), crumb topped, apple and blackberry and my latest creation, caramel and powdered sugar glazed crumb top. I decided to go with the final creation for my pies for the festival, because it just seems a little decadent. I did leave a few minus the caramel -- just in case there were some traditionalists buying tomorrow. So, for this post I bring you a pie tutorial. I may not be a pastry chef but I have made a few pies in the past few years. I am not going to bore you with the actual crust recipe because you can review that post here: Bulk Pie Crust Recipe. I am going to start from the moment I take my pie brick out of the refrigerator or freezer.

Dip brick in flour and flour your rolling surface and rolling pin. When I am making multiple pies I use a pastry cloth because it really makes it easy to do the next step.

Roll your pie into an approximate 10 to 12 inch circle by rolling one direction and then turning or rolling 1/4 turn from your starting point. Continue turning until you have a good circle. I try to roll mostly from the center. If you roll on your edges too much you will have a more inconsistent circle. Reflour your rolling pin as needed.

Place pie tin on pie crust and place hand under crust or rolling surface. Flip over.

To create a clean edge, trim edges with a paring knife to 1/4 inch of edge. Then hem your edges by tucking the ragged edges under.

Make a decorative edge by pinching with finger or using a pastry shaper. You can tell by my inconsistent edge I am a pincher.

Now you have a lovely pie crust ready to be filled.

Apple Filling

7 to 8 cups of peeled cored and thinly sliced apples. ( I use an apple peeler/slicer/peeler/corer)

1/2 cup of sugar, plus a little extra for love

1/2 tsp of cinnamon

1/4 tsp of nutmeg

1 Tbsp flour

lemon juice

Topping

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup white flour

2 Tb cold butter cut into cubes

Caramel topping: 7 caramel squares

1 tsp water

Powdered Sugar Glaze:

1 cup of powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

milk

I am sorry I forgot to take any more pics but it is pretty basic from here on out.

Toss peeled apples with a few dashes of lemon juice and then add sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and flour. Stir until all apples are coated.

Mound apples in prepared pie crust. I like to make my mound higher in the center. It deflates after cooling and if you don't over stuff your pie crust you are going to have a skinny deflated pie. Occasionally I even layer my apples in concentric circles but only on the top, because that is way too much work to layer through the whole pie.

Make topping: Combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in cold butter until you have the texture of coarse crumbs. Or throw it all into a food processor and pulse several times. It goes much faster this way. Spread crumb mixture on top of pie. It is OK if there are a few apples peeking through.

Cover edges with foil and place on a foil lined baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove foil from edges and bake for an additional 25 minutes or until crumb topping is golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. Prepare glazes.

Add caramel and water to a small microwaveable bowl and heat in 15 second increments until caramel is completely melted. Use a spoon to randomly drizzle caramel across pie.

Whisk together powdered sugar, vanilla and 1 tsp of milk. Add milk in 1 tsp increments until you have a drizzling glaze. Drizzle onto pie.

Whoo! It's a little bit of work but so worth it.

TIP: You can freeze your baked pies for up to six months. Do not add glaze and double wrap in foil. Label and freeze. To reheat, bake in 375 oven for 35 to 40 minutes. Protect crust edges with foil.

Apple Peanut Butter Chip bars

Apples are consuming my mornings right now. Some sweet lady gave me boxes of free apples and I have been busy making apple chips and pies from the tart little McIntoshes. I also really love homemade applesauce but I like to use a sweeter apple for applesauce and so I have been busy baking and slicing. Oh how I love my peeler/slicer/corer. How would I survive through hundreds of apples without such a tool.

I actually like to make all my fruit pies during the late summer and fall and then freeze them for convenient use the rest of the year. But this morning I needed to take a break from pie baking (OK I still made one pie) and so I made my annual batch of these cake like bars that are so delicious when warm. They fill the senses with a taste of fall spices, warm apple and melt in your mouth peanut butter. They make a sweet but generally healthy after school snack or lunch box stuffer.

Recipe: I adapted this recipe from an apple bar recipe found at allrecipes.com

1/2 Cup melted butter

1/2 Cup fructose (or use 1 cup sugar)

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 Cup whole grain pastry flour (or 1 Cup all-purpose flour)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 dash nutmeg

1 Cup peeled apples, finely diced

1/4 Cup finely chopped pecans

1/2 cup peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour an 8x8 pan. In a large bowl cream melted butter, sugar and egg. Mix in egg and vanilla. Add flour, baking soda. cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix well. Stir in apples and peanut butter chips. Spread batter into prepared pan and bake for approximately 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Monday Snack - Crockpot Applesauce

Last night I pulled out some homemade applesauce from the freezer. One bite and I remembered why I am never going back to the store bought stuff again. Applesauce is so easy to make and if you just happen to catch a killer deal on apples it is a great snack to stock up on. I freeze my applesauce but it can also be canned if you have a pressure canner. The trick to a good applesauce is of course the apple. Get the right apple and you don't even have to add sugar. I like gala, jonathons, or McIntosh for my applesauce. I just suggest an apple with sweetness and tartness. You can also combine varieties. I like to pair up a combo of Jonathons and McIntosh when it is apple season and I am buying apples by the box.

Here is my easy, and I mean so simple it is ridiculous, recipe.

8 apples, peeled cored and coarsely chopped
1/2 C water
1 tsp lemon juice (just to keep it from browning up too much)
Optional ingredients:
1/4 to 1/2 Cup sugar. (I tried my applesauce with sugar and it was way too sweet for me but experiment with your own favorite version)
Cinnamon to taste (I like a good cinnamon applesauce now and then.)

*Add chopped apples, water and lemon juice to crockpot (and sugar if you are using).
*Cook on high for 4 hours or low 6 to 8 hours until apples are tender and easily mashed.
*Stir in cinnamon during the last 15 minutes if using.
*Mash with a potato masher.
This makes about 8 servings. I freeze in freezer containers with 1/2 inch headspace.
Tip: My son loves his applesauce slightly frozen for a healthy sweet snack.