Happy National Pie Day!!!

To help us CELEBRATE one of our favorite desserts…….we would like to share with you one of our favorite pie recipes, our Caramel Apple Pie.  We have been on a long journey to find an Apple Pie recipe that we love., and would pass the approval of Chef Dad who LOVES apple pie.  With a few tweeks of many different recipes we have created one that is our favorite and our Little Chefs enjoy making, sharing and especially eating this wonderful dessert.

This recipe we made has a few twists to the traditional Apple Pie…..with a crispy caramelized lattice top…..it’s what makes this pie our favorite!

First, you need to make your dough. Tip: for a good pie crust is to make sure your butter and shortening is VERY cold. Cut the butter and shortening into cubes and put back into the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

You will need to mix the dry ingredients. Then add your cold butter and shortning. Mix until the butter and shoretning become pea size. Continue mixing, add the ice water one Tablespoon at a time just until the dough starts to clump together.

Remove dough from mixer and cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

In the meantime, just before the dough is ready –  peel, core, and slice your apples.  We LOVE and only use Granny Smith apples to make our pies. You then make the caramel sauce to pour over the top of your pie. Combine in a saucepan the butter and melt. Add the flour to create a paste. Then add the water, white and brown sugar, and cinnamon and bring to a boil.  Reduce the temperature and let simmer.

Remove the dough from the fridge, and let sit just a few minutes to room temperature to make it easier to roll out.  Divide dough in half.  Take the first half and roll out to about 1/8″ thickness, about a 12″ circle and place in the bottom of the pie pan.  Add your apples to the pie and make a slight mound. Roll out your other half of dough and create a lattice top and place on top of your apples.

The next step is to pour the butter and sugar liquid over the lattice top.  Pour slowly so it does not run off.  Cook the pie in a preheated 425 degree oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and cook an additional 40 minutes until the apples are soft. Another tip is if your pie edges are becoming too brown before your pie is done cooking – you can cover the edges with foil for the remaining baking time.

Caramel Apple Pie

Crust:

Ingredients –

• 12 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter
• 3 cups Flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1/3 cup cold shortning
• 6-8 Tablespoons ice cold water

Directions –

Dice butter and shortning, put back into fridge for at least 15 minutes. Mix dry ingredients and add butter and shortning until they become pea size. Continue mixing, add the water one tablespoon at a time until it starts to clump. Remove from mixer, form a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in fridge for at least one hour.  Remove from fridge, let sit for a few minutes at room temperature to make it easier to roll out. Divide the dough in half, rolling out the first half to about 12″ circle, about 1/8″ thick and place in the bottom of a pie pan.  Take the other half of dough and again roll out to 1/4″ thickness and create a lattice top to place over the apples.

Pie:

Ingredients –

• 7-9 Granny Smith Apples (depending on size)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 Tablespoons flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions –

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Peel, core and slice your apples.  In a saucepan, melt the butter, and stir in the flour to form a paste.  Add water, white and brown sugar, and cinnamon and bring to boil.  Reduce heat and simmer. Fill the pie crust with your sliced apples and cover with the lattice top.  Pour your butter and sugar liquid over the top of the pie, slowly so it does not run off. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and continue to bake for 35-40 minutes, until apples are soft. Cover edges of pie with foil if they  become too brown before pie is done.