I love to cook! I am not the best baker in the world. My most successful desserts are Tiramisu, a really great Salted Dark Chocolate Brownie and I also grill a fresh pineapple, serve it over store bought pound cake with caramel and Ho-made whipped cream. (Those all sound pretty good to me!) Ever since I was a young gal though I loved making apple pie. I find it relaxing and fun. Normally I would wait til September when the world around here is starting to cool and the sun is shining on a glorious Sunday afternoon and pick them myself–but someone asked me to make a pie for a bake sale, so here I go….
I am baking 3 pies so I use 8 pounds of apples. 4 pounds Fuji and 4 pounds Granny Smith. I like the sweet with the tart and they both hold up well in a pie. I peel and use my slicer and squeeze the juice of 1 lemon over top.
I have a confession to make. I can make pie crust–pâté brissee–but I hate it!!! It sucks the fun out for me, so I buy them….yeas, I said it. I use boughten pie crust. In a blind taste test only Martha Stewart and the Pillsbury Dough Dude would know which was which.
I wanted to fancy it up a bit. I thought about caramel, nuts, exotic spices and other fruits. It is finally glorious summer here so I picked berries and I just happened to have last summers Hanson hand-picked Wisconsin blackberries in the freezer…it seemed to me to be the perfect dress for this Pie Party.
Because this is for a good cause and a bake sale I wanted it to stand out and be pretty. I found a perfectly great Pyrex deep dish pie plate at the Resale shop I love and for $6.00 made it mine. I thought it would make the pie special and stand out from the rest.
I also dug out the good ole shoe box full o’ cookie cutters-I am gonna make this thing pretty.
I use my regular apple pie recipe-I just add 1 cup blackberries we picked last summer.
Apple Blackberry Pie
1 package pie crust…(shame me later!)
1/3 of the apples, about 4 cups sliced. I sprinkle with juice of 1/2 lemon, 2 tablespoons flour, 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon maple syrup, 1/2 teaspoon clove, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1 /2 teaspoon salt. Gently stir in black berries. I grate 1/2 stick of butter right over the pie fruit. Cover with top crust, you can go Plain Jane and just make a few slits with a knife…OR you can get all fancy and cut out hearts or flowers and make it extraordinary.
Cover your rim with foil or a pie garter and bake at 425 15 min, reduce to 325 bake for 1 hour more. Remove your foil the last 15 minutes to brown the rim. If the center ever looks to dark , just gently lay a piece of tin foil on top. Remove and smell and ENJOY..that is your pie pay off! Way fewer calories than a big slice and it is amazing! They try to make candles that smell like this!
Dad’s Dutch Apple
PoPo (my Dad) would not like Blackberries (seeds) in his store-bought teeth soooo he gets good old fashion Dutch Apple,
Everything but the berries go into his pie crust. Season apples just the same and instead of a top crust, cover with…
1 cup old fashion oats
1/2 cup cold butter grated
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup powdered sugar.
Mix and press on top of apples. Bake at 375 covered 45 min remove foil and bake 15 -25 min uncovered more.
Whatever is left for Erik Pie
Poor Hubs…I threw whatever I had left in a pie plate, baked it and ran. I left him with a full container of Cool Whip…He will be fine.
I don’t mean to brag, word on the street is I got almost $ 200.00 for the Bake Sale Pie. I think I should have a Bake Sale myself! Yanno….the secret ingredient of every pie is time and we all know these days time= LOVE. Go…bake an Apple Pie, Apple Blackberry Pie, 4 and 20 blackbirds in a Pie or a Mrs. Smiths… Just try to bake a Pie for someone, bake a pie for yourself. You will be glad you did.
Sincerely, Sara
