Delicious Apple Pie for the Birthday Boy

One birthday tradition I love is to allow the birthday boy or girl choose the meal for dinner. This year, Little Man has become quite a good little eater. He loves steak and chicken, tacos and spaghetti. I had no idea what he would choose for his birthday dinner.

He thought about it long and hard and decided that he wanted Curried Chicken Pot Pie for the meal with homemade bread and Apple Pie for his birthday dessert.

One of my favorite Apple Pie recipes is Grandma Ople's Apple Pie from Allrecipes. I don't know who Grandma Ople is, but she is one clever lady. Little Man LOVES this pie.

I started with a blend of Granny Smith and Gala apples.

Peel all the apples. I hate this part; I'm not going to sugar coat it. I would buy one of those apple peeler gadgets, but think I'd hate cleaning and assembling it more than I hate the peeling. I'm just not as good at peeling as my mom is. Bummer.

 

 Next, slice the apples into thin (1/4" thick) slices and core the apple at the same time.

I'm still married, btw. My rings needed to be cleaned and re-sized, so hence the ring-less fingers.

Toss the apples in a bowl and squeeze some lemon juice over them, or use the bottled lemon juice. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon on top and some freshly grated nutmeg--about 1/8 teaspoon.

Next, get your pie crust ready. I almost always use homemade since I discovered a couple good recipes, but today I just didn't have the time. I took the Pillsbury way out. Don't hate me.

Toss your apples in there and get going on the next step, which requires a stick of butter, brown and white sugars, and flour.

Get melting that butter over medium heat.

Add in your other ingredients: flour and sugars, then bring to a boil.

Mix well to avoid lumps. I love, love, LOVE this tiny whisk for making roux or for this recipe. It's from Pampered Chef. I highly recommend. While I think of it, preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

While the caramel syrup is coming to a boil, prepare your top crust. I couldn't just do a plain top crust. The reasons are two-fold: 1. I'm a nut-job and can't make anything "simple." 2. It's a Birthday Pie! It needs a little birthday love in the form of a number SIX!

I also couldn't stop at just a number 6. SO I cut out tiny stars out of the "6" scraps and added those, too.

I have issues, but at least I recognize it!

By now your caramel syrup topping should be at a lovely rapid boil, like so:

Let it boil for a few minutes and it will reduce a bit. It will become a nice caramel brown color and smell delicious. Be careful; it's VERY hot!

Next, carefully and slowly pour the topping over the apple pie. It works to beautifully color the top of the pie, bring amazing flavor and it also drips all inside the pie. Yum!

You'll want to use a silicone pastry brush to evenly spread the caramel-y goodness all over the top of the pie.

Wipe the edges of the pie plate (to keep it pretty) and place on a foil-covered heavy baking sheet. Bake according to recipe, and enjoy!

Isn't it lovely?

Isn't he lovely?

The pie was delicious and Little Man was thrilled with how it turned out. I was too! He ate his entire piece and was ready for seconds before I sat down to eat my piece! I guess he was a fan!

And guess how he rewarded his mama? In the best possible way:

Lucky me.

Grandma Ople's Apple Pie

adapted from Allrecipes

1 recipe of pastry for a 9" double crust pie

7-8 peeled, cored and sliced apples, I use Granny Smith and Gala or Golden Delicious

Juice of 1/2of a lemon

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4-1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1/4 cup water

3 TB. flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare crust in 9" pie plate. Peel, core and slice apples. Toss apples with the lemon juice, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium sized bowl. Add to the prepared crust and top with the 2nd crust.

Over medium heat, melt the butter. Add water, flour, and sugars. Bring to a rapid boil for several minutes, reducing. Carefully pour over the crust, ensuring it is evenly covered using a pastry brush. Place pie plate on a foil-covered baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 and bake for 35-45 minutes longer, until apples are tender-crisp. Cool and serve!