ridiculous apple pie and a short rant

My last apple pie left me sort of ho-hum.

It was lacking something.

Now I know..... it needed  a stick of butter and a cup of brown sugar. This simple addition, tucked away under the bottom crust, in your dutch oven is quite possibly the answer to all your questions about pie, apples, the changing of the seasons, the insanity that is the US government, your childrens’ obsession with legos, this fragile earth, and your mother in law’s refusal to age gracefully.

Just make it.

these are rogue apples....growing wild on our road

Here’s how. {and you will be pleased to know that I basically stuck with the recipe, unlike usual}

Preheat oven to 350.

3-4 pounds of a tart apple....peeled and chopped. Matt is my apple peeler, otherwise they would be unpeeled and chopped.

Toss apples with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 cup of sugar. The recipe called for more but it seemed a bit excessive.

In the bottom of a 10 inch cast iron skillet (I used my deeper dutch oven) melt 1 stick of butter. Throw in a cup of brown sugar and stir for a few minutes till goopy and mostly dissolved. It will be brown and thick. Remove from heat.



Place a pie crust, fresh or not, on top of this mixture. Add your apples, and put another pie crust on top.

Brush with egg white and dust with granulated sugar and bake for an hour. Check and bake for 10 more minutes if needed.

Let cool for at least 30 minutes and serve with whatever sinful dairy topping you prefer. The original recipe called for butter pecan ice cream, but I honest-to-God think it would be too much.

This really is a ridiculously good pie. A keeper for forever. Everyone was groaning and sighing and going on and on. This makes the Southerner in me very happy. Here in Durango, I’ll have to feel guilty for lots of things.....excessive sugar, gluten galore, a store bought crust, blah blah blah.

One of my best friends is a health freak. I mean FREAK!!! She once let me borrow a cook book, and in the introduction it made some jackass comment about how misguided we are to ‘love’ our family with food. She was referring to baking and sugar and comfort foods.

“Woman, you never met Weezie!!!”

(Weezie was my grandmother.)

Defensive?

I believe in both extremes and moderation all around.

So there!

Wasn’t it 'line one' in my job description to love with food? 

I didn’t leave you much room to disagree, did I? I’m actually curious and always welcome polite dissenters! 

Feel free to let me have it.