More Apples!

I've been cooking lots of yummy things this week. I'm feeling like my house is a mess and things are a bit hectic but I'm trying to roll with it and spend a lot of time on the floor with my son and in the kitchen keeping good meals on the table for all of us. Of course I'm also trying to use up these apples and so here are a few of the things I've made so far.



Grandma's Apple Pie (from the North Carolina Apple Growers Association)
5 to 6 cooking apples
3/4 cup of sugar
3 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3 tablespoons butter
dash of salt
double pie crust for a 9 inch deep dish pie

Peel and slice apples. Add lemon juice and toss. Sprinkle some of the sugar and cinnamon in bottom of crust. Add 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. put half of slices of apples in crust; add half the sguar, cinnamon, nutmeg and 1 tablespoon cornstarch. Add rest of ingredients, piling apples high. Dot with butter. Top with crust. Cut vents. Sprinkle sugar on top of crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.



Upside Down Southern Applie Pie (Elizabeth Deer Wake Forest, NC)
1/4 C butter, softened
2/3 cup pecan halves
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar, divided
pie crust for 9-inch double crust deep dish pie
6 medium apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced (romes are good but I used winesap and it was really nice
juice of 1 lemon, strained to remove seeds
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup chopped pecans

preheat oven to 450. spread butter in bottom of a 9-inch deep pie plate. Arrange pecan halves in pie plate rounded side down and gently press into butter. Sprinkle 2/3 Cup of brown sugar over pecans and press firmly onto sides and bottom. Place pie crust on top of pecan sugar mixture.

In a bowl, combine remaining brown sugar, lemon juice, flour, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and chopped pecans. Sprinkle mixture over apples and toss gently. Spoon apple filling into pie crust. Put top crust on. Press edges together, then flute and pinch to let steam escape. You may want to place the pie on a baking sheet, because the brown sugar may bubble over the side during cooking.

Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temp to 350 and bake an additional 30-40 minutes or until apples are soft and crust is golden brown. Cool 5 minutes. Flip on plate to serve upside down with vanilla ice cream.



Warm Apple Cobbler
I'm not even going to tell you this recipe because although I've made it before and enjoyed it quite a bit it has WAY too much butter in it and this time we made it, took a taste of it and threw it in the trash because it was disgusting. Maybe it would have helped if I'd doubled the amount of apples so the butter evened out or something but whoa - not cool. I love butter don't get me wrong, and most good things have lots of butter in them, but this totally crossed the line of being good and buttery and was just icky.


Apple Cider Pudding Cake