Weekend Recipe: Aunt Carol's Apple Pie

Did you go apple picking this year?
One of the fabulous aspects of fall {in my opinion} is the opportunity to change up the cooking.
Chili, soups, roasted veggies, apple pie, pot roast, fall recipes.
Mmm...

One year, it was my job to bring the apple pie to thanksgiving dinner. I had never {really} made a successful apple pie. Apple crisp. Check. Apple pie. Not. I did volunteer as I had an abundance of apples that year {I think we went to the orchard to pick apples at least 3 times}.

I searched my favorite iPhone app for apple pie recipes{allrecipes - they also have a website} and came across Aunt Carol's Apple Pie. As I read through the directions, I couldn't believe my luck. It looked easy, tasty AND best of all, it received 4.5 stars {out of 5} with many positive reviews.

I brought my newborn son and my homemeade Apple Pie to thanksgiving... Success. And it was done with a newborn... The most time-consuming = coring & peeling the apples.

In light of fall in New England, I'm going to share the best apple pie secret I know. Please comment if you have suggestions on making it even tastier!
{found here: Aunt Carol's Apple Pie}

Aunt Carol's Apple Pie

8 Servings, Prep Time: 25 Minutes, Cook Time: 1 Hour
Description

Everyone in the family has something that they're the best at making. I make the best cookies, my sister, Carol, makes the best pies in the whole world! . . . no competition in our family! This recipe includes an ingredient called free flowing brown sugar. This is a non-clumping or caking version of ordinary brown sugar. It has a lower moisture content then the traditional one, which makes it free flowing much like granulated sugar. It is available at most specialty supermarket. If it is not available in your part of the world, use regular brown sugar and make sure it is broken up, free of clumps. Macintosh or Granny Smith apples are the best choices for apple pie because they are the least mushy apples.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds Granny Smith apples
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie

Directions

1. Peel and slice apples. Toss with sugars, cinnamon and flour. Set aside.
2. Roll crust to make slightly larger to fit 10-inch glass pie pan. Fit bottom crust in pie pan. Turn in apple mixture and dot with butter. Put crust on top and crimp edges of crust together.
3. Wet hands with water and dampen top of pie. Sprinkle with additional sugar. Puncture top of pie with fork so pie will vent.

Bake for 15 minutes at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C), reduce heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and continue baking for about 45 minutes more, until crust is golden brown. It's a good practice to place a piece of aluminum foil slightly larger than the pie under the pie plate to catch overflows. Serve warm.

A few tips:

• Granny Smith does work best, but I have used McIntosh, Macoun and Gala.
• It's ok if you don't have 2 pounds - one time I used 1.25 pounds of apples (and used less sugar).
• If you are up for it, try making your own pie crust - I did and it was delicious (although, now I can't find the pie crust recipe I originally used)
• I improvised and made a few changes, but I'll let you decide what changes you want to make.

 As an added bonus - the nutrition information - although you should probably block it out.

Nutritional Information Servings Per Recipe: 8 Amount Per Serving Calories: 492 Cholesterol: 7.6mg Protein: 3.9g Dietary Fiber: 5.5g Sodium: 257.0mg Fat: 18.3g Carbohydrates: 81.0g

Happy Weekend!