Skillet Apple Pie (aka my newest obsession)

You know me as a friendly foodie, an easygoing gal, someone who likes to live and let live, agrees we can't all like the same foods or that would be boring right? Well that ends RIGHT DAMN NOW BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO MAKE THIS PIE.

I found the recipe via Flicks And Food, a San-Antonio based website that reviews food, restaurants, movies, and shares some delicious recipes, too. I follow them on Facebook & Twitter and stopped in my tracks when I recently saw a recipe for Skillet Apple Pie. Then and there I declared "it will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine!"

And it was AWESOME.

This couldn't be easier--melt a stick of butter and a cup of brown sugar in the skillet BEFORE placing the first crust in the cast-iron. Add your filling, top with the second crust, brush the crust with egg & sugar, and let the oven and the cast iron get to bubbling.

Sweet googaly-MOOGALY was THIS outstanding. The butter and sugar caramelize in the most delicious way, making the crust chewy and almost like a crackly brulée. YUM. You know how sometimes you take a bite of something and think "Hmm, it's missing something?" Not here. This is crack pie, I'm telilng you. It will be on my Thanksgiving menu this year, and I have a feeling I'll be trying all kinds of fillings. Up next, Skillet PEACH pie!

The recipe is below (note: I only used 2 lbs of Granny Smith total, and vanilla ice cream instead of butter pecan. There really is no wrong way to do this!)
See the original post here on Flicks & Food and tell them I said Howdy!

Now get back in that kitchen and finish making that pie! You can thank me later...by saving me a piece. Seriously...GO!

Skillet Apple Pie

Ingredients
• 2 pounds Granny Smith apples
• 2 pounds Braeburn apples
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 (14.1-oz.) package refrigerated piecrusts
• 1 egg white
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• Butter-pecan ice cream

Preparation
• 1. Preheat oven to 350º. Peel apples, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick wedges. Toss apples with cinnamon and 3/4 cup granulated sugar.
• 2. Melt butter in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet over medium heat; add brown sugar, and cook, stirring constantly, 1 to 2 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, and place 1 piecrust in skillet over brown sugar mixture. Spoon apple mixture over piecrust, and top with remaining piecrust. Whisk egg white until foamy. Brush top of piecrust with egg white; sprinkle with 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar. Cut 4 or 5 slits in top for steam to escape.
• 3. Bake at 350º for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly, shielding with aluminum foil during last 10 minutes to prevent excessive browning, if necessary. Cool on a wire rack 30 minutes before serving. Serve with butter-pecan ice cream.


Follow @Lkpnyc

My very first-ever Pecan Pie!

I admit it: I have long snubbed pecan pie.

My senior year of high school, this dessert, treacly sweet and inedible to me, was at every single college dinner, awards ceremony, etc. I put it aside and dismissed it as not worth the time and calories. But a while back, and I can't even remember where, I tasted a bite of ABF's dessert (he is a fan) and it was unlike any pecan pie I'd ever sampled. It wasn't so sweet that my teeth hurt, it had depth and texture and wasn't all gooey. Okay, time to tackle this treat after all.

Cherry Pie

This Thanksgiving I made another cherry pie, though I hit a snag or two in my routine. Foodtown no longer carries the sour cherries I normally use. My only option? Pre-mixed pie filling. I didn't know if it tasted good, was sicky sweet, or anything, but time was ticking, so I had to go with it. Also? EIGHT DOLLARS A JAR! What?!?!

Briermere Farms

We finally made it back to Briemere Farms! Okay, I made it 'back,' and I took some friends with me.

Years and years ago, my dear friend Eleanor invited my mother and me out to a share house on Shelter Island. On the way, we stopped at Briemere Farms, where we picked up some sunflowers, fresh-made bread, and warm out of the oven pies. I still remember that place, and I've long wanted to return, but it's a good haul out there.

God bless ABF. He played host again and drove his new Prius to escort Jenezuela, her husband, and me out to the North Fork of Long Island. Briermere was our first stop, and even though it was almost closing time, there was still a long, long line out the door, as people queued up for fresh pies and jams, jellies, and breads.

The sign is there to warn you: some varieties sell out fast and furiously. I knew exactly what I was getting: raspberry cream pie! That's what we had years ago, and I remembered a thick, ruby-red, sweet-tart layer of fresh raspberries. ABF ordered peach, another excellent choice!

While we waited for the pies, ABF spotted some caramel apples on the shelf. They're 2.50 each, so he got one and, like the mensch he is, shared it with me. BEST. CARAMEL APPLE. EVERRRRRRRRR. I didn't even think I'd LIKE it. I've had too many caramel apples where the candy layer almost takes out a tooth. This concoction was perfection: soft, buttery caramel with a crunchy layer of nuts, and a crispy, tart Granny Smith apple inside. Outstanding. We are SO getting more of these!

It took me a few days to open up the pie, but when I did, it still looked gorgeous. Check out the sunshine beaming off it! I cut it open and thought it looked like a LOT more cream than I remember--did they add more? I could swear they added more. My first bites weren't quite as I remembered, but it was still soft. I definitely think ABF would not like this one--he's not a big raspberry fan.

The nice thing? This pie gets better every single day. If you're picking one up, give it a day or two before you serve it. Now the flavors have come together nicely--this pie has sweet but not too sweet cream, and the tart bright berries on a super-fresh crust. Win.

The following weekend I tried a tiny piece (tiny! tiny! TINY!) of ABF's peach pie. This was pretty tasty. The fruit was super soft and the crust was perfect. It was also quite pretty. I would have liked maybe some almond extract in it, but that's just my almond addiction doing the talking there. This was a delicious dessert, and I'm sure adding a scoop of Haagen-Dazs vanilla would only make it better.

Go visit!:
Briermere Farms
4414 Sound Ave., Riverhead, NY 11901

Parker's Pies

I'm working to become as comfortable baking as I am with cooking...and I'm learning that I can make one mean pie. These are shots of my cherry pie, which I made for Thanksgiving with my BF's family. There was a change in plans later in the evening, and we never got around to dessert, so the feedback (and the feeding) would have to wait.

The BF & I had slivers of each pie later that night. I thought they came out alright, myself. The cherry pie was much better than the pumpkin pie, which was a variation on a Smitten Kitchen recipe. This is the first time I DIDN'T fawn all over the results. This recipe called for a can of sweet potatoes, and for you to push the filling through a sieve, making it silky smooth. Texture-wise it was noticeably smoother than regular pumpkin pie, but to me it tasted like.. well.. sweet potato pie. which is fine. But I didn't push that filling through my insanely-fine sieve for 30 minutes to acheive something I did not prefer to my old standard, the tried and true Libby's pumpkin pie (yummmmmmm). This is in no way a reflection on Smitten Kitchen--just a show of my odd tastes.

The cherry pie, however, is a favorite standout of mine. I don't normally like cooked fruit (yeah, i said it), but take some sour cherries and add some sugar, real butter, and a flaky crust, and I'm in 100 percent. I also took the liberty of nearly doubling the amount of cherries.



I took photos of the pumpkin pie-making process, but forgot to take a picture of the completed pie! And even though Smitten Kitchen warned me to make sure my sieve wasn't super-fine...it was. The pie just wasn't that spectacular, as I said, so I'm not too mad at myself for missing the finished product pic.


The best part?? BF's dad RAVED about my cherry pie. Said in the few days after I baked it, it was off the charts fantastic, and told BF to remember to tell me. So, yay me. :)