My First Apple Pie

I am obsessed with apples lately and was excited about all the different kinds overflowing my local grocery store. So, on a whim I decided to pick up some things and make my very first apple pie! Why not, right? Here is what I did and it turned out absolutely delicious and was so easy!

Fire Level: yellow

Ingredients

• 2 pie crusts (eventually I will make my own, but this time I just bought frozen)




• 2 tbs cinnamon




• 1/2 cup butter




• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour




• 1/2 cup white sugar




• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I like the dark brown sugar)




• 1/4 cup water




• 6-8 Granny Smith apples

Step 1: Thaw Crust

Keep one crust in the foil pan it comes in. For the other crust, after thawed, pressed it out onto the counter and cut it into strips.

Step 2: Prepare apples

Peel the skin off the apples, and dice them up into cubes, removing the core. Then toss them in a bowl with cinnamon and make sure the apples are thoroughly coated.

Step 3: Prepare the sauce

Melt the butter in a sauce pan and stir in the flower until it is desolved, almost forming a paste. Then add both sugars and water. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the temperature to medium low and let simmer for about 5 minutes.

Step 4: Prepare your pie

While the sauce is simmering, pour your apples into the bottom crust of the pie. They should form a heaping mound of apples. Then take the strips of the other pie crust and lay them across the top of the apples in a criss-cross pattern. Press the ends of each strip into the edge of the bottom crust of the pie.

Step 5: Pour on the good stuff

Gently pour the sauce over the crust and into the apples. Make sure you pour very slowly so that the sauce seeps into the apples and does not run off the top and onto the counter.

Step 6: Bake your pie

Bake the pie for 15 minutes at 425 degrees uncovered. Then, reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking another 35-45 minutes covered with foil.

Step 7: Enjoy!

Remove and enjoy. I like serving with vanilla ice cream or vanilla frozen yogurt.

The Great Apple Debate

I love this time of year. There are apples, apples everywhere! I never used to be a big apple fan. I think it was the texture/thought of biting into it that bothered me, however recently there have been many nutrition articles about how good they are for you. They are wonderful for staying full, healthy and fit, so I decided to go on a quest. I am going to try every kind of apple I come across and determine which ones are my favorite. Here is what I have tried so far:

Honeycrisp: These are my favorite so far. They are kind of big so I actually get full eating one, but they are juicy and have a slight sweetness to them. The flavor is delicious!

Granny Smith: One of the most popular apples, these are easy to find, but are extremely sour. I can't eat one very easily buy itself. I either have to mix it with yogurt or eat it with peanut butter.

Golden Delicioius: I think this apple isn't crispy enough for me. It's kind of soft in the middle and doesn't have a whole lot of flavor.

I am going to continue to update this list as I try more kinds. Any recommendations?