Tag Archives: Apple Pie

Apple Cider Caramel Slab Pie with Oat Almond Crisp Topping

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If you can’t decide between apple pie or apple crisp, have both! This Apple Cider Caramel Slab Pie with Oat and Almond Crisp topping is the best of both worlds.

The apples, I used a mix of Honeycrisp and Granny Smith, get a coating of apple cider caramel before baking. The filling recipe for this dessert was created by the pie queen Erin Jeanne McDowell. She literally wrote The Book on Pie. She had the brilliant idea to reduce apple cider to a caramel-like consistency. It creates the most intense apple flavoured pie you will ever eat. It takes about 20 minutes to cook down the cider to a thin caramel.

Check out this video on how it all comes together.

I adapted Erin’s recipe and baked it in a quarter sheet pan to make a slab pie. I decided to forgo the top pie crust and finish mine with an Oat and Almond Crisp Topping.

This is my go-to crisp topping. I always have a bag of it in the freezer ready to top whatever fruit is in season. Crumbly and buttery, packed with chopped toasted almonds, oats, brown sugar and flour, it never fails to satisfy.

A scoop of salted caramel or butterscotch ice cream would be very welcome.

Click here to print recipe for Caramel Apple Cider Slab Pie with Oat and Almond Crisp Topping.

Cider Caramel Apple Pie

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In December, I stumbled upon this adorable heart embossed rolling pin on Etsy.

I had big plans for this rolling pin. It was destined to decorate the top of an apple pie, as a Valentine’s Day treat for my husband. While chocolate is the traditional Valentine’s Day treat, apple pie is what makes his heart beat a little faster. I decided to create Erin Jean McDowell‘s Cider Caramel Apple Pie. She literally wrote The Book on Pie.

The pie is sweetened with an apple cider based caramel. You boil down 8 cups of apple cider, for almost 45 minutes, until it is reduced to the consistency of caramel. When mixed with the apples, it creates a sweet-tart filling with a rich creaminess.

Erin suggest that you take your time and arrange the apples carefully in the pie shell, forming concentric circles. That way, you avoid big air gaps, and your top crust won’t cave in after baking.

The pie looked beautiful going into the oven.

Sadly, the embossed design disappeared with baking. I think that the rolling pin would be more successful with cookie dough, as it spends less time in the oven. So, as they said in 2020, I had to pivot. As a food blogger and photographer, I have learned to become a problem solver. My husband is thrilled when I need to resort to Plan B, because it leaves Plan A for him to eat, without having to wait for me to finish shooting. Food blogger problems!😉

Plan B involved pulling out my heart shaped cookie cutters. I have quite an assortment of sizes. I decided to make mini pies, because, well, mini pies are just cuter.

These pies looked just as beautiful coming out of the oven as they did going in. And the taste! The had a bright, intense apple flavour with just a hint of caramel sweetness.

Click here to print recipe for Cider-Caramel-Apple-PieDownload

Apple Cheddar Hand Pies

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Happy Pi Day (3.14/March 14). Pie making is not my strong suit. I have always struggled with uneven and cracking dough while rolling, and shrinking dough while baking. I’m much more comfortable whipping up a swiss meringue buttercream for a cake or a dozen salted caramel macarons.

It seems like every day is National Something or Other Day. There is actually a calendar to keep us informed. Did you know that April 14 is National Ex-Spouse Day? Maybe people celebrate it with a smash cake? Some food bloggers are super organized and maintain an editorial calendar to track and feature all these days. Sadly, I don’t fall into that category. But, Pi day is something I feel like I can get behind. Last year we celebrated with Spiced Lamb Hand Pies.

I have a thing for hand pies. They’re just so adorable and I feel no guilt about eating a tiny pie.

The pie dough for this recipe comes from pastry wizzard Stella Parks, over at Serious Eats. She calls for a 1:1 ratio of flour:butter, by weight. Most typical pastry dough recipes use more flour than butter. The extra butter in her dough creates a dough that’s pliable but strong, making cracks and tears a thing of the past.
It gets folded once, to create extra flaky layers.

The apple filling is classic and simple. Apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and a pinch of salt.
Sharp white cheddar makes a fine companion for apples, but use orange cheddar if that’s all you have.
I decided to get fancy and make a decorative braided border on my pies. Ever since I saw this Apricot Pie I wanted to try my hand at dough braiding. I still need a bit of practice, but it was fun to do. You can simply leave them plain and they’ll be equally delicious

Click here to get recipe for Cheddar Apple Hand Pies.

If you plan to make these, I highly recommend watching Stella’s video demonstrating how to make the dough.