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.