Like cheese.
Just kidding. American cheese is gross.
We've moved by the way. I am no longer freezing in Idaho! I'm roasting in Arizona! Sigh. From one extreme to the other.
When we moved in, we found out our oven's temperature gauge had been mangled by the previous tenant in an effort to get a new oven. I didn't know this. I went to make a sour cream pound cake and preheated the oven to 350. About thirty minutes later, the preheating light was still on.
Thinking it had to be preheated by now, I went to open the door. It burned my hand. The handle was so hot I had to use an oven mitt just to open the thing! I put the cake in and set the timer for ten minutes to come check on it. After two minutes I got the feeling I needed to check.
Two minutes and the sides were burned and the top was browned. This cake was supposed to take an HOUR to bake!
Long story somewhat shorter we got a new oven after a month of waiting.
To inaugurate our sparkling new appliance, I decided to make apple pie. I got the recipe from AllRecipes.com and tweaked it based on the reviews.
Speaking of reviews this recipe had over 4000! AND it was still FIVE STARS! I couldn't believe it.
Apple Pie
Two 9 inch pie crusts (I used the refrigerated ones from the grocery store)
6 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1/4 c water
1/2 c butter
1/2 c white sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
4 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 350. Unroll pie crust into bottom of pie dish. In a medium saucepan, melt butter. Add flour to create a paste. Add both sugars, water, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Stir occasionally and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer. Add apple slices and toss to coat. Spoon apples into crust, reserving some of the syrup for the top. Place top crust and seal edges. The original recipe said to lattice the top crust. Im lazy. I just put it on top and cut a few slits for venting. Brush remaining syrup mixture on top crust. Cover a baking sheet with foil and put pie on top. This catches any spills and makes for easy clean up. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour.
The inside will be REALLY runny if you eat it fresh from the oven. Plus it will be like eating a mouthful of lava. I let it rest for a few hours and cool. It was perfect. The apples were soft and flavorful. The syrup mixture turned into a buttery caramel sauce and the cinnamon and nutmeg added that familiar homemade comfort. I have yet to try it a la mode, but there's still over half the pie left and a half gallon of blue bell vanilla ice cream in my freezer.
Husband, who doesn't like pie or cooked fruit said "That's actually pretty good. The crust isn't crusty and dry. It soaked up the sauce stuff." As someone who DOES like (more like adore) pie, I couldn't believe the texture and flavor! I'm not a big apple pie fan, but this was decadent. Rich but not overpowering. I will definitely make this a repeater!
