APPLE CRISP-- PIE!*

This originally started out to be something called Grandma Ople's Pie.  This might look like a regular pie* (sort of?), but I now call it my "Apple Crisp Pie" because of the way I changed how I like to make it.   There are actual recipes on the Internet for "Apple Crisp Pie", too, but mine looks still different than those, too. 

 

Instead of a crumbly topping being sprinkled on and becoming 'crisp' as with a usual recipe for an apple crisp, it's the "brushed" lattice work crust that is the 'crisp' in this case...

If you don't want to bake this recipe in a PIE dish and use a double crust, you could put the apples in a sprayed/buttered 9x13-inch baking dish, pour 3/4 of the sauce evenly over them, top with a crust and brush the remaining 1/4 of sauce on that (lattice style crust works best because it lets the excess sauce drip through to the apples as they cook).

 

Above:  Because I didn't use all Granny Smith apples, you can see that the slices did not stay very defined-- plus, I baked this 'pie crisp' for an extra 10 minutes.  Some people do NOT like to see apple slices 'too cooked' like this, but I do.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED (for pie form):

• One recipe of pastry for a 9-inch double crust pie (use your favorite recipe; mine is listed under 'pie crust' on the right side of my blog's home page).  The following mix is the same as in Grandma Ople's pie, but then I change to 'my own directions' with the sweet sauce (syrup?).

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• 1/2 cup (1stick) butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional

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7-8 average sized Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced. (The pictures in this posting are of when I used only four Granny Smiths, and some of another softer/sweeter
variety-- if you like a 'tart' kind of crisp, use all Granny Smiths; if you do not like 'tart', use a combination of yellow delicious and another sweeter apple,)

DIRECTIONS:

• For a regular Apple Crisp Pie, place the bottom crust into your 9-inch pie dish, cover and set aside.
• To prepare the sauce (as listed above):  Melt the butter in a saucepan.  Stir in flour to form a paste.  Stirring constantly, add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring just barely to a boil.  Immediately, reduce heat to lowest setting and let it 'simmer' like that while you prepare the apples.

Even the peelings are BEAUTIFUL!!!

• For pie form, fill the bottom crust with apple slices, mounded slightly (mounded maybe by an inch or two).  
• Slowly pour about 3/4 of your warm butter/sugar mixture evenly over the apple slices so that it can seep through the slices.
• Cover with a lattice work crust.  As you can see in this next photo, the hurry-up in this 'non-perfectionist' does not have the lattice work woven correctly, but, believe me, that is not going to show up, nor matter, once this pie is done. IF I thought this was going to be critically judged, I'd make sure those 'weavings' were done as perfectly as possible.  Besides that, Martha Stewart will not be stopping in today!)

• Personally, I like doing the following: Very slowly and evenly, pour (brushing works better) the remaining 1/4 of your buttery/sugary mixture over the TOP of the lattice work crust, covering it evenly-- this will make the crust 'crisp'-- thus the name Apple Crisp Pie.

In the photo below, I show that when I first started making the Grandma Ople's pie, the one I now call an Apple Crisp Pie, I poured all (100%) of the warm butter/sugar mix on TOP of the lattice work crust, as directed to!   It is good like that, but, by just looking at the next photo, you just k-n-o-w SOME is going to be seeping into the pie, AND SOME will be running 'over the cliffs'!  Because of this, as stated above, I now prefer to pour 3/4  of the sauce over 'bare apples' and brush (like a glaze) the other 1/4 over the lattice crust.

• Set pie dish on a parchment paper (see my note about parchment paper under 'Gadgets I Like') or on a foil-lined cookie pan (pan with an edge, for just in case) and bake as directed below.  Placing the dish on paper/foil will save you the job of cleaning the oven if some  of the apple juice and syrupy stuff runs off or bubbles over, ... like this...

Above:  This 'dripover' scrapes off very easily as soon as the pie is out of the oven (see first picture at the top of this posting).

• Bake in a 425-degree oven for only 15 minutes; then reduce temperature to 350 degrees.  Continue baking for 45-50 minutes, check it.   (With my oven, when I'm using 'double crusts', I have a better experience when I bake this pie on a rack that's one notch lower than middle so the bottom crust will bake better.)

Depending on how many apples you piled into it, you might need to give it more time.  With the mound that I had on this particular pie, I had to add another 10 minutes to the above. Even at the end of the cooking time, just to make sure, I tested 'softeness' of the apples by sticking a fork down into the middle of the pie.

*This was originally intended to be like "Grandma Ople's Pie", and, even if the sauce ingredients have mostly stayed the same, it's now just a little different.