Ohhh, I love a good apple pie! Last night I was walking around the house lamenting the fact that there was no dessert. (Fanciful Twist was talking all about pie and my mouth was watering.) I only had 3 apples so I figured I couldn't make a pie. Hhowever, I thought I'd cut up apples for a small crisp or something. The apples turned out to be bigger than I thought and by the time I had peeled them, I thought, 'these will work!'
My mother and I are both hypoglycemic so we 'try' to avoid sugar as best we can. Kind of hard when I love all things carbs but she makes her apple pies with apple juice concentrate instead of lots of sugar. I've always preferred it this way. I've played with her simple recipe a bit and think I've improved it. I think the lemon addition is my favorite part. As a bite is leaving your mouth, you're left with this fresh lemon tart taste. So refreshing.
Mom's Scrumptious Apple Pie (tweeked)
3-6 apples (I use either the yellow/red apples like Gala or Fuji, or a mix of Delicious & Granny Smith)
1/2 can Apple juice concentrate, frozen
1 whole lemon
2-4 tsp flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
2 heaping tsp sugar substitute (or use real sugar) * optional *
1/2 stick butter (1/4 cup)
2 pie crusts (I used frozen deep dish)
2 Tbsp melted butter
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place rack on the lowest notch in oven and put a baking tray covered in foil on rack.
Set the 2 frozen crusts out to thaw.
Peel, core & slice all apples, placing them in a bowl of cold water and 1/2 of a lemon's juice.
Soak apples for 10 minutes while you gather other ingredients.
Drain the liquid from the bowl.
Add flour, spices/salt, sugar substitute and frozen apple juice.
* For an easy way to get lemon juice... Put 1/2 a lemon in a plastic bag. Squeeze lemon until all juice is collecting in bottom. Snip a small corner of the bag and add all juice to the bowl. Should be about 2 Tbsp. *
After a good stir, pour all the juices out of the apples into a microwave safe bowl. Add 2-3 Tbsp of butter. Heat in the microwave until the juices have reduced a bit, about 5 minutes.
Pour this boiling liquid over the apples in the bowl.
Cut the top edge off of one of the pie crusts.
Pour the apple mixture into this pie crust.
Top the apple mixture with remaining stick of butter in pats.
Top this pie with the other pie crust, squishing the edges down onto the bottom pie crust to join them.
With the edges that you cut off, form the dough into a ball, pat out a thin-ish pancake and cut out flowers or leaves for decoration.
Add pieces to the top of the pie. Cut several slits in the pie for steam to escape.
Brush top with melted butter.
Make edge covers out of foil to keep the edges from burning. (don't add to the pie until about 25 mins into baking.)
Bake 45-55 minutes until an apple pulled out of a slit is lightly crisp, not mushy.
Let cool for an hour so the juices can flow back into the apples.
Enjoy!
My mother and I are both hypoglycemic so we 'try' to avoid sugar as best we can. Kind of hard when I love all things carbs but she makes her apple pies with apple juice concentrate instead of lots of sugar. I've always preferred it this way. I've played with her simple recipe a bit and think I've improved it. I think the lemon addition is my favorite part. As a bite is leaving your mouth, you're left with this fresh lemon tart taste. So refreshing.
Mom's Scrumptious Apple Pie (tweeked)
3-6 apples (I use either the yellow/red apples like Gala or Fuji, or a mix of Delicious & Granny Smith)
1/2 can Apple juice concentrate, frozen
1 whole lemon
2-4 tsp flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
2 heaping tsp sugar substitute (or use real sugar) * optional *
1/2 stick butter (1/4 cup)
2 pie crusts (I used frozen deep dish)
2 Tbsp melted butter
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place rack on the lowest notch in oven and put a baking tray covered in foil on rack.
Set the 2 frozen crusts out to thaw.
Peel, core & slice all apples, placing them in a bowl of cold water and 1/2 of a lemon's juice.
Soak apples for 10 minutes while you gather other ingredients.
Drain the liquid from the bowl.
Add flour, spices/salt, sugar substitute and frozen apple juice.
* For an easy way to get lemon juice... Put 1/2 a lemon in a plastic bag. Squeeze lemon until all juice is collecting in bottom. Snip a small corner of the bag and add all juice to the bowl. Should be about 2 Tbsp. *
After a good stir, pour all the juices out of the apples into a microwave safe bowl. Add 2-3 Tbsp of butter. Heat in the microwave until the juices have reduced a bit, about 5 minutes.
Pour this boiling liquid over the apples in the bowl.
Cut the top edge off of one of the pie crusts.
Pour the apple mixture into this pie crust.
Top the apple mixture with remaining stick of butter in pats.
Top this pie with the other pie crust, squishing the edges down onto the bottom pie crust to join them.
With the edges that you cut off, form the dough into a ball, pat out a thin-ish pancake and cut out flowers or leaves for decoration.
Add pieces to the top of the pie. Cut several slits in the pie for steam to escape.
Brush top with melted butter.
Make edge covers out of foil to keep the edges from burning. (don't add to the pie until about 25 mins into baking.)
Bake 45-55 minutes until an apple pulled out of a slit is lightly crisp, not mushy.
Let cool for an hour so the juices can flow back into the apples.
Enjoy!
I have Splenda in my home, so I am excited to try this recipe out! Also, I am glad that you were able to extend those apples for a pie! Sometimes, an apple can be deceivingly small, but it is actually quite substantial.
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