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Fall is that awesome time of year when the temps begin to fall and beautiful warm shades of yellow, orange, and soft reds begin to color the landscape, which has me longing for the sweet aroma of autumn. Although wax melts and scented candles do a great job, nothing compares to what is baking in the oven! After researching and writing about Cultural Fit these past 2 months, I’m ready for the warm and fuzzy feeling that accompanies fall scents and comfort food. And, apple pie is a great place to start!
Growing up in San Francisco we had a backyard apple tree at our home. I fondly remember the tree bearing awesome apples in September, which turned into many baked apple pies through October. This past week I had a hankering for mom’s homemade apple pie and unfortunately she was never one to write down recipes. It was more of “a little of this and a little of that”, which always led to perfection. So, I decided to create an apple pie recipe, merging flavors from my mom’s baking along with some of my favorites. The end result…a lemon almond apple pie with cranberries. This pie certainly lives up to my expectations in both fall aroma and TASTE, somewhat resembling a strudel pie.
Gluten-Free (GF) readers, I have not yet mastered making GF pie dough. I purchased, instead, frozen GF piecrust in the freezer section of the grocery store. The package comes with two already prepared piecrusts in aluminum pie containers. I filled one of the piecrust with fruit filling. The other, I scrapped out all the dough, divided into 5 small sections and carefully rolled dough into strips to lay on top of the pie filling. It came out “artisan” great!
Listed below is the recipe inspired by and shared from Taste of Home published recipe, which comes closest to my mom’s home baked apple pies, especially using lemon. In bold and underlined are my tweaks. Get started and fill your home with the aroma of autumn giving this amazing bake a try that will warm your heart and bring you some cozy fall comfort!
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (gluten-free APF like Pamela’s or Cup 4 Cup)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
6 to 7 cups thinly sliced peeled tart apples
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon of pure almond extract
½ cup dried cranberries
Pastry for double-crust pie (9 inches)
1 tablespoon butter
1 large egg white
Additional sugar
DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl, combine the sugars, flour and spices; set aside. In a large bowl, toss apples and cranberries with lemon juice and pure almond flavoring. Add sugar mixture; toss to coat.
Line a 9-in. pie plate with bottom crust; trim pastry even with edge. Fill with apple mixture; dot with butter. Roll out remaining pastry to fit top of pie. Place over filling. Trim, seal and flute edges. Cut slits in pastry.
Beat egg white until foamy; brush over pastry. Sprinkle with sugar. Cover edges loosely with foil.
Bake at 375° for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake 20-25 minutes longer or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack. Yield: 8 servings.
Cozy Fall Bake!
Fall is that awesome time of year when the temps begin to fall and beautiful warm shades of yellow, orange, and soft reds begin to color the landscape, which has me longing for the sweet aroma of autumn.
Cozy Fall Bake! Fall is that awesome time of year when the temps begin to fall and beautiful warm shades of yellow, orange, and soft reds begin to color the landscape, which has me longing for the sweet aroma of autumn.