If I'm going to have an apple dessert (because you know, as a practicing diabetic, I have to watch my sugar intake) it's usually always French Apple Tarts...puff pastry bakes up around apple slices and when they come out from the oven caramel sauce is drizzled over the top...it's hard to beat something so simple and delicious.
I returned from visiting my parents with 20 lbs. of apples from their tree...and I made apple jam and apple butter and I'm soooo over apples (thanks Deb for helping me peel apples!) ...at least I thought I was...just when the last of the apples had been used, a friend delivered a 20 lb. box of apples to me that I had ordered a month ago and promptly forgot about.
French Apple Pie. It's for what ails you. I made three pies and I took the easy route and used store bought pie dough. It was a smart move when I had an assembly line of pies. It was a thing of beauty. Here's the thing about this pie, it's simple - the apples are the star - there's no added sauce, no custard - nothing to take the attention from the apples. Simple and delicious. You're going to love it!
This recipe is a combination of three recipes - so you might be wondering what makes this a French Apple Pie instead of an American apple pie...it's the topping. The perfect blend of butter, flour and brown sugar melt into the pie, it doesn't stay on top like a Dutch Apple Pie topping does...oh no, it seeps down through the cracks and crevices between the apples and creates the lightest caramel coating on each apple slice...it's seductive that way, just like the French!
French Apple Pie - Pots and Pins
1 refrigerator pie crust to fit a 9-inch pie pan
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons instant tapioca
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch of salt
6 cups cored, peeled and thinly sliced baking apples (approximately 5 to 6 medium-sized apples)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup butter, cut into a 1/4-inch dice
Line pie pan with pie crust (follow directions on package for preparing crust) - you will be making a 1-crust filled pie. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl combine sugar, tapioca, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix well and stir in sliced apples, stirring until all are coated. Spoon apple slices into pie plate, mounding up in the center. In a clean small bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Add in butter pieces and mix until butter pieces are coated with flour/sugar mixture. Sprinkle topping over apple slices, spreading the butter pieces evenly over the top. Bake pie on a sheet pan to catch any drips, for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Makes one 9-inch pie; serves 6 to 8.
