Long Delay….Great Pie!

I do apologize for the lack of posts over the past two weeks. I had one fun week in St. Augustine FL gettingready for the Georgia/Florida game, and then suffered through the next week at a Sales Meeting in Las Vegas. I have been playing “catch up” since I got back, but we have had a few family dinners and look to be back on track soon.

In preparation for Thanksgiving, I wanted to test out a recipe last weekend. I usually just wing it, and don’t test recipes before we eat them, but Thanksgiving is different. I really love this holiday – no pressure except for family, friends and food…and of course being Thankful which I hope I am all the time. This year, instead of planning desserts (we of course planned the meal), my sister, Mom and I decided to bring whatever dessert you wanted. I had seen a recipe in Southern Living for an upside down caramel apple pie and thought that sounded good….Good didn’t even get started here - this one was exceptional and very easy! Even if you are not planning a big Thanksgiving dinner, this is a very impressive dessert for anytime.  The picture on the left is what it looked like out of the oven.  The picture on the right is after it was flipped over.
Ingredients
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1 (15-oz.) package refrigerated piecrusts, divided
• 4 medium-size Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks (about 1 3/4 lb.)
• 2 large Jonagold apples, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks (about 1 1/4 lb.)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Stir together first 3 ingredients, and spread onto bottom of a 9-inch pie plate. Fit 1 piecrust over pecan mixture in pie plate, allowing excess crust to hang over sides.

2. Stir together Granny Smith apples and next 5 ingredients. Spoon mixture into crust, packing tightly and mounding in center. Place remaining piecrust over filling; press both crusts together, fold edges under, and crimp. Place pie on an aluminum foil-lined jelly-roll pan. Cut 4 to 5 slits in top of pie for steam to escape.

3. Bake at 375° on lower oven rack 1 hour to 1 hour and 5 minutes or until juices are thick and bubbly, crust is golden brown, and apples are tender when pierced with a long wooden pick through slits in crust. Shield pie with aluminum foil after 50 minutes, if necessary, to prevent excessive browning. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes. Place a serving plate over top of pie; invert pie onto serving plate. Remove pie plate, and replace any remaining pecans in pie plate on top of pie. Let cool completely (about 1 hour).



If you are a diehard baker (and I am absolutely NOT), you can certainly make your own pie crusts…but I think once you have all of that good caramel and pecans on top, it might be a wasted effort… This was delicious 3 days later (yes, it did last that long…we were getting little tiny slices )