Pepper Basham's Easy Pleasing French Apple Pie!

Well, I'm a dork. Pepper sent this weeks ago and I said: "I'm going to make this and put up pics with it..."

Well.

Oops.

Not only haven't I made it yet, I forgot to post it yesterday. PEPPER, SAY YOU STILL LOVE ME!!!!!

Anyway, here is the Appalachian woman's down home pleasin' favorite and if I can wrangle oven time this weekend, I'll make this bad boy... (although my pie pans are big so I'll double the recipe) and we'll see how it all comes out!

Easy Pleasing French Apple Pie

(Easy and fairly quick...but VERY yummy. Anything with brown sugar and butter in it is bound to be yummy)

I got this recipe from a fabulous cook at our country church back in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mtns of Virginia. I've 'pepper' it up a little bit for my own tastes, but the basics are still the same.

Mix 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, dash of salt, 1/4 c plain flour, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and a squirt or two of lemon juice into a medium bowl.

Mix with 2-3 sour apples - peeled and cut into small pieces. (I love using HoneyCrisps or Pink Lady apples, but Granny Smiths work well too.

Pour mixture into an uncooked pie crust (I will sometimes use a puff pastry).

RUTHY PICS:

In a separate bowl mix together:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup butter (melted) - I'll sometimes add a teeny bit extra to have more topping :-)

1/2 cup brown sugar

Spread this mixture on top of your apple pie mixture

cover the pie with aluminum foil

Bake at 350 for about 30-45 minutes (or until the apple/brown sugar mixture starts to turn golden brown)


AND HERE IS THE FINISHED PIE AS OF SUNDAY AT 1:44 PM, EDST (for those o' youse who don't get the weird timing, it's Eastern Daylight Savings Time...Something you folks in Arizona and Hawaii don't use...)

Great with vanilla ice cream, of course, and ESPECIALLY if it's homemade vanilla - french or otherwise :-)

Ruthy note:  I always keep pie crust "balls" frozen for quick thaw and use. Most people fuss over making pies because of the crust, not the filling... If you use the recipe I have here for pie crust... and freeze it in four or five equal (kind of!!!) "rounds", then you have individual pie crusts ready to pull out... I then defrost them in the microwave for two minutes at "defrost" setting... and then give them like fifteen minutes or so at room temperature. That way they're perfect to roll out by the time the filling is ready.

SO STINKIN' EASY!!!! My fail-safe, fool-proof (really, I mean that so sincerely, even Connealy could do it, I swear!!!) is HERE