Fried Apple Pies

You know those pies that you get at McDonald's? The turnover type? That's what we're talking about here. I watched the Father's Day episode of Paula's Best Recipes and they did a fried turnover with cherries and walnuts that Bri and I thought looked fabulous with the exception of the cherries and walnuts. Using the McDonald's pie as a guide we decided that we would just try these with tinned apple pie filling rather than spending all day concocting a pie filling from scratch. So, really, this is a "not-homemade" recipe. It's more of a technique. We also did some with raspberry pie filling that I really liked. I would assume that you could use whatever pie filling be it canned or homemade that you prefer. The only real recommendation I have is if you make your own filling it would be easier to use shredded apples than sliced. You only put a small amount of apple in each turnover and the shreds would be easier to work with. We kind of wrestled with the apple slices getting them in the pie crust and covered. Over all they turned out awesomely delicious. We had them for a family night treat with the neighbors. Yummy.

Fried Apple Pies
15 pies

2 pie crusts (I used Pillsbury)
1 can pie filling
vegetable oil for frying
sugar

Using a 4" biscuit cutter cut circles from the pie dough and set aside. Run a pastry brush with water around the edge of the crust circle. Put 2 tsp pie filling in the center and top with another circle. Seal closed with a fork.

Heat oil to 350. Carefully drop each pie into the oil and fry until golden brown. I found that a couple of minutes per side was just about the right amount.

Remove from oil and sprinkle with sugar. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Post linked to:
Turning the Table Thursday
Full Pate Thursday
Foodie Wednesday
These Chicks Cooked
Pinch of This, That & the Other
Cast Party Wednesday
Tasty Tuesday
Tasty Tuesdays
Two Maids a Baking
Totally Tasty Tuesdays
Your Recipe My Kitchen
Sweet Indulgences Sunday
Sweets for a Saturday

French Apple Pie

Wow, it's the week after Thanksgiving and I didn't manage to post a single recipe! In my defense I caught a bug that I'm sure was directly related to bubonic plague and felt like something stuck on the bottom of a shoe for over a week but still. Fail.

Luckily, I only had to provide one pie for Thanksgiving dinner this year and I did the easiest one I could think of. Apple. I even fudged the top crust and did a crumb topping that was pretty darned tasty if I do say so myself. An added bonus was that I got to pull out the apple peeler and go crazy...I'd forgotten how fun that gadget is!

This pie was good on its own but was even better with a drizzle of caramel topping or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Seriously, try it. ;)

Caramel Apple Pie

This is all that's left!

This is the second of the four pies I made the other day for Relief Society. I didn't get pictures of the other two this will have to do. Maybe I will remember on Thanksgiving...hey, it could happen!

The original recipe for this pie is from one of my favorite websites. I've made several of Ree's recipes but this one is my favorite by far. The original recipe can be found here and her picture is beautiful! http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/12/scrumptous-and_i_do_mean_scrumptous-apple_pie/

Caramel Apple Pie

Pastry for 1 crust pie
6-7 cups peeled and sliced Granny Smith Apples
Juice of ½ lemon
½ cup sugar
4 T. flour
¼ tsp salt
½ c flour
1 ½ sticks butter
1 c. brown sugar
½ c. quick oats
¼ tsp salt
½ c. pecans
½ jar caramel ice cream topping (I like Mrs. Richardson’s)

Mix peeled apples, lemon juice, sugar, flour and ¼ tsp salt. Set aside.

Cut butter into the flour, add brown sugar, oats and ¼ tsp salt. Stir together.
Pour apples into prepared pie shell and top with crumb topping. Cover crust edges with aluminum foil to prevent burning. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil and back for another 30 minutes.

Chop pecans, and when 5 minutes of baking time remains sprinkle them over the pie.
Remove from oven and ½ jar, or more if you like, caramel topping over the top

Pumpkin Pie for Bri

I'm not really a pumpkin pie fan. Something about the texture icks me out, too slimey or something but Bri really likes it. This is the recipe that I found that makes pumpkin pie bearable. It has an extra egg to help it bake up a little bit firmer so it's not so jiggly, some brown sugar to give a hint of molasses and I never have evaporated milk so it's got whole milk with some heavy cream to add some richness. It's good enough that even I will eat it. Who knew?

Pumpkin Pie

Pastry for 1 crust pie
3 eggs
1 15 oz can pumpkin
½ c. sugar
¼ c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¾ c. whole milk
¼ c. heavy cream

Beat eggs, add pumpkin and stir well to combine. Combine sugars, cinnamon, salt, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg in a small bowl. Stir spice mix into the pumpkin. Mix in milk and cream.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. While oven preheats let filling sit so that is can come closer to room temperature. This will help it to bake more evenly.

Pour into pie shell and bake for 15 minutes; shield your crust. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 50-60 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Take the foil off the edges at approx the 30-40 min left point.

Perfect Pie Crust, yes really!

Pies. For the first 15 years of my marriage my pies consisted of pies made with Pillsbury crusts because I just couldn't figure out how to make a good one without having 2 extra people there to help me. The whole "don't knead it too much but knead it enough" and the rolling it onto the rolling pin to get the thing to the pan was more than I could figure out. So I just didn't do it. Cause really, how do you know when it's "too" much?

Then a couple of years ago I decided that I was being ridiculous and surely it couldn't be that hard. I started to try different crust recipes and some were terrible but they gradually got better. Then I had a totally "aha!" moment watching Food Network one day. Roll the crust out inside a gallon bag...you can cut it apart and set an inverted pie dish onto the crust, slide your hand under the whole thing and flip it over. Then peel off the other layer. Oh my gosh a whole world opened up that day. It was the perfect crust! Light and flaky and best of all easy!

So here it is.

Perfect Pie Crust
(3 crusts)
1 ½ c. Crisco
3 c. all purpose flour
1 egg
5 Tbsp cold water
1 Tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp salt

In a large bowl work Crisco into flour with either a pastry cutter or a couple of knives until it resembles a coarse meal (you can also use your food processor). In a small bowl beat egg with a fork and then pour it into the flour mixture. Add 5 Tbsp cold water, 1 Tbsp vinegar and 1 tsp salt. Stir together gently until all of the ingredients are incorporated.

Form 3 evenly sized balls of dough and place each dough ball into a gallon sized Ziploc bag. Using your rolling pin gently flatten the ball into a disc shape that is about ½ inch thick. Seal the bags and place them in the freezer until you need them. If using immediately chill for about 15-20 minutes).

When you are ready to use the dough take the bag out of the freezer. Place a damp paper towel on the counter and put the bag on top of it (this will help hold it still while you roll). Unseal the bag and roll the dough to the edges of the bag. Measure with your pie dish to make sure it’s rolled out enough. Slit the sides of the bag and peel off the top layer of plastic. Position an inverted pie dish over the dough, slide your hand under the plastic and flip the whole thing right side up. Peel off the remaining plastic; trim and shape.

*If baking prick the bottom with a fork and place a piece of tin foil on top of the crust. Add pie weights or dried beans to hold it down and bake in a 450 degree oven for 15 minutes. Remove weight and foil and bake an additional 5-10 minutes or until crust is golden brown.