mimi loves fall

(picture:  mimi holding her pumpkin at the Pumpkin Playground field trip her class took last week)

mimi told me that fall was her favorite time of the year. she loved the leaves and wishes we had a yard with lots of leaves so she could jump in it. for her decorated pumpkin, last year she drew faces with sharpie markers. this year, she wanted to paint an owl on her pumpkin:

she had been begging to go apple picking all month long and her grandparents finally took her last weekend. she made me promise that when she came back with all the apples that we would make an apple pie.

so i kept my word and using some of the bazillion apples she picked with her grandparents (god love them, they let her pick two gigantic grocery store bags filled to the brim with apples, many of them were bruised, worm holed, and smashed up) we made an apple pie together. mimi's contribution was measuring the ingredients for the pie crust and then later cutting the pie dough into small leaf shapes to adorn the edges.

this is the recipe i tried out and ended up really liking. rather than tossing the apples with all the usual suspects, for this recipe, make your apple pie with unadorned apples and lattice crust on top, then pour a buttery sugar syrup over the top and allow it to seep into the open weave of the crust. i liked that the finished product gave a nice crisp carmelized texture and bright sheen to the crust. the original recipe didnt use cinnamon, but since we really like cinnamon in our apple pie, i lightly tossed the apples with cinnamon before putting them in the crust, but i'm sure you could also just add it to the syrup.

Ingredients:

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie 1/2 cup unsalted butter 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1/4 cup water 8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

Directions:

1.	Melt butter in a sauce pan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add white sugar, brown sugar and water; bring to a boil. Reduce temperature, and simmer 5 minutes.
2.	Meanwhile, place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work of crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
3.	Bake 15 minutes at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes.