Apple Custard Pie with Oatmeal Walnut Crumb Topping

I've never cared much for apple pie, regardless of quality and price range.  I had some apples and cream that needed to be used up, and a frozen dough disk, from when I made a couple of extras.  After contemplating, I decided to make an apple pie based on what I had in my pantry.  I did make an apple pie once before and didn't like it.  I love this pie.  Apple pie wasn't the problem, I just never had this apple pie.  Here's what you'll need:

Filling Ingredients:
- 3-4 peeled and thinly sliced apples (I used Gala, because it's what I had)
- 1/2 cup of 35% cream
- 1 egg
- 3 tbsp demerara rum (or bourbon)
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon

Topping Ingredients:
- 5 walnuts (it's all I had)
- 1/3 cup not instant oatmeal
- 1/4 cup cold butter
- 1/3 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of salt

Directions:
Set oven to 375 degrees

- Whisk together: cream, rum, egg, sugar, and cinnamon
- Add sliced apples, the thinner the more surface for coating, and mix together
- Pour into unbaked crust

For Crumb Topping:
- Place walnuts, oatmeal, flour, cinnamon, and salt in a food processor, and pulse just to mix
- Cut in butter, and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs
- Sprinkle on top of filling

Bake pie at 375 for an hour.  Tastes delicious hot or at room temperature.  It would work cold as well.  I had two and a half slices already, and I'm debating if I should have another.

This is a trick I use when I roll out the pie crust dough.  Place the dough disk between 2 sheets of parchment paper, that way there is no sticking and mess on the counter.  This is great especially in small working spaces, like my kitchen.  Once you have the right size, peel off one side, and flip into the pie plate, press gently into the plate, and then peel off the remaining paper.

Use a fork to create a few vent holes:

Thinly sliced peeled apples:

Apples stirred into the custard mixture:

Pour the mixture into the unbaked crust:

Sprinkle with walnut oatmeal crumbs:

Bake at 375 for an hour, et voila:

Tastiest apple pie my taste buds have ever experienced:

 I am super pleased with this recipe.  Enjoy!

Cherry Butter

I love cherries.  When they are in season I eat loads fresh, and I make cherry pies.  This year I decided to make cherry butter, same idea as apple butter.  There is no butter involved, but the texture is thick and smooth.  I made three batches; the first was an experiment.  I used cherries, a bit of brown sugar, some maple syrup, red wine vinegar, lemon, and a bit of water.  After hours of cooking on low heat, the mixture shrunk to about 25% of the original volume.  I then used an immersion blender to smooth it out.  Since this was an experimental batch, I didn't use much, so I didn't end up canning it, just put it in a jar and fridge.  I've been using it on rye toast when I have a hankering for something sweet.

The next batch I made with 8 cups of frozen cherries I had from last year.  I pitted and froze them, measured out for what I need per pie.  Since I didn't use those two bags (4 cups each), I made cherry butter.  I like pies made out of fresh fruit much better anyway, but homemade cherry pie, even when the fruit is frozen, is still way better than any store bought pie.  This batch I made with red wine, a merlot, and some brown sugar, no maple syrup.  It has a slightly different taste.  Eight cups of cherries yielded 2 236ml jars of cherry butter.

The third batch was made with bourbon and lime juice instead of lemon.  I made 2 x 236 ml, and one 125 ml jar.  Bourbon and cherries  are awesome together, though the merlot, as well as the red wine vinegar turned out well too.

I don't have measurements, because I didn't measure anything.  Those 8 cups of cherries were pre-measured for pies.  Amounts aren't all that important for these cherry butters, just taste while it's cooking, and adjust flavours to your liking.  Can in a hot water bath, as you would any preserves, for bout 10 minutes, then wait for the lids to pop.

This is definitely worth the time and effort.