Grated apple pie.. the absolute best apple pie I have ever had in my life.

Around Thanksgiving last year my Honey and I were browsing through Cooks Illustrated Magazine on the iPad and came across this pie that looked like nothing we'd seen before.  Right then and there that pie was placed as the first item on the Thanksgiving Day menu.

Thanksgiving rolled around and after dinner was done I went about making this pie and made a Big mistake... being short on white sugar I added some brown sugar and the pie never set.  It was a soupy mess.  It was delicious, but a mess nonetheless.

After we went apple picking last weekend I set my sights on making this pie again and armed myself properly with this recipe at hand:

Grated Apple Pie

Ingredients

1 1/4 C Sugar
1/2 C (1 stick) Unsalted butter
3 Tbs Flour
2 tsp Vanilla (I make my own, use the real stuff)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
3 medium apples, Peeled and coarsely grated
1 unbaked deep dish pie shell

Directions
Preheat oven to 400°

Peel your apples and set them in a bowl of water with a little squeeze of lemon juice to keep them from browning.

In a large bowl beat together the first seven ingredients (you can use a mixer for this, but I did it by hand since My Honey doesn't have a mixer and it came out perfect every time).  Set aside.

In another bowl carefully grate your apples on the largest part of your cheese grater (I did this at home using my food processor on a smaller grater and although the pie came out good, it wasn't as good as when I did it with the good old fashioned cheese grater).

Fold the apples into the batter and carefully pour the mixture into your unbaked pie shell. (I put the pie on a pan to catch any drippings to avoid any potential spills)

Bake the pie in the center of the oven for 10 minutes and then lower the temp to 350° for 40-50 Min until golden brown on top.

Let cool completely before serving.

 We clearly didn't let it cool completely before serving... but it was still delicious :)

Easy Apple cake

Or.. in my words "Holy Crap that was easy" Apple cake

I came across this recipe when I was looking through my recipe binder this afternoon, Craving something sweet and apple-y. I've had 3 McIntosh apples sitting on my kitchen counter for days and I've been waiting for the right recipe to come to me.. this is the one.

This is a really easy, absolutely delicious one bowl cake that results in a super moist cake that will have everyone asking for more. Try it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or some whipped cream.

Easy Apple Cake

Prep: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 35-40 minutes

SERVES 12 -16

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2-1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup macintosh apples or other sweet apple, peeled, and chopped (you want to use a nice sweet apple)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Soften margarine.
3. Mix all ingredients together in a lg. bowl.
4. Bake in a buttered 8x8" baking dish, for 30-40 minutes.
5. Let cool, cut, and then store in a plastic container.

I didn't have any walnuts, but I added 1/2 cup of raisins, and I also added some nutmeg and ground ginger to spice it up a bit.. YUMMY!!

I'm sitting here with a piece as I'm writing this (who cares that dinner isn't ready yet, lol)

In yet another "Holy Crap" moment today.. I tried out the old, Old camera and OMG, it's working! Probably not for long and the pics aren't that good,.. but check out the Apple cake!

Toffee Apple Dip

What do you do when you have 2 pounds of granny smith apples in the refrigerator and they're gonna go bad if you don't use them up?

You make Toffee apple dip and feed it to the kiddies, of course!

(What did you think I was going to say? Make Pie? Um.. no, at least not right now when it's about 107° in my apartment and if I turn on the oven I will surely melt, and that would be a really nasty mess nobody would want to clean up)

This is a really simple recipe and I have most of this stuff on hand all the time.

Ingredients
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 (11 ounce) package Skor English toffee bits or heath toffee pieces

Directions:

1. Beat cream cheese, sugars and vanilla together until fluffy.
2. Stir in toffee chips by hand.
3. Serve with sliced apples.

Sometimes I think I have the only kid that does not like red apples, he just really loves the tartness of the Granny smith apples, and don't even try to feed him a golden delicious, he thinks they're "mushy and gross" (but they're perfect for my cranberry sauce, which y'all will get on a later date)