This Apple Pie filling is so simple and delicious- I keep going back to it whenever I need an easy fruit filling for a pie! This is great for the holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.
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I strive to be as real and authentic as possible, both in life and on this blog. I think I do a good job of really being myself on here, with the exception of the large amount of f-bombs and other profane terms that I'm ashamed to admit I use often throughout the day. And I mostly leave those out because I'm trying to work them out of my vocabulary before A inevitably starts repeating them. But today I'm going to be real with you about my screw-ups in the kitchen.
Once in a while, a situation presents itself that in practice is a comedy of errors and in hindsight is an excellent learning experience. These situations serve to knock us down a few notches and remind us that we are simply human. One such situation, which continued over the course of a couple weeks recently occurred for me. It may or may not have ended with me curled up in a little ball of hormonal tears cursing pastry dough and remembering why I don't often bake outside of my comfort zone. It also ended with J telling me "In the words of my friend Elsa, let it go. And like my girl Taylor says, shake it off." I was not amused by those helpful "anecdotes" from J but don't worry, I eventually started talking to him again!
I will be the first one to tell you that I am not a cooking expert. I have no professional kitchen training (save for a short period that I got to spend in a restaurant kitchen, training to manage the back-of-house before heading to my hired position as a front-of house manager- super fun and informative but still, no expert!). I am also definitely not a baking expert. Yes, I know what tastes great and often make delicious foods. But I wouldn't call that expertise.
I think I was getting a bit cocky for a while there because in the recent past, much of my baking consisted of family recipes which I've made countless times with much success. These recipes are in my muscles and my mind. They are safe and foolproof for me. Unfortunately, I got a bit too confident and forgot that my levels of success are varying at best outside of these safe recipes when it comes to baking.
So with apple season finally getting into full swing I got super excited about the idea of making caramel apple hand pies. Because who doesn't love their own personal pie that they can carry with them and enjoy? It seemed like an excellent and simple idea: make a delicious filling, drizzle it with pre-made caramel and get some store-bought pie crust, since Jessy and scratch-made pastry dough don't mix unless my mom is there to talk me through each step/talk me off the ledge when I'm about to screw it up.
In theory it seemed simple enough. So I got to work. I started by making a filling that is a variation of my Grandma Eve's Peach Cobbler filling, with a few changes to accommodate apples. Once the filling was prepared, I tasted a bit and could not have been more thrilled with the results. Excellent.
So I laid out everything I needed and began assembling the hand pies. I had a hard time getting them to close without leaking filling, even when I put in less filling. But I popped them onto the pan, said a prayer and put them into the oven.
The moment I removed them, I knew that these would not work. They were cracked and leaking juices all over the place. I even asked J to look at them and tell me honestly if I could move forward with them. He was very quick to say no. I was bummed, of course. They tasted delicious (my coworkers were thrilled when I brought them in- they went quickly!). And I knew I had to try again since the flavors were definitely there.
So fast forward to this past weekend. I originally planned a pie, but scraping together every ounce of optimism I had left, I instead opted to make two medium-ish Galettes. After all, they're supposed to look rustic. I figured this would make them a little more forgiving.
Once again, I prepared my delicious filling. I laid out everything I needed ahead of time. I decided to roll out the dough a bit more so that each Galette would be a tad larger. And without thinking, I began assembling the Galette right there on the table. Spoon in filling, drizzle caramel, crimp sides, brush on egg wash and sprinkle turbanado sugar. It looked gorgeous until I realized that I had to transfer it to the pan.
That's when everything fell apart. Literally. The warm filling had softened the dough enough that it completely fell apart leaving me a sad, gooey pile of dough and filling that was just not salvageable. At this point there were some profanities. So I scraped my mess off the table, assembled the other Galette on the pan this time and popped it in the oven to bake.
I then waited and had a quick pregnant cry/mini-freakout that I would not have an accurate baking time for two Galettes, which is what I was trying to accomplish with the amount of filling and dough I had. When the Galette was ready it looked decent enough- a bit cracked with a few small leaks but I attempted to get some photos.
Getting it off the pan was another story. I had lined it with greased foil for my own convenience. But with the delicate pastry dough already flaking, I was a bit scared of transferring it to it's plate. We ultimately had to transfer the foil to a cutting board, loosen it with an offset spatula (my thinnest spatula), invert it onto a plate and turn it once again onto another plate to have it face up. The results were slightly more squished and cracked, but still delicious.
While I ultimately brought it later to a dinner party with family where it got rave reviews for flavor, it's still not at the quality of a recipe that I want to share on here. I think a large part of my problem was using store-bought pie crust. In the past, my most successful Galettes are made with scratch-dough and they avoided the aforementioned leaks and cracks. But at this moment I'm a little defeated with pie and need to take a step back from this recipe. Apple pie and I are taking a break.
Still, the filling is the true star of the show. I can't not share that. Everyone needs a delicious apple pie filling to turn to. It's a great option for you to use for whatever variation of apple pie works- from a frozen pie crust (can I just say: they're much easier to work with than the refrigerated crusts that you roll out. This probably should have been my route from the get-go) to scratch made Galettes or hand pies.
And maybe, once I've licked my wounds and rekindled my friendship with Apple Pie, I will give this another go and have an actual pie recipe to go with and some new, much prettier photos. In the meantime, I leave you with this Apple Pie Filling- it truly is such a tasty and easy recipe and makes enough filling for two medium Galettes or one to two apple pies depending on what size pie you're making.
Other great pie recipes:
Rosie's Award Winning Cherry Cheese Pie
Helpful tools:
Apple Pie Filling
Ingredients
- 4 large apples peeled, cored and sliced (I used 20 Ounce apples for baking, the hold their shape really well. Another good option would be Cortland, just make sure they're larger or add an additional apple)
- A squirt of lemon juice
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon if you really love cinnamon you could even add an additional 1 teaspoon to the listed amount
- ½ cup water
- 1 Tbsp. cornstarch
Instructions
- Place apples all ingredients into pot over medium high heat. Stir well to combine.
- Once the mixture starts bubbling, reduce heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes or until the apples have softened a bit (be aware, they will soften a but more during baking).
- Remove from heat and allow the filling to cool a bit before assembling your pie, as per the instructions of the dough you use.
So with apple season finally getting into full swing I got super excited about the idea of making caramel apple hand pies. Because who doesn’t love their own personal pie that they can carry with them and enjoy? It seemed like an excellent and simple idea: make a delicious filling, drizzle it with pre-made caramel and get some store-bought pie crust, since Jessy and scratch-made pastry dough don’t mix unless my mom is there to talk me through each step/talk me off the ledge when I’m about to screw it up.
In theory it seemed simple enough. So I got to work. I started by making a filling that is a variation of my Grandma Eve’s Peach Cobbler filling, with a few changes to accommodate apples. Once the filling was prepared, I tasted a bit and could not have been more thrilled with the results. Excellent.
So I laid out everything I needed and began assembling the hand pies. I had a hard time getting them to close without leaking filling, even when I put in less filling. But I popped them onto the pan, said a prayer and put them into the oven.
The moment I removed them, I knew that these would not work. They were cracked and leaking juices all over the place. I even asked J to look at them and tell me honestly if I could move forward with them. He was very quick to say no. I was bummed, of course. They tasted delicious (my coworkers were thrilled when I brought them in- they went quickly!). And I knew I had to try again since the flavors were definitely there.
So fast forward to this past weekend. I originally planned a pie, but scraping together every ounce of optimism I had left, I instead opted to make two medium-ish Galettes. After all, they’re supposed to look rustic. I figured this would make them a little more forgiving.
Once again, I prepared my delicious filling. I laid out everything I needed ahead of time. I decided to roll out the dough a bit more so that each Galette would be a tad larger. And without thinking, I began assembling the Galette right there on the table. Spoon in filling, drizzle caramel, crimp sides, brush on egg wash and sprinkle turbanado sugar. It looked gorgeous until I realized that I had to transfer it to the pan.
That’s when everything fell apart. Literally. The warm filling had softened the dough enough that it completely fell apart leaving me a sad, gooey pile of dough and filling that was just not salvageable. At this point there were some profanities. So I scraped my mess off the table, assembled the other Galette on the pan this time and popped it in the oven to bake.
I then waited and had a quick pregnant cry/mini-freakout that I would not have an accurate baking time for two Galettes, which is what I was trying to accomplish with the amount of filling and dough I had. When the Galette was ready it looked decent enough- a bit cracked with a few small leaks but I attempted to get some photos.
Getting it off the pan was another story. I had lined it with greased foil for my own convenience. But with the delicate pastry dough already flaking, I was a bit scared of transferring it to it’s plate. We ultimately had to transfer the foil to a cutting board, loosen it with an offset spatula (my thinnest spatula), invert it onto a plate and turn it once again onto another plate to have it face up. The results were slightly more squished and cracked, but still delicious.
While I ultimately brought it later to a dinner party with family where it got rave reviews for flavor, it’s still not at the quality of a recipe that I want to share on here. I think a large part of my problem was using store-bought pie crust. In the past, my most successful Galettes are made with scratch-dough and they avoided the aforementioned leaks and cracks. But at this moment I’m a little defeated with pie and need to take a step back from this recipe. Apple pie and I are taking a break.
Still, the filling is the true star of the show. I can’t not share that. Everyone needs a delicious apple pie filling to turn to. It’s a great option for you to use for whatever variation of apple pie works- from a frozen pie crust (can I just say: they’re much easier to work with than the refrigerated crusts that you roll out. This probably should have been my route from the get-go) to scratch made Galettes or hand pies.
And maybe, once I’ve licked my wounds and rekindled my friendship with Apple Pie, I will give this another go and have an actual pie recipe to go with and some new, much prettier photos. In the meantime, I leave you with this Apple Pie Filling- it truly is such a tasty and easy recipe and makes enough filling for two medium Galettes or one to two apple pies depending on what size pie you’re making.
Other great pie recipes:
Rosie’s Award Winning Cherry Cheese Pie
Helpful tools:
This Apple Pie filling is so simple and delicious- I keep going back to it whenever I need an easy fruit filling for a pie! This is great for the holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.
15 minPREP TIME
15 minCOOK TIME
30 minTOTAL TIME
Yields Enough for 2 medium size galettes or 1-2 pies (depending on the size of your pies)
The Life Jolie, a variation of Eve Repp's Peach Cobbler filling.
INGREDIENTS
- 4 large apples, peeled, cored and sliced (I used 20 Ounce apples for baking, the hold their shape really well. Another good option would be Cortland, just make sure they're larger or add an additional apple)
- A squirt of lemon juice
- ½ cup of sugar
- 1 tsp. of cinnamon (if you really love cinnamon you could even add an additional 1.2 tsp. to the listed amount)
- ½ cup of water
- 1 Tbsp. of cornstarch
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place apples all ingredients into a pot over medium high heat. Stir well to combine.
- Once the mixture starts bubbling, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes or until the apples have softened a bit (be aware, they will soften a but more during baking).
- Remove from heat and allow the filling to cool a bit before assembling your pie, as per the instructions of the dough you use.
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