This weekend, I was beyond excited to have my parents visiting my new apartment.  Living in a new state, a little bit of home was long overdue.  They indulged me in walking (farther than I may have told them) to my farmer’s market and then took me out apple picking in the unseasonably warm 85° weather.  Thanks, Mom and Dad! Love you guys!

So naturally, I had to make something with apples.  And probably will do so next week, too.  I have more apples than I know what to do with, and would love some suggestions.

Fortunately, Sandy (of Oh Henry Bar fame) came to the rescue with yet another recipe: Trout Farm Apple Pie.  Now, this is not your regular, double-crust apple pie.  In fact, this apple pie has no crust, but yet still manages to have more structure than an apple crisp.  How? Read on!

First, peel and thinly slice the apples.  I used Macouns and Ida Reds because that’s what the orchard had this weekend and I don’t believe in apples that aren’t red.

This is my mom, managing to peel apples in a single piece.  It’s really amazing to watch.

Mix the apples with cinnamon and sugar in a bowl, and then put them in an 8 inch pie pan.

In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the butter.  Then add sugar and an egg, making sure the mixture isn’t so warm that it will cook the egg, and stirring constantly.  This begins to caramelize the sugar, which makes the pie end up tasting like a caramel apple a little bit.  Yummm.

Next, add the flour and mix over the low heat until it starts to pull away from the sides.  I switched to a whisk after a while to stop it from clumping to the spoon. (Photo credits to my mom – sous chef of the week)

Finally, pour the mixture, which is 100% worth tasting, since rather than regular pie dough it’s caramel-y, over the apples in the pan.  This magically turns the apples pie-like after you sprinkle them with some chopped pecans for crunch and bake it in the oven for 35-40 minutes at 350°F.

I preemptively put the pie plate on a cookie sheet to prevent dripping of the crust mixture.

Once the crust around the edges looks more golden brown than bubbly, take it out and let it cool before serving.  Feel free to pick pieces off before that, though.

Basically it ends up tasting like apple pie with the goodness of the crust mixed throughout, but without the hassle of rolling out a pie dough and such.  In other words, amazing.  If you’ve got any other things to do with the millions of apples I have left, tell me in the comments!

Enjoy!

Trout Farm Apple Pie

Ingredients:

For the apples:

• 6-8 apples, peeled and sliced
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

For the pie crust:

• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup flour
• chopped pecans (or other nut) – optional

Directions:

1. Peel and slice the apples and mix with sugar and cinnamon.  Put in 8″ pie pan.
2. Melt butter over low heat in medium saucepan.
3. Add sugar and egg, making sure the mixture isn’t so warm as to cook the egg.  Mix until smooth.
4. Add flour and mix over heat until it pulls away from the sides.
5. Pour mixture over the apples in the pie pan.  Sprinkle with chopped pecans.
6. Bake at 350°F for 35-40 minutes, or until crust is more golden-brown than bubbly.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.