Caramel Apple Oatmeal Cookies Making room

Since children have begun their progress towards adulthood, it seems that the stuff of babyhood has fallen by the wayside, and by stuff, I actually mean THE PHYSICAL stuff that babies need.  Ive been fortunate to have two younger brothers on whom I can unload many of the trappings of babyhood like clothes, toys, furniture and books, and what has long been in storage in our random "spare room" has slowly, but surely, been taken to Brothers homes for use by their children.

The space where much of this stuff has been stored is slowly opening up.  It is a really random room in our house, originally designed to be some sort of open landing called a "library" but the previous owner decided to close it up and create an actual room.  I use the term room, quite loosely for it is a strangely shaped room,  much longer than it is wide and the kicker of it is that there is no heat in this room.  There is, however two beautiful windows, one which overlooks into our neighbors backyard, and the other which looks out onto the street.  

As I began the insane process of sorting through clothes, organizing books, and folding bedding, it became clear to me that this space DESERVED to be used for something more than random storage.  In a lightbulb moment, I decided that this space should be an office for Husband, that the natural light and space would be a welcome, cozy (albeit cold), space for Husband to spread out and do his manly things like work.  Suddenly in a fit of activity, with Daughters help, we began the process of super organization and I soon could envision this wonderful room for Husband.

When Husband heard of my plan on the phone, he didnt seem all that happy.  His exact words were, "You hole yourself in your office all the time and now you want me to hole myself up in a separate space?"  I tried to explain to him the importance of his space, with his files, and his stuff, and how awesome it would be for him to have a room where he could snack by the computer (I hate the snacking he does in bed as he works) and maybe we could put up a flat screen TV in the new office that only he could watch.  Husband continued to protest that he didnt need his own space, and that in fact, hed much prefer to be with me in my office, if that is where I would hole myself up at the end of the day.

Truthfully, I love my messy office/classroom.  Its messy with the activity of students; my desk is always covered with some sort of something that Im working on and there are books everywhere. However, my comfy office chair and this chaotic space is where I like to be.  At the end of the day, after pushing and fighting and teaching and mothering and cooking, I like my own private space.  I like to be alone. I like to stare into the computer and just be solitary.  I like to unwind here.  But upon hearing Husbands protests of not needing his own space, I realize that maybe I just need to make room for him in my space.  I shouldnt be in a hurry to enclose him in a separate space just so I can have my own (which by the way, was not my original intent) and instead, I should find a small corner, in my already too crowded office for him to have space.  I need to learn to make room.

If you think youve had every single cookie recipe that there is to have, I beg to differ.  Make room.  This cookie deserves a spot in your rotation.  The texture is something unique and different and the flavor - its a bit of retro with the caramel and the apple.  

Caramel Apple Oatmeal Cookies

Makes 5 dozen

Ingredients

2 sticks of butter, room temperature

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup old-fashioned oats

1 cup rice crispies (I like Trader Joe’s brand)

1 ¼ cups chopped dried apples

1 ¼ cups caramel bits (Kraft brand)

Method

Combine the butter and both sugars in the bowl  (either in a stand mixer or in a bowl where you can use a hand mixer) and cream on medium high for 2 to 3 minutes.   Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the egg and vanilla and beat until all ingredients are mixed together, another 3 to 4 minutes.

Reduce speed to low, and add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Beat until just mixed, about 1 minute.

Add oats, crispies, apples, and caramel bits and mix until just blended.  

At this point, you can simply wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it until need.  OR you can go ahead and bake them off.

When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 375.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  Scoop tablespoon scoops and lay them about 2 inches apart on your baking sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minutes, until cookies are golden and firmed up.

Allow cookies to cool in pan for 5 minutes, before removing them to a cooling rack.  Enjoy.  

Printable recipe

Im making room in lots of different ways.

I bought mine at Target.  One bag was 96 cents.  This is WAY MORE expensive.

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Honeycrisp Apple Pecan Crumb Bars Yezzi Gate

For KTY who knows how hard headed I can be and helps me fuel it.
For David Yezzi, for being such a tremendous wordsmith that this woman went slightly insane to get you read.

Now that oldest Daughter is in middle school, I find myself at a loss as to how to connect to her teachers.  Ive cooked something for a recent teachers luncheon they had at the school, but I didnt stay around to see them consume the food, nor did I show my face in relation to the food -  I was, if you will, a faceless caterer.

Without that personal connection with teachers Im used to when sending my children to school, Ive had to make evaluations and judgements from afar - which generally speaking isnt entirely the best thing for anyone, but its what I do.  From the first days of middle school, Daughter #1 came home from school and reported to me different things about her teachers, all of whom she found wonderful and I mentally took notes calculating and noticing these little hidden signs that something wasnt going to go well in class.  I mentally evaluated curriculum, syllabi, teaching style, homework load, homework rigor, testing, testing rigor, and any tiny bit of data I could get my hands on and squeeze out information to understand and know the different teachers that Daughter #1 had.  I felt often that I was a blind man trying to figure things out piecemeal, with only little bits of information to make sense of the world.

All my evaluation was tested when Daughter #1 came home with a simple assignment: choose a poem to recite aloud to the class and write an essay about. I quickly and enthusiastically suggested that she choose a poem by my good friends brother, David Yezzi (I know not the poet personally), recently published in The Atlantic, "Paperwhites."  It was a poem that I personally had fallen in love with when it came out, and the fact that I was close friends with the poets sister didnt hurt either.  It was a beautiful poem and, when I showed it to #1, she also immediately connected to it. We talked about personification, some of the imagery, the lines, and had a lovely mini discussion around it.  She printed it out, and prepared to take to show to to her teacher for approval.

The next day, #1 came home and said, "My teacher says it has to be a poet by a famous person."
"It is published  in a magazine, a highly regarded one. Its fine."
"No, she says it has to be from an poet who is famous."
"How did you introduce the poem to her?"
"I said, This poem is written by my moms friends brother."
"Honey, I assure you, David Yezzi is famous. Hes not just Auntie Katies brother. Google him."
#1 dutifully did so and went to school the next day, girded with additional information, and I began my mental character assassination of a teacher I didnt know.

The following day, #1 came home and said, "I need to find a different poem.  It needs to be from a book."
"The poem was published in a magazine, and he has poetry books already published."
"No. She says it has to come from a BOOK, not a magazine."
"Im sure thats not what she meant.  She just wants to know that the poem is something of quality.  I assure you that this is."
"No.  She told the entire class it had to come from a book, not any other source."
Fumingly, I grabbed one of my ancient anthologies and began suggesting a few poems for her. Then an additional list of qualifications began to spill out from #1.  "It has to be at least 4 stanzas long.  It cant rhyme.  There has to be imagery. There needs to be a metaphor. It has to come from a book."
"In other words, she wants you to bring a poem from a dead white man?"
"What do you mean mom?"
"Never mind."

The next day, I sent her to school with a beautiful historical poem about Japanese Internment titled, "In Response to Executive Order 9066: All Americans of Japanese Descent Must Report to Relocation Centers" by Dwight Okita, after explaining to her what internment was, and mentioning that shed be reading Farewell to Manzanar this year, figuring that the poem would be a good connection to curriculum. Again #1 absorbed the poem, loved it and was ready to present it to the teacher.

Again it was rejected (it was deemed too unusual) and my inner-English-teacher beast fumed. I decided at all costs, I would have #1 read and write about a David Yezzi poem, and went to his sister for help. She heard my plea and that day began sending screen shots of poem after poem as my book of David Yezzi poetry hadnt arrived yet. I had to mentally cull the ones that didnt meet the standard.  This one was out because it had some rhyming.  Another cut for its brevity.  Another one ruled out for its use of the word Hell.  For nearly 40 minutes, David Yezzis sister patiently tried to find a poem that would meet the insane requirements of a teacher who would not see beyond her requirements, so that her friend (me) would feel that she had the last word.

I admit it.  I wanted the last and final word. At one point in the midst of the battle,  I yelled out to #1, "Im just going to BUY her the book and MARK UP THE PAGES!" to which #1 calmly responded, "Dont start a fight mom.  Just help me find a good poem."

In the end, #1 took to school four different poems, with the hopes that the David Yezzi poem, "Crane" would be picked from among the other poets by dead white men.  I kept my fingers crossed and patiently waited for the end of day.  When #1 came into the car, she said, "The David Yezzi poem didnt get picked.  She approved the poem by Robert Lowell."  I sighed and felt my head fall in defeat.

Waiting for me when I got home was David Yezzis book of poetry, Birds of the Air, and I felt a bit of sorrow at the moment.  Had I ordered the book earlier, had I done it sooner, had I - many moments of regret hit me.  I was musing when #1 said, "Mom.  Tomorrow is her birthday. Im going to make her a card."
"Do you want to give her a present?"
"What kind of present do you have, mom?"
"I just got David Yezzis beautiful book of poetry.  I think she will appreciate it."
"Are you trying to start a fight?"
"No.  Im not. I just want to give her this book of poetry, and next year, maybe when someone wants to read a David Yezzi poem, shell know it comes from a book."
"So, were just going to give her this book of poetry?"
"Yes.  This beautiful book of poetry and a card that you make for her."
"Ok."

A few days ago, #1 came home with a thank you card from the teacher.  It read, "Thank you so much for the lovely card.  I also want to thank you for the beautiful book of poems, Birds of the Air by David Yezzi!  What a perfect gift!

And although she got the last words in, I feel I got the closure I needed.  Yezzi-gate over and out.

In the same way Im stubborn about stupid things, I can also get stubborn about seasonal foods.  The freshest, most delicious, new crop of organic Honeycrisp apples appeared at our local Costco a few weeks ago, and I bought one tray, despite the hefty price tag ($18) as apples are the fruit that continues to thrill #1. Even though the September-California weather was screaming summer, the fall fruit arrival made me want to scream fall! I had a mini-debate with the weather, complaining that if the apples were out, the weather just had to change to fall. And still California summer weather continued, and I sat, waiting for fall.

I figured if fall wouldnt come in the weather, I could get fall in my food.  These bars are my cry for something to be fall in this crazy, dry, unrelenting California summer - I am longing for something cozy, homey, and rustic to take me away.  Rich and buttery, warm and spicy - its the perfect fall food, even if the weather outside says otherwise.

Honeycrisp Apple Pecan Crumb Bars

Makes 9x13 pan, about 12 to 16 bars, depending on your cut

Ingredients

2 cups unsalted butter, softened

2 cups old-fashioned oats

2 cups all purpose flour

1¼ cups light brown sugar

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

2 Honeycrisp apples, or granny smith, peeled, cored, and sliced ¼ inch thick

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ cup chopped pecans

Method

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease 9X13 baking pan.  In a large bowl or a bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together oats, flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt.  Cut butter into chunks and add to bowl and mix on low until mixture comes together into crumbly bits.  

Set aside 1 cup of crumb mixture, and the remaining mixture pat evenly into the baking pan.  Bake for 15 minutes, until top is golden.

While bar base is baking, toss apples slices with lemon juice, sugar, and cinnamon.  Spread apples evenly over baked crust, then sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture and pecans.  Bake for 35 minutes, until apples are tender and juices bubbling.  Let cool completely before cutting.

 Printable recipe

If fall doesnt want to come to me, Ill go hunt it down with one of these.  

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Apple Muffins And Sleepy Sunshine Mama

Hi folks!

How is everyone?

Im sleepy so this will be another quick post. But I did include a few pictures of the apple muffins I made on Tuesday. Its the same recipe as the Blueberry Muffins except I put in about five or six cups of apples instead of the blueberries.

My husband liked these so much that he wanted to....

(this is the true test of good food)...

he wanted to bring some to share at work.
Well, I am flattered!
I do think these would have tasted even
better with cinnamon, but maybe next time.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Other than that, I bascially gained back the weight I dropped the other day.
Whatever!
But I will say on a positive note, that Mr. Lovely is getting milk-a-plenty
which is the most important thing...
And I am feeling stronger and lifting heavier weights at the gym.
Tonight I put on my gym clothes and then tacked on a long sleeved t-shirt and
them, count em....put on three sweatshirs to battle the cold on the run to the gym.
The run felt great!
My running legs are coming back!
So, I must get some sleep now!
I have a special outfit planned for Mr. Lovelys photo shoot on Thursday
And...I just might reveal his new flower name.

Ta Da!
And Take care!
Sincerely,
Sunshine Mama

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Quinoa Apple Blackberry Crumble Gluten Dairy Sugar Free New challenges

For SPK, LK, SS, HC

Im currently surrounded by friends who are experiencing a number of health problems deriving from gluten and wheat intolerance.  Although this isnt one of the allergy problems in our home (THANK GOODNESS) the struggles of those closest to me who suffer from excruciating stomach aches and overall lack of feeling great make me pay attention.

I especially pay attention when the person who first demanded that I create a "week of menus" is one of those who is choosing to go gluten and sugar free for a variety of health reasons.  Add to it her daughter, my favorite little girl (okay, so she towers over me now, but she used to be the little girl) who is my favorite collegiate golfer also struggles with gluten.  When I visited the two of them over the weekend, they both explained how giving up gluten has improved their lives and made them feel better.  The number one problem for them was the lack of good recipes that tasted delicious.  (Let me just note, that the youngest of the family, who doesnt struggle at all with this silently mouthed to me, "Can you bring me some cookies?" as the entire house doesnt have any gluten or sugar products.)

I saw a recipe from Gwyneth Paltrows new book, Its All Good that I knew I wanted to try.  The only problem is that a lot of gluten-free sugar-free recipes rely on nuts to add that extra delicious flavor and nuts dont happen in my house.  However, I knew I wanted to at least try to create something and the real test would be if the kids would enjoy it.  I took her recipe, adapted it to use carazuc from Stephen James Organics, but her use of maple syrup works just as well.    I took out nuts, used coconut oil, added flaxseed and essentially created a crumble that Children devoured and I wouldnt mind giving them for breakfast.

The quinoa and flaxseed sort of became a toasty cereal, not like the stuck together crisps Ive made in the past, but rather something that felt more closer to granola than anything.  It soaked up the juices of the crumble and became a really lovely sweet purplish mix that the kids ate up.

Im currently also mulling over a clean diet where I give up gluten and refined sugar for 10 days only, in solidarity and support for friends who are struggling with stomach aches and want to try giving it up as well.  (You know who you are.)

Quinoa Apple Blackberry Crumble (Gluten, Dairy, Sugar Free)
Adapted from Gwynethy Paltrows book Its All Good

Serves 6 to 8 people

Fruit Filling
Ingredients
4 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into chunks
2 cups blackberries
3 tablespoons carazuc OR 2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Quinoa Topping
Ingredients
1 cup quinoa flakes (like Ancient Harvest)
2 tablespoons ground flax seed
3 tablespoons carazuc OR 2 tablespoons maple syrup
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons coconut oil melted

Method
Heat oven to 400.  In a shallow baking dish, combine fruit, carazuc/maple syrup, and lemon juice.

In a separate bowl, mix quinoa flakes, flax seed, carazuc/maple syrup, salt, cinnamon.  Toss together and add melted coconut oil, coating all the flakes.  Sprinkle all over fruit.

Bake until top is browned and fruit is bubbling, 25 minutes or so.


Printable recipe

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Caramel Apple Cake Trying to speak tenderly

For Husband

Im bossy.  I admit it.  I spend my days bossing people around.  From the moment I wake up, to the moment I can sleep, I am bossy.  I have to tell Children what to do, Students what to do, Husband what to do, and most of the day Im telling people what I want and how I want it done.

My most commonly used bossy phrases are:

1.  Hurry up.  Were late.
2.  Put your clothes in the laundry basket.
3.  Practice piano, do your math, finish your homework.
4.  Clean your room.
5.  That thesis statement isnt good enough.  Do it again.  And again.
6.  That sentence doesnt make sense.  Write it again.
7.  That idea doesnt make sense.  Think again.
8.  Eat your dinner.
9.  Brush your teeth.
10. Hurry up.  Were late.

And since I spend a vast majority of my day bossing people around, Im bossy.  I get it.  Its just how I talk to people.

But in recent weeks, Husband has said on more than one occasion, "Can you speak to me more tenderly?"
or "Can you not use your teacher voice on me?"

The first time he said it, I brushed it off with a total snort.  The second and third time he repeated it, it gave me pause.  Speak tenderly?

I decided, after his repeated requests, to try, to just try and speak tenderly.  The first time I tried it, it sounded like a strangled dog whimpering out a phrase.   "Turn out the lights please," I garbled.  Husband threw me a weird look and asked, "What was THAT?"

"Thats me.  Speaking tenderly," I replied.

"Thats not tender.  Thats just weird," Husband said, shaking his head.

I resolved internally to be better.  Next time, I asked, "Can you please turn off your computer?" and it came out in a high pitched squeak, much like a mouse.

"Whats THAT?" Husband asked again, completely confused.

"Thats not tender either?" I asked.

Husband retorted, "Just forget it.  Youre being weird."

I decided to ask friends about speaking tenderly.  I asked a few girlfriends at dinner one night and the three of us sat thinking about which women we knew who actively spoke tenderly to their husbands.  We came up with a handful of women but the present company with me were not tender speakers either.  When I asked them to help me, both shook their heads saying, "We dont speak tenderly."

I was flummoxed for a few days, wondering how I was going to achieve this desired vocal effect, and what sort of exercises I might do in order to improve my tender talk.  It wasnt until I was deep in a conversation with a friend who was relating to me her efforts with her signficant other during his prolonged absences.  The touching, heartfelt, sweet things she went out of her way to do made a lightbulb go off in my head and I pounced on her, saying, "HEY!  You can teach me tender talk!  You do the tender talk!!"

She took a step back and looked surprised.  "What are you talking about?"

"I need to speak tenderly to my husband.  I dont know how.  Can you teach me?  Can you help me do it?  He keeps saying I sound fake."

As she is a psychotherapist, she paused and looked straight at me and said, "Whatever you say, in order to sound geniune, has to come from a geniune place of tenderness."

Uh.  I didnt know if I could do it.

She guided me through a brief exercise, asking me what made me fall in love with my husband.  (wicked humor and good listening skills.)  She asked me what were the things he did that pleased me.  (hard and diligent worker, provider for our family, committed family man) She asked me to reconnect to those first days when I fell in love.

Suddenly I almost felt like crying.  (This was supposed to be a funny post, but suddenly now its all serious...kind of.)  I wondered if I had forgotten tenderness because I had forgotten the love and affection I felt for Husband.  I dont know if forgotten is the right word, but perhaps I brushed it aside.  I thanked my friend and began to refresh my feelings towards Husband.

Now, if you ask Husband, hell probably respond that things arent much different in my tone of voice or in my tender talk.  But Ill tell you, (and hell probably read this soon) that the feelings behind my voice ARE different and Im remembering much more of the wonderful things he does when I do speak to him.  And soon, Im convinced that the voice will become more tender as the feelings behind take over the voice itself.

I think the way I want my tender talk to sound is this cake.  Sweet, complex, fluffy and comforting.  There is something about apples, cinnamon and fall that just speak the idea tender to me.  Im still chasing the tender in my voice, but I dont need to chase it in this cake.  Perhaps whenever I want something, I should just give Husband the cake and let it speak for me.

Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze
Adapted from Nancie McDermott’s Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistible Recipes 
Serves 16 to 24

Ingredients
Cake 
3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups chopped apples (a firm apple is best -granny smith, fuji, or honeycrisp)

Brown Sugar Glaze
1 cup packed light brown sugar
6 Tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons heavy cream

Method
Preheat oven to 350?F. Grease a 9x13-inch pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a large bowl, beat the eggs until light and foamy. Add the oil and vanilla and mix well.

Stir in the flour mixture with a spoon and continue stirring the batter until the flour disappears. Add the apples; mix well. Pour the batter into prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set the cake on a wire rack to cool.

While the cake is still hot, prepare the glaze. Combine the brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and heavy cream in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the mixture comes to a gentle boil. Continue cooking for 3 minutes. Spoon the hot glaze over the still warm cake. Let the glazed cake cool completely before serving.

Printable recipe

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Ks Caramel Apple Pie How to be good at small talk

Ive been realizing in recent weeks that I do not excel at small talk.  In fact, I stink at it.  Im missing a little bit of the concentration level or the talent for engaging people in a conversation, especially when I dont know them well.  I love chit chatting with my close friends, and usually within 15 seconds Im off on some tangent that definitely doesnt qualify at all as small talk (usually education or the plight of curriculum in the state of CA) but to ask people questions about their daily life and to get to know them; I just am not good at.  Part of it is due to my own inherent introvert tendencies and the other part, I think is lack of practice.

However, this weekend, I watched a master of small talk take things to the next level and execute the act of getting to know someone to an art form.  He is a trained interrogator (being in law enforcement) and his years of asking questions and engaging criminals takes small talk to new heights.   He took someone he didnt know well at all (who happens to be my best friend) and proceeded to take her very complicated job as a top level manager and dissect her job into the smallest detail.  Afterwards Friend was quite shocked and said, "I dont think my husband even knows exactly what I do." Post interview, KK revealed that his number one tactic at getting people (and criminals and gangsters) to open up is to be interested in the details.  THE DETAILS.  By asking all sorts of minuscule questions (including one where he asked my friend to describe the position of the desks in her office) and being interested in the answer, people open up and say things that you just dont expect.  Bear in mind, that I listened in on this interview, and in almost 20 years of knowing this friend, I learned new things during this conversation that I would not have expected.

Now this is all somewhat foreign to me, as I realize that Im not good at focusing on the small details of a conversation.  Ive always prided myself on "cutting to the chase" as it will, but I also find myself shying away from situations where Im supposed to make small talk, mostly because I tell myself I dont like it.  Maybe I just dont try hard enough.  Maybe my level of interest at unwrapping someone isnt at the level it needs to be at.  Ill only say that watching KK peel away layers of my best friends job was interesting and fascinating to me and it made me want to be better at getting to know people.

In the end, Ive mostly filed away what KK did and Ill continue to mull on it and think about it.  But Ive been practicing the engaging of people I dont know well and trying to talk to them.  I spoke to our garbage man the other day, asking him why the truck didnt have the automatic arm and if he had plans for the rest of the week.  We spoke about 2 minutes, back and forth (this while I had groceries in my arm, and he was shouting across the street as he tossed the trashcans into the truck) and at the end of it, I discovered that the regular drives on my route complained about our area as having too much work, so he was called in to relieve some of that burden.  As he said, "Im not the lazy type to sit back and want someone else to do my work - I just get out there and do it" and I found myself respecting his work ethic, watching his smile, and appreciating the sense of duty to his job.

Im calling this pie after KK because it just so happens that his two daughters LOVED it. They gobbled it down as it were, and enjoyed every last bite.

Make the caramel first, so you can have it ready to go and set aside (even do it the day before), and then do the pie crusts.  I love this recipe for pie crust because it doesnt need to be chilled which means that your pie making time reduces.

Caramel Apple Pie
Makes 9 inch pie, serving 8 to 10 people

Caramel
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
¾ cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons (½ stick of butter)

Method
While cake is baking, make caramel.  Have both butter and cream, measured and ready to go.  In a heavy bottom sauce pan (bigger is better - go for a 2 or 3 quart saucepan) add sugar and heat over medium high heat.  The sugar will begin to melt and caramelize.  As this happens, slowly drag sugar to the center of the pan and swirl the pan around so as to not burn the sugar.  Allow all the sugar crystals to melt, using patience and diligence to watch and check the caramel.  As soon as the sugar is all melted and is dark amber in color (Dave Leibovitz says like the color of a dirty copper penny) add butter all at once and whisk vigorously incorporating it into the sugar syrup.    After butter is all melted remove from heat.  Add cream and whisk  until the caramel is a delicious mixture, all uniform in texture.  Transfer caramel to a jar.  (You’ll use a cup for the pie itself, and have about ½ cup remaining to drizzle over the pie after it’s done.)

Pastry (adapted from Williams-Sonoma)
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
6 to 8 Tbs. ice water

Method
To make the dough in a stand mixer, fit the mixer with the flat beater, and stir together the flour, sugar and salt in the mixer bowl. Add the butter and toss with a fork to coat with the flour mixture. Mix on medium-low speed until the texture resembles coarse cornmeal, with the butter pieces no larger than small peas. Add the water and mix on low speed just until the dough pulls together.

Transfer the dough to a work surface, divide evenly into two, pat into a ball and flatten into a disk. (Although many dough recipes call for chilling the dough at this point, this dough should be rolled out immediately for the best results.) Take one ball and lightly flour the work surface, then flatten the disk with 6 to 8 gentle taps of the rolling pin. Lift the dough and give it a quarter turn. Lightly dust the top of the dough or the rolling pin with flour as needed, then roll out into a round at least 12 inches in diameter and about 1/8 inch thick.  Lay crust into 9 inch pie pan.  leave overhang of pie crust on until later.

Set aside second ball until needed.

Apple Filling and Construction
Ingredients
4 lbs of Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup of caramel sauce (recipe above)

1 egg white, beaten
2 tablespoons sugar

Method
Preheat oven to 400.

Using a mandoline slicer or a sharp knife and your very good knife skills, carefully slice the apple into thin slices, about ¼ inch thick.  The more evenly thinly sliced the apples, the better the overall texture as there will be no air pockets. Drizzle lemon juice, sprinkle flour and cinnamon, and evenly toss the entire mixture together.

Carefully lay apples, as close together, filling the pie dish.  The goal is to have few air pockets and a dense of apple layers.  Pour 1 cup of caramel sauce over apples once they are in the dish.  Roll out the second pie dough and place it over the top of the apples and the pie crust.  Trim overhang of pie crust edges with scissors or knife and pinch together dough in order to create a seal between top and bottom crusts.  Make slashes or cut outs in the top of pie in order for steam to escape and brush top pastry with egg white.  Sprinkle sugar all over top of pie.

Set pie dish on top of cookie sheet (you’ll thank me for this later when your pie doesn’t leak all over your oven) and place in center of oven.  Bake 35 to 45 minutes, until top of pie is golden and the juices are bubbly and delicious.

Set pie aside and allow to cool, juices to thicken, about 1 hour.  Serve with a scoop of ice cream, and additional caramel sauce to drizzle on top.

Printable recipe

Super lightweight and sharp Japanese Mandoline which I love (and makes great apple slices)


My choice of pie dish - looks beautiful and bakes up pies gorgeously
 

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