Speaking of Pie...

Since my last post talked about pie, I thought it would be fitting that I did a follow-up to my Apple Pie Filling post a few weeks ago.

The apple pie filling that we canned is going so fast!  We can’t get enough of the stuff. 

For Canning, we continue to use the recipes found in the book “Ball’s Complete Book of Home Preserving”.

Apple Pie Filling (from Ball's Complete Book of Home Preserving)
12 c. peeled, cored, thinly sliced apples 
2 3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. ClearJel
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. nutmeg
1 1/4 c. cold water
2 1/2 c. unsweetened apple juice
1/2 c. lemon juice

1.       Prepare canner, jars and lids (water bath).

2.       In large pot of boiling water, working with 6 cups at a time, blanch apple slices for 1 minute, removed with a slotted spoon and keep warm in a covered bowl.

3.       In large stainless saucepan combine sugar, ClearJel, cinnamon, nutmeg, water and apple juice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly and cook until mixture thickens and starts to bubble. Add lemon juice, return to a boil and boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Drain apple slices and immediately fold into hot mixture. Before processing, heat, stirring until apples are heated through.

4.       Ladle hot pie filling into hot jars leaving 1 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot filling. Wipe rim, center lid on jar, screw band down to finger-tip tight.

5.       Process in boiling water for 25 minutes. (35 for me)

Makes 7 Pints

I love the Marie Calendars Apple Crumb Pie.  I think this recipe is pretty close to the original…at least for the crumb topping. J

Crumb Topping

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons melted butter

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Apple Crumb Pie

1.       In a medium bowl, mix the crumb topping ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse meal – set aside.

2.       Pour apple mixture into pie crust. (I cheated and used a frozen pie crust)

3.       Spread the crumb topping evenly over the apples. 

4.       Bake according to your crust recipe

5.       Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

A couple hints –

1 - This is probably a given, but…Make sure you have good apples.  If you don’t like the flavor, texture, etc…you probably won’t like them in a pie.

2 – Make sure you have an apple peeler/corer/slicer - When doing pie filling, you won’t use the slicer, but the peeler/corer is absolutely amazing.  I can’t believe how fast I was able to peel these apples.