Fathers Day and apple pie

For Fathers' Day, my little family went over to the in-laws, and my part was desserts.  My German Chocolate cake roll was a disaster, but it just so happened this was bake sale Sunday at Church (once a month for missions), so I picked up a nice chocolate cake.

I also made an apple pie.  From scratch.  Including the crust.  Woohoo Me!

Crust recipe.  Before trying the recipe, I read the reviews.  #1 comment was freeze the butter.  This crust turned out light, flaky, tender, and oh my goodness!  My husband's comment was "I love this pie, but I'd like a pie out of just the crust and juices".  I may have made a grave mistake, making this pie.  They'll probably want me to make pie all the time, and making anything from scratch is definite kitchen time.  A couple of hours at least.

Pie recipe:   This is to die for.  Wait, don't die, really.  Just eat it!  and savor, enjoy, oh my.   Again, I read the comments below the recipe, and made a couple of changes.  For instance, I added cinnamon and nutmeg to the caramel sauce.  Below are pictures that show the sauce simmering and thickening up, and how I cut the apples, and how I did the upper crust.  Inspiration for that design came straight from Pinterest, and everyone just "oohed" and "aahed" over it, as it was very obviously homemade, no storebought stuff here, and people tend to be impressed.  As they should be, this was a labor of love!

I actually made 2 pies.  One Saturday night to take out to MY dad's, and one Sunday for the in-laws.  The one I took to my dad's, I used 6 granny smith + 2 fuji apples.  The fuji apples are softer and sweeter, and as you know the granny smiths are crisp and tart.  The one I took to the in-laws, I used 8 granny smiths.  I was surprised at how different they tasted!   

The 6 GS + 2 Fuji = sweet, you tasted the apples, tasted the flavors.

The 8GS = You really noticed the tartness.  I hereby changed the name of this one to "Apple Tart".

So the design wasn't perfectly executed.  Somehow something got a little skewed and crooked, but I think that's part of the "scratch" charm, don't you?   Also note that during the baking process, the dough pulls in a bit, so some of what was hidden  under other strips becomes visible.  Again, all part of the charm, and I was not one bit self-conscious of this pie.  I was proud.  And if it hadn't been quite so tart, I think I wouldn't have had left-overs.  (P.S.   NEXT DAY:   Not quite as tart as it was when same-day fresh.  It tastes better, a little sweeter, a little less like McDonald's apple pie --- and makes a great second breakfast!)

Next pie:   Mix granny smiths with a couple of pears instead of other apples.  Just to see how the dynamics of that combination work.