Apple Pie In An Apple

Here is one of those creative recipes that seems so simple yet never, in a million years, would I have thought of.

Seriously.

Apple pie IN an apple.

The person who thought of this is clearly a genius. A super genius even.

I first saw the photo on Pinterest and it lead me to Testado, Provado e Aprovado! 

I'm beginning to love, love, love Pinterest for all these great ideas. Plus, it's making Sue and I look like we are super geniuses.

Apple Pie In An Apple

Ingredients

1 recipe Pie Crust

apples

lemon juice

cinnamon

brown sugar

flour

Directions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie tray with parchment paper.

Okay, the first thing you might notice is that I have not included measurements with the ingredients. That is because this recipe can be whatever size you want it to be. You can make 1 apple if you want, or you can make 2 dozen apples.

Cut the apples roughly in half, leaving a little more on the bottom half than the top. Using a melon baller, carefully scoop out the bottom half of the apple, being careful not to leave the outside edge too thin. (If it is too thin the skin can burst during cooking leading to deflated apples - of course they still taste delicious they just don't look as pretty) Place the scooped out apple bits into a bowl and sprinkle with a bit of lemon juice to prevent browning.

Sprinkle empty apple shell with cinnamon.  Take the apple tops, peel and core them, and cut the apple into the bowl with the other apple bits.

Drain the apple pieces to get rid of excess liquid.

Toss apple pieces with cinnamon, brown sugar, and a little flour. (I made 4 apples and used about 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 Tbsp brown sugar, and 1 tsp flour. Depending on your tastes you can use more or less cinnamon and brown sugar. Don't use too much flour.)

Fill the apple shells with the apple pieces. Mound them up a little so they rise above the edge of the apple as they will cook down.

Roll out your pie dough on a lightly floured surface. Using a cookie cutter or drinking glass, cut a circle of dough that is a little larger than the top of the apple so it will cover the top and hang over the sides a little. Place on top of the apple and cut a slit to vent it. 

Place on cookie tray and bake in 400 oven for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and continue cooking until pastry is brown and apples are tender.

Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes on cookie tray placed on wire rack.

Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream OR remove to wire rack and let cool completely.

I drizzled them with a little maple syrup and served them warm. So tasty!

If you only make a few apples then you will not need the entire recipe of pie dough listed above. No problem - just wrap the remaining dough in plastic wrap and freeze it. When you need more dough simply let it come back up to room temp and you are good to go!

I made this twice and the second time I used Granny Smith apples. I can't remember which kind I used initially but they were not tart at all. The Granny Smith's tasted much better but they did seem to have weaker skins. By this I mean the skins split and the apples collapsed more than they did the first time I made it. This was not a big deal though - they were delicious and still looked pretty darn cute.

Apple Pie In An Apple - all the deliciousness of apple pie with way less calories. Plus, it's cuter. :)

Only 1 more day to enter our first giveaway!
Don't forget - you can enter our first blog giveaway until January 22nd. (Only 1 more day!) Winner will be announced on January 22nd! Go HERE for more details.
You might win 2 fabulous cookbooks and a bottle of Oh!So Garlic seasoning!

Draw is now over. Thank you for your support!