I had never made an apple pie before I started dating Zack. Then I found out his favorite dessert is apple pie. So, of course, I felt I needed to impress him for our first Christmas together. That first recipe I tried was a solid choice: a classic from a Southern Living best-of compilation. I haven’t deviated much from that recipe over the years.

Why mess with success, right?

Even when Christy, one of my sisters, swore by this amazing-sounding apple pie recipe that had a homemade caramel sauce drizzled over the top, I didn’t try it. I didn’t try it, but I also didn’t forget about it.

I have remembered it by name for at least five years. I know this because the sister who told me about it has since developed an allergy to wheat, so I can say with certainty that she didn’t tell me about it after she stopped eating flour.

Then, over fall break, I bought three bags of apples with the idea that I would make several apple pies: one for Zack’s birthday and a couple for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Almost immediately, one child got a stomach bug. The next week, I got a stomach bug. The following week, a different child got a stomach bug. That’s how it came to pass that those apples sat in my kitchen until yesterday.

Thankfully, apples are hardy little fruits. (I’m glad Zack’s favorite isn’t berry cobbler or banana pudding, or all would have been lost.) At any rate, Julia and I finally started making all those apples into apple pies yesterday afternoon.

I had picked up one of those peeler/corer/spiralizer gadgets from Aldi over the summer, and it worked so well that we got a little carried away. We twirled apples and twirled apples, and we peeled and sliced more than 27 apples in less than an hour. In the end, we had enough thinly sliced apples floating in lemon water to make four apple pies, which was my goal — plus a 9-by-13 pan of apple crumble. And because I have no sense to speak of, I decided to make all four pies using a brand-new recipe. On all four pies. In for a penny, in for a pound, right?

Thankfully, it was a bet that paid off. (Thanks, Christy!)

We tried the first pie last night, and it was by far the best apple pie I’ve ever made. I’m glad I have three more in the freezer.

CARAMEL APPLE PIE

(adapted from Grandma Ople’s Apple Pie from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
8 small Granny Smith apples
Optional: juice of one lemon
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
3 Tbsp. flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 pie crusts

Directions:
■ Preheat oven to 425. Peel, core, and slice apples thinly. To prevent browning, place apples in a mixing bowl of water into which you’ve squeezed the juice of one lemon.
■ Grease pie plate. Press one pie crust into bottom and up sides of pie plate.
■ Place apple slices into crust. Slice other pie crust into about 8 strips. Weave strips into lattice pattern on top of pie. (See YouTube for a tutorial if you have never done this.) Crimp edges of crust and set pie aside.
■ Place a saucepan over medium heat. Put butter into saucepan and allow it to melt. Add flour to butter and stir to make a paste. Cook for about a minute.
■ Add sugars, seasonings, and water into saucepan. Bring mixture to a simmer and simmer for 3-5 minutes.
■ Remove from heat and add vanilla to caramel mixture. Slowly and carefully pour caramel over top of the prepared pie, trying to pour into the holes of the lattice.
■ Place pie plate on a lined cookie sheet in case caramel bubbles over during cooking.
■ Place cookie sheet and pie into oven and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and continue to bake until apples are tender, about 35 to 45 minutes.

Note: Recipe, including caramel sauce, doubles or even quadruples well.

Amelia Plair is a mom and high school teacher in Starkville. Email reaches her at [email protected].

Amelia Plair is a Starkville resident who writes occasional food columns.

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