A piece of the Pie

So pies have been on my mind this week. Which is strange because the only time I ever make pie is a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. But when the baking itch needs to be scratched, sometimes all you need is a bag of apples.

It all started with the decision to make a gluten free apple pie. I bought a ton of apples and some gluten-free mix to make my dough and I was off. Just so you know...$14 of apples is more than you need for one pie...

I made the crust according to the box and then rolled it into a ball for the fridge for an hour

While it was cooling in the fridge, I started to prepare my apples.
I peeled and sliced 8 cups of apples. this made for a very full pie, so you can do 6 if you would like.

I took 1/3 cup brown sugar [packed], 1/3 cup white sugar, 2.5 Tbsp rice flour [remember this is gluten free, you can use normal flour if this is not an issue], 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg and mixed it all together.
I sprinkled 2/3 of this in with the apples, coating all of them

When time was up, I rolled out the dough to make the top and bottom. The box said it was supposed to make 4 crusts but I found out it really meant three. So I rolled one out into the pan and filled it with my apples

I then added the last 1/3 of the sugar mixture on top and layered the second dough on top, making little cuts along the top

It's a pretty tall pie

Then I baked according to the pie crust box, which was 425'F for about 40 minutes. Make sure to check your dough recipe as some vary from 30-45 minutes for baking time.

I wrapped the edge with foil so that they wouldn't get too crispy and burnt.
and Voila! We have apple pie!!
...it lasted 3 days....I don't know if that is good or bad

But since I had the leftover dough....and a ton of leftover apples, I knew what I must do.
An apple streusel pie.

Basically it is the same as above. Roll out the bottom dough, peel and slice apples.
Then I made a much smaller portion of the sugar mix - only 1/4 cup of each sugar  with 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1.4 tsp nutmeg and 2 Tbsp rice flour to mix in with the apples.

Then, to make the streusel it was
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

 all into the food processor and then sprinkled on top!

I baked the pie for another 45 minutes, covering the top with foil after 30 minutes

It was hard to decide which pie was better....I may need to make them both again for a test off.....

But no, I was not done with my pie. for this evening I made Pie Kisses!!

Pie Kisses

1 refrigerated pie crust, thawed

Hershey Kisses of choice, I used Caramel and then a Strawberry Bliss

1 egg white whisked with 1 Tbsp water

Powdered sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out pie dough onto a lightly floured counter top. Place  kisses around the edges of pie dough, about 2 1/2 inches apart . 

Take a knife and cut a 2 1/2-3 inch circle around kiss. Fold half of pie dough around top of dough and pinch edge around top of kiss. . Now, fold up both sides of remaining dough up to the tip of the kiss pinching edge.  

Now press together edges and form criss cross.

 * *Continue cutting dough around kisses until all dough is used up. I got about 14 rounds cut when I re-rolled my scraps  **

2. Brush all little pies with an egg white wash then sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake for 25 minutes or until little pies are golden. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. Dust each with powdered sugar and serve.

Or you can dip them in extra chocolate glaze [which I had on hand from making my Honey Cake]

Little chocolate pie-lettes with extra chocolate!

Love these