Apple-Praline Pie
Why I Love This Recipe
My mother-in-law made the best apple pie. I didn't ever want to compete with her. Unfortunately, she has hung up her apron for good. Rather than to try and duplicate her pie, I searched for a recipe I could call my own. I found several that I liked, combined them, and came up with this. I did make my own crust, using a recipe from Cook's Illustrated that uses vodka as part of the liquid...it was easy and turned out to be very tasty. Check out my blog post for links to the recipe.
Ingredients You'll Need
Pastry for a two-crust 9” pie
¾ cup brown sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cardamom
1 tablespoon lemon juice
6-7 cups peeled and thinly sliced tart baking apples (I used a mixture of Granny Smith, McIntosh, and Honey Crisp)
3 tablespoons butter, cut up
Topping:
¼ cup butter
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
¾ cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons heavy cream
½ teaspoon vanilla
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 ° F.
Fit 1 piecrust into a 9-inch deep pie plate.
Stir together sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom. Sprinkle the lemon juice over the apples, and then stir the apples into the cinnamon/sugar mixture; spoon mixture into crust and dot with butter. Top with remaining piecrust; fold edges under, and crimp. Cut several slits in top.
Place pie on a baking sheet (to catch drips) and bake at 425 ° F for 20 minutes. Reduce temperature to 375 ° F and continue to bake for another 35-45 minutes, shielding with aluminum foil, if needed, to prevent excessive browning. Remove from oven.
Melt ¼ cup butter in a small saucepan; stir in brown sugar and pecans. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly; cook 1 minute, and remove from heat. Stir in cream and vanilla. Slowly, pour mixture over pie; bake for an additional 3- 5 minutes or until topping is bubbling. Cool for at least one hour before slicing.
