Last year at this time, I was rolling out pastry and sprinkling cinnamon and nutmeg on apples on a regular basis. Now that it's apple pie season again, I thought I'd share with you what turned out to be a pretty exciting autumn. My original apple pie recipe won a contest in Country Home magazine. If I never do another noteworthy thing, I can be quite happy being "the apple pie lady".
The local paper did a story on the contest and my recipe box collection... which has grown since then...
A lady looked me up and called from Nebraska to ask some questions about the recipe... Many people wanted to know where to get the maple sugar...
...and my third grade teacher called to catch up!(That was probably the most exciting part!). The magazine tested the entries and baked this pie several times to be sure that they could get consistent results. They say that you can use brown sugar, but maple sugar really makes the recipe. The turbinado sugar also adds an amazing crunch to the pastry top, and I love to cut a maple leaf out of the top pastry crust.
I think the best part about making apple pie is the buttery, cinnamony, nutmegy aroma wafting from the oven during the last 15 minutes of baking time...So...close your eyes, get the butter, cream and maple sugar out, forget the calories for the day and bake an apple pie. Thanks for visiting Hollyhocks!
