This is how we've been making apple pies this summer and now fall. I love crispy and flakey pie crust, so I don't want to give it up altogether. My husband loves a traditional apple pie. So, we've compromised -- a top crust-only apple pie.
I use a deep dish pie plate, butter it well so the apple mixture doesn't stick, then I pile in the spiced and sweetened apple slices. Finally, I top the apples with a single layer of pastry, sealing it to the edge of the dish, and bake.
As you can imagine, slices of top crust-only apple pie don't come out neatly with a pie server. Instead, I cut the crust for each slice with a knife and scoop out crust slices and apples with a large serving spoon. It works. A little messy, but it works. And we all get what we want.
That's a good idea. I love pie crusts too, but they have almost negative nutritional value. Only one crust is a good compromise. Last week, I made a crustless quiche. Not as good as one with a crust, but it was good all the same.
ReplyDeleteWe're more partial to an apple crisp although I do like a good pie crust. I don't like soggy bottom crusts. We do end up with soggy tops on our crisp after the first day which we dislike but haven't found a solution to keeping that crispy. I make one or two per season because we just can't consume an entire dessert!
ReplyDeleteAlice
In some of our cookbooks, a top-crust fruit "pie" is termed a "cobbler", though I grew up with that term only referring to a biscuit-y sweet dough that you put on the bottom with fruit on top, and it raises and bubbles through. (The Frugal Gourmet has the BEST apple cobbler recipe in his American cooking book!) Some pot pies are done that way, too, so it's clearly an accepted traditional solution; and the top crust is the nicest, flakiest one, so you get the best benefit. Seems like a "win" to me. (Thumbs up)
ReplyDeleteLive and Learn, we have done crustless pumpkin pie a lot, for GF family needs, and as you said about the quiche, not AS good, but certainly tasty. (We used to freeze it in single servings, after, too, for a quick dessert.) Alice, we love apple crisp, too, and like you, don't have a big-appetite family to finish off a big dish. Have you ever experimented with smaller dishes/amounts? We've done as small as a one-apple crisp in a little Corningware casserole dish, and it is pretty much perfect for two people for one dessert in our family; and it isn't too hard to scale the topping down, especially since you make it often enough to know your proportions of oats, flour (if you use it), sugar, butter, and salt. Maybe that would work for you? Best to everyone. Sara