In a Homer moment of clarity I decided to do the unthinkably delicious- make a bacon apple pie.
I opted for the traditional double crust pie rather than attempting a bacon lattice (the criss-crossing pattern of strips). The lattice looked appetizing and decadent but the idea of messing up and potentially ruining all that precious bacon…I just could not bring myself to risk it. This being my first attempt and all. I figured that I would get another chance to fine tune the recipe anyway. next time...I found 3 different recipes for bacon apple pie on the inter-web and as usual I took what I wanted/liked from each to come up with my own. I am not into plagiarizing or hijacking original thought so check out the recipes that inspired me:
http://elicooks.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/bacon-really-does-make-everything-better/9/bacon-really-does-make-everything-better/
http://www.suntimes.com/recipes/pies/713091,122607applepie.recipe
http://bacontoday.com/the-bacon-apple-pie/
Ingredients:
6 apples: 3 Granny Smith and 3 Pink Ladies peeled, cored and sliced
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon of pumpkin spice (I did not have nutmeg)
2 tablespoons flour
¾ cup of white sugar
½ cup of maple syrup
8 slices of fried chewy bacon
2 tablespoons butter (the real stuff)
Ready made crust (2)
cook: 350 degrees for 1hr+ (until the apples are cooked, sauce is thick and the crust is golden brown)
What I will do differently next time:- Spend more money and get a better ready made pie crust
-Use 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar 1/3 cup of white
-4 tablespoons of butter
-More flour (2 1/2 or 3 tablespoons) or some cornstarch
-2 more strips of bacon, 10 in total
Making this pie is a piece of cake, especially since I did not make my own crust. The most time consuming part was peeling, coring and slicing the apples. The rest of the stuff is mixed together in a bowl. First the dry stuff mixed well. Next the apples with the maple syrup then add the bacon. I cooked the bacon chewy, not crispy. I let is cool and drain onto a napkin then I tore it into pieces. Lastly toss in the cut/diced butter. Fold together and pour into the crust. Bake, set and eat. See, cinchy. The hardest part is waiting for the pie to cool and set.
