Inspired by the "Eat this, not that" guy (David Zinczenko) who always pops by on the Today Show, I thought I could pass along the same advice with two holiday desserts I recently made.
The first, I decided to make at home visiting my parents just for fun (and because I wanted to feature a fallish dessert on the blog), the Upside Down Apple Tart from Southern living. The second, the "Apple Upside-Down Pie", also from Southern Living, I made for Thanksgiving in Texas.
They sound incredibly similar, don't they? Both upside down, delicious apple treats... Don't be fooled! because both the work required and the end result were shockingly different!
The loser of the two (the unfortunate "Not That") was the "Upside-Down Apple Tart"- a rare miss from Southern Living in my opinion.
I chose the recipe because the ingredients were so minimal (I hate buying 20 bizarre ingredients I'll never use again!)
1 cup cold butter, cut up
2 cups all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
1 3/4 cups sugar, divided
1/2 cup ice-cold water
1 (3-lb.) package small Granny Smith apples, peeled and quartered
1/2 cup butter, cut up
I really only needed to buy Granny Smith apples. That, sadly was the end of the easy part. The recipe first requires you to make your own dough, wrap into a disk and chill for 2 to 24 hours. I didn't mind making the dough (it's fairly simple) - but the chill time required meant I couldn't make the dessert right away. Choices were to make it a day in advance or in my case, make it into the wee hours of the night after the dough had chilled!
I went ahead to the next step after about an hours chill time, which was to put all other ingredients into a cast iron skillet and simmer for over an hour. Right there, I realized this was not my kind of recipe. Putting something into the oven for an hour is one thing. But stirring on the stove top every 15 minutes for over an hour? Sounds like something I will likely burn!
After the apples cook down on stove top (I'm not getting too detailed into each step of the recipe simply because I don't recommend it), then roll out the dough made previously, place it on top of your cast iron skillet, tuck in the sides, and bake for 25 minutes in the oven.
After it comes out, you let it cool, cut around the sides, and invert onto your serving dish.
Overall the recipe wasn't terribly difficult, but definitely a time commitment. My biggest problem was that there was nothing special about the recipe to make it worth the work. It wasnt particularly pretty (it should have been a giveaway that even the magazine picture wasnt very pretty), didn't have cinnamon (which I say is a must for baked apple dishes!), and lost a lot of texture (see: applesauce mush) in the lengthy cooking process. It was ok (with vanilla ice cream), but not worth the effort. That night, I kept saying to my mom, if you're going to do this much work, why not make a beautiful apple pie?
On to #2, the winner of the two (and my recommendation for "Bake this") is the "Apple Upside Down Pie". I was determined to redeem myself after the apple tart bust above, and wanted to bring something unique for Thanksgiving (I knew pecan pie & pumpkin pie would be covered!)
Though its name sounds similar, the "Apple Upside-Down Pie"didnt have much else in common with the apple tart recipe above.
The ingredients are very similar, except this one calls for brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and pecans instead of plain white sugar (all except pecans are ingredients one would typically have on hand, though).
Ingredients:
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 (15-oz.) package refrigerated piecrusts, divided
4 medium-size Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks (about 1 3/4 lb.)
2 large Jonagold apples, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks (about 1 1/4 lb.)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
The second major difference was that it called for refridgerated pie crusts (which I'd never used before). They were inexpensive and sooo easy to use. Even though it is sometimes fun to try your own pie crusts, you can't beat the convenience (especially since I was trying not to destroy my mother in law's kitchen as she cooked for thanksgiving day! ;) )
First, mix the pecans, melted butter and brown sugar into the bottom of a pie plate (I probably could have eaten just those 3 items as dessert and been perfectly happy!) Then, fit one pie crust over the pecan mixture, letting the excess hang over the sides.
(not sure why this picture won't flip, it's right side up in my pictures!)
Then, take the pealed and chopped Granny smith apples (apples are cut into roughly 1 inch chunks per above), pealed and chopped Jonagold apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg and stir together.
Spoon mixture into crust (which you earlier placed over pecan mixture), packing tightly and mounding in center. **On this step, do not pack so firmly that you break through the bottom pie crust; gently pack down apples).
Place remaining piecrust (a box comes with two crusts) over filling.
Press both crusts together, fold edges under and crimp- we took our own artistic liberty with this step. Yes, those are Sie's hands - what can i say the guy's a pro! :)
Place pie on foil lined jelly roll pan (sorry to my mother in law, whose house we were at, I just realized this said foil lined! I did have some bubbling over onto the pan but it didnt make a difference in taste or appearance!) Cut 4 to 5 slits for steam to escape.
Bake at 375° on lower oven rack for approximately 1 hour or until crust is golden brown and apples are tender when pierced with a pick through crust slits (I did not attempt that, and just pulled out when golden brown). The recipe said to shield pie with aluminum foil after 50 minutes, if necessary, to prevent excessive browning, but I didnt experience that.
Fresh outta the oven
Cool on wire rack 10 minutes. Place a serving plate over top of pie; invert pie onto serving plate.
Remove pie plate slowly so all the pecans can pull off with the pie, patch up any places where pecans stayed in the pie plate.
Let cool completely (about 1 hour).
VOILA!
This was a big hit at Thanksgiving (I did think it was best warmed up in the microwave) and would be outstanding with ice cream (what wouldnt?) It was easy - essentially mix ingredients & throw in oven to bake - but looked very beautiful and tasted great.
Hope you enjoy!
