Nana’s Easiest Apple Pie…Nuts Optional

So here is a little fact about me…I hate cooking, baking, or even thinking about cooking or baking. I mean I looooove eating food, I could just do without the process that comes between it and my belly. But it comes to a point at which a grown woman should probably have a handful of recipes up her sleeve. So if you are like me and not so fancy in the kitchen, and maybe your looking for an easy go-to recipe that will get you through holiday gatherings, while giving the impression you actually wear the apron hanging in your kitchen…then this recipe is for you.

Caramel Apple Pie

1 pie crust for a 2 crust pie

1/4 C. Chopped pecans (optional)

3/4 C. Sugar

2 Tbsp Flour

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/8 tsp Nutmeg

1 Tbsp Lemon juice

6 C. Peeled and sliced medium apples

Caramel ice cream sauce

1. Preheat oven to 425
2. Prepare pie crust according to box instructions
3. Sprinkle pecans on bottom of pie crust (optional)
4. Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon juice
5. Add apple to flour mixture and stir til apples are coated
6. Spoon mixture into crust lined pan
7. Top with second crust and seal edges, removing excess crust (My Nana used to take the excess and make us little cinnamon rolls. Just roll it out, sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar, roll it and then bake it for the first 15 minuets of the pie)
8. Lightly brush top of pie with water, sprinkle with sugar, and then cut slits into top
9. Bake for about 15 minuets, remove from oven, cover edges of pie with tin foil
10. Return to oven and bake another 15-20 minuets
11. Serve warm with caramel drizzle on top

Sounds easy enough right? Well, it is. Now let me tell you about the time I thought I was being a thoughtful daughter-in-law to my in-laws. I can’t remember if my husband and I were engaged or just married…but I thought maybe I would do something nice for my in-laws to give the impression that maybe I wasn’t the most domestically challenged wife my husband could have chosen. So what did I do? I made them the easiest thing I knew how to…well, aside from microwave pizza. Now lets fast forward to the call my husband gets from his mother…”um did Nicole put nuts in the apple pie?” Crap. Was I supposed to know my father-in-law had a nut allergy? I mean I wasn’t trying to kill him, I actually like my in-laws. The good news is, my father-in-law didn’t go into anaphylaxis and lesson learned…nuts are optional.

Don’t forget to let me know what you think!

XoXo

Nicole