brown bagging it...

so, i had a dilemma today. this morning i realized that i had a 3 lb bag of apples that i had totally forgotten about. they weren’t all bad, except for one; & the song does say, “one bad apple don’t spoil the whole bunch, girl!” but i needed to act…fast. now, the monkey & i love a dang apple, but there was no way that we could gobble all of these guys up before it was curtains! & i hate wasting food, you guys. i mean, hate! (& i never use that word because my momma always said “hate is a strong word!”) but having to throw food out or letting it spoil? well, i avoid it whenever possible. i even catch myself at the market picking out the unfortunate fruit & veggie souls that i don’t see anyone selecting first; especially if i know that i will use them that day or the next.

back to the apples…what to do, what to do? i am stocked up on apple butter right now (‘double, double toil and trouble; fire burn, and cauldron bubble’…jan. 30, 2012). applesauce? slice & freeze? i knew what…a pie…an apple pie! i’ve never made a pie before. could it be that hard? (did i just hear someone snicker?) nah, i’ll just google "apple pies." wow! that’s a pretty wide ranged recipe there. granny’s this…my favorite aunt sally’s that. & do i remember hearing about someone baking a pie in a paper bag at some point? i googled that, too! what i found was a whole lot…so, this is what i did! i searched the cabinets to see what i had on hand, said a little “please give me guidance; julia, paula, betsy ross (she probably baked apple pies, right?),  & went from there.
the only thing i was missing was the actual pie crust. now, i realize that a fine domestic vixen (like myself) could just whip one right on up. this didn’t happen…i cheated & bought a crust of the frozen variety. (then called my pops to get the dos & don’ts on said crust because well, i’ve never used one before.)

okay, the “recipe,” (bear with me):

pie filling

3 lb bag small apples (minus one…ha) peeled & sliced
half a lemon squeezed, or like a tablespoon(ish) of lemon juice *(i adore fresh lemons, plus if you don’t use the other half for tea or the like, you can use it to clean your cutting boards…just fyi)
1 heaping teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon flour
½ cup sugar

*mix up in a decent sized bowl (i used my stand-by yellow pyrex, mixing with my bamboo spoon so not to crush my soft little apples) & pour into pie crust.

on top

(hold on to your drawers...southern girl's ingredients. i hope you saved your diet points…ha.)
1 stick butter (real butter! whole stick!)
½ cup flour
½ sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

mix together. this takes a little upper arm strength (not really, but make sure your butter is soft or at room temp) oh, & use another good sized bowl, unless you want to sling flour everywhere like i did…which is cool, too! the mixture will form into a dough-y kind of consistency. it will break apart, that’s fine. & crumble it on! (then i added another little sprinkle of cinnamon across the top.

bake at around 400 degrees for an hour. oh, & put it in a paper bag!

yes, i did! i slid the whole pie in a grocery sized paper bag (i had my few grocery items bagged in it, knowing it would be instantly recycled) & stapled it shut. (i think the hubs was a little scared at this) i lowered the oven grate, terrified that the paper would get too close to the heating curvy thingy at the top; inside the oven. i said a little prayer & set the timer. of course, i checked it about every 5 minutes of that hour…i just knew that bitch would burst into flames! but, it didn’t…& the end result?

yum-freaking-mers…& i didn’t burn the house down…hoo-ray!! now, you try it! you know you want to tell your friends that you baked a pie in a bag. & you can even check it 12 times, just like me…to make sure it’s not apple pie flambé! action, adventure, baking! yours…ash