Birthday Apple Pie

I had a birthday this past weekend. A big one. I'm 40 now. It bothered me a bit at first but now that I'm a couple days into this new decade I've decided that it's all gonna be okay. I'm probably the most content I've ever been and I'm learning to appreciate life and all it's little pleasures even more as the years go by.

I'm not one for big parties so we just had a small family get-together. And I made my own birthday apple pie because I know everyone loves it and because I had the time to do it. It's a dutch apple pie recipe that I've had forever but don't even know where I got it. It's very simple but sooo very good.

Here is my worn out 'apple pie with crumb topping' recipe card in my special recipe card holder cookbook that was given to me as a wedding shower gift years ago. I'll type out the recipe in case you can't read it ;)


Dutch Apple Pie
4-5 c. sliced apples
2 T flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 t cinnamon

Combine this filling and place it in an unbaked pie shell.

**I have never in my 40 years made my own pie crust. I just buy the crust already made, already in the pan. Simple, easy clean-up, and it always tastes just great.

Bake the apples in the crust at 450 for 10 minutes.

Topping-
1 stick of butter, softened
1 c flour
1/2 c brown sugar

Combine till crumbly and pile on top of the partially baked pie. Lower oven temp to 350 and bake for 35-40 min longer till it looks like this-



It's always good to place the pie pan on a cookie sheet because stuff likes to come a'bubbling over the sides and it's much easier to clean a cookie sheet than the bottom of your oven.

When I made it this time, I had more apples than I needed for one pie but not enough for two. So, I baked the extra in a small pan with some of the toppping on top, sans crust. Totally delicious as well and saves you some calories & fat. So, this recipe could be baked as a crustless pie or apple crisp as well. You really can't go wrong with any baked combination of apples, sugar, cinnamon, butter, flour and more sugar. The taste and the smell...it's pure autumn happiness in a pan.