Sunday Sweets

American Apple Pie

Who doesn’t love apple pie? I am a huge fan of fresh baked pies and cobblers. My favorite dessert as a child was my father’s apple cobbler. It was surprisingly simple and so incredibly delicious. All he would do was pour a few cans of pre-made apple pie filling into a casserole dish, top it with a yellow pie crust and put pats of butter all over the cake mix. After baking, the cake mix turned into a scrumptious toasted brown crust. It was the best when I added vanilla ice cream! To say the least that cobbler was not the healthiest dessert.

This Sunday’s sweet recipe is a take on Paula’s Crunch Top Apple Pie. I thought I might try to use a little less sugar and use a whole wheat crust.

I forgot to take a pic of the ingredients because I was cooking dinner and apple pie and got a little distracted. Sorry!

The problem with making a whole wheat crust is that you still have to have to use a fat. I find it hard to make a great pastry crust without a little real butter.

This apple pie ended up being delicious! You could definitely tell that the crust was whole wheat but it didn’t really matter! As far as calories, using 1 ½ pre-made pie crusts would have only added an addition 20 or so calories to the nutritional stats. Pre-made crusts, however, would add a significant amount of sodium.

What are some of your favorite items to cook with that are pre-made?

Here are the stats:
Taste: Seconds Please!
Waist: I may need to unbutton my pants...


Apple Pie with Whole Wheat Crust

Filling:
¼ cup sugar
½ cup Splenda
1 tsp all purpose flour
2 tsp whole wheat flour
1 heaping tsp cinnamon
3 ½ cups peeled and chopped cooking apples
1 (16 oz) jar unsweetened applesauce
½ lemon, juiced
4 sprays of butter substitute spray

Crust (Makes 2 full crusts):
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp Splenda
¼ cup unsalted butter
6 tbsp Smart Balance, Light
8 tbsp skim milk

For the crust:
Sift together all dry ingredients. Cut in the butter and the Smart Balance until the mixture is crumbly. Slowly mix in milk. Stir just until all ingredients are wet. Transfer half of the dough onto a sheet of wax paper. Cover the dough with another sheet of wax paper and roll dough until 1/8” inch thick. Repeat for second half of dough. Using one side of the was paper to help stabilize dough, gently place one pie crust dough in a 9” pie plate, crimping the edges.

For the filling:
Mix together all ingredients. Pour on top of the crust. Cut the 2nd pie crust dough into 1” strips. Arrange strips on top of the filling in a lattice formation. You can use a whole or half crust if you choose. Spray top of pie with spray butter. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes. Decrease temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 45 minutes.