Apple Pie Baked Inside an Apple!

We're coming up on the 4th of July and nothing is more 'Murican than apple pie, right? Well, when I saw this post by DomesticDilettante, I thought these apple pies baked in apples were too good to be true. Look how perfect they are! Ahhh but there's a catch... wanna know what they forgot to mention? I'm not saying these aren't good but you might want to know the whole story before venturing to the apple orchards...


To make these mini apple pies, you'll need:

* 5 Granny Apples (4 whole apples and 1 to chop up for the filling)
* 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
* 1/4 cup of sugar
* 1 Tablespoon of brown sugar
* Pie Crust (mine was store-bought and you only need 1)





To start off, preheat your oven to 375 degrees and cut off the top of an apple.

Using a knife and/or a spoon, core out the inside of the apple. If you're able to save any of the insides, keep them in a bowl for later. Chances are, though, you'll mainly be pulling out the core and a bunch of seeds, which aren't worth saving.

Do this for all four apples. Do not puncture a hole in the side or the bottom or you will have juices running everywhere. Trust me on this one.

Once your apples are hollowed out, it's time to make the filling. Peel and chop up your extra apple (which will fill almost 4 apples perfectly). Place the pieces in a bowl.

Next, add your cinnamon, brown sugar, and sugar and stir together until your apple pieces are coated in yummy deliciousness.... mmmm... yummy deliciousness...

Spoon your filling into each of your apples without overflowing.

Next, the "crust". Take your pie crust and cut it into slices. Now mine were pretty thin - about 1/4" thick - so you might want to make yours thicker but it's totally up to you. Fold each row and column under and over so as to make your woven lattice pie crust.

If you have an 8"x8" pan, place the apples in there, pour enough water to cover the bottom, wrap foil on top and stick in the oven for 20 minutes. If you don't have an 8"x8" pan and you just skipped the last sentence entirely, two 5"x8" bread pans work and just put two apples in each pan, pour in water to fill the bottom, cover with foil, and stick in the oven.

After the 20 minutes are up, take off the foil and stick the pans back in the oven. Be very careful, as hot steam will come up from under the foil and bad words you didn't know existed will flow from your mouth. So... be careful.

Now you can either let them bake another 20 minutes and they'll look like the ones on the right or 25 minutes and you get the ones on the left. As long as the apple filling is soft, you're good to go.

And now, ladies and gentleman, the part you've all been waiting for... what did the original post forget to mention or show? How the apples look from the side.

Warning: might not be appropriate for people who like their applies to be perky, green, and perfect.

Aiiiiiiiee!!! What IS that?! Well folks, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but any photo you see of these will always from the top and never from the sides because of this exact reason. It ain't pretty. The apples kind of collapse on themselves. However, the filling inside is delicious, the crust tastes good, and the lining of the apples taste like applesauce so what's a little wrinkle here and there, right?

TOTAL COSTS: About $15 to make 4 apple "pies" (prices from Vons)
$1.99/lb for Granny Smith apples
$4.79 for cinnamon
$2.69 for sugar
$2.70 for pie crust
Made my own homemade brown sugar

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: About 1 hour, 35-40 minutes
20 minutes to cut and hollow out apples
20 minutes to make the filling
15 minutes to make the lattice crust on all 4 apples
20 minutes to bake with foil
20-25 minutes to bake without foil

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 3 out of 5
Trying to make sure the filling is done while not burning the top is easier than it sounds. Just keep an eye on the oven and you'll do just fine!