Apple Pie Tray
Posted on Apr 23, 2009 · Listed in Desserts
You may be asking, “What’s an apple pie tray?” Well, it’s for everybody that doesn’t like to or hasn’t mastered the art of pie crusts, and for feeding larger crowds. Here’s how it works: starting with an easy dough crust that is pressed onto the bottom and up the sides of a large pan, you then add a filling and topping. It’s easy and delicious and most of the ingredients are probably sitting in your cupboards right now!
Crust
1/4 cup+ 2 cups flour
1/4 cup water
Pinch of salt (kosher salt is best)
1 cup shortening, such as Crisco
Filling
1/4 cup + 1/4 cup maple syrup
9-10 apples - whatever type you want or a mixture - peeled, sliced, chopped
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice (fresh is best)
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground nutmeg
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Crumbly Top
1 cup flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (no margarine, please!)
Some plastic wrap or waxed paper
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and get out your large baking pan (jelly roll style) lightly grease it and set it aside. Combine the 1/4 cup flour and water until smooth then set aside. In another bowl combine the salt and the 2 cups flour then cut in the shortening until it looks like little coarse crumbs (kinda like oatmeal), add the the flour + water mixture and knead it until it forms a ball, then flatten it into a disk. Press this dough down onto the bottom and up the sides of the greased pan - best way to do this is to place a sheet of plastic wrap or waxed paper over the dough and press down.
Now spread 1/4 cup of the maple syrup over the crust and put the apples spread out all over the syrup. Then into a large bowl, combine the the other 1/4 cup of syrup, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg & vanilla and drizzle over the apples.
Then for the topping - put the flour and sugar into a bowl and with your hands mix and squish the butter in until it crumbly; sprinkle over the filling and bake for about 1 hour - or until the apples are tender. Remove from oven, let set for about 10 minutes then cut into squares.
