It is great to have this on hand so that you’ll be ready to go for your fall apple pie dishes.

It only takes 5 minutes to make and you won’t have to hunt for what you need.

Apple Pie Spice Recipe

Ingredients:
¼ cup ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Instructions:
In a small bowl, mix all ingredients together

Store in an airtight container.  It yields 5 tablespoons which should be plenty for lots of baking!

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Apple Pie Spice Recipe

A great spice mix for all your fall apple dishes

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 5 tablespoons

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp ginger

Instructions

• In a small bowl, mix all ingredients together.
• Store in an airtight container

MORE APPLE-Y GOODNESS!

Salted Caramel Apple Pies

Apple Pie Caramel Apple

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I found a pin for these cute little pies from Whisk Away Your Worries and thought they looked mouthwatering awesome!  Seriously, who doesn’t love salted caramel and apples?  And combining that into pie form is perfect.  Actually, individual pie form = even more perfection! Built in portion control if you only eat one.  Sorry to say I failed in that department.

During the hectic holiday cooking frenzy it’s always nice to find things to make that are simple, yet tasty and impressive.  These little pies fit that bill perfectly.  I used store bought pie crust because 1) it’s easy, and 2) I’ve never made crust from scratch.  I’m sure if you have a fantastic pie crust recipe and love to make homemade pie crust you could use that instead. Go for it!  For the rest of us, store bought is just fine.

You might think only one apple isn’t enough for the filling.  I know I did when I saw the recipe but it really is.  In fact, I made 8 little pies and had some filling leftover which would have been enough for a couple more little pies.  You will also have leftover crust after cutting out the circles so you could re-roll and get a few more pies.  Otherwise, if you’re just making 8, grab yourself a spoon and eat the leftover filling while the pies are cooking.  No one will know but you!

The original recipe didn’t call for any caramel sauce drizzled on top but I couldn’t help myself and gave each of the Salted Caramel Apple Pies a drizzle of caramel sauce.  It makes them a bit more difficult (read: messy) to eat but I didn’t care much….bring on the caramel!  And keep a napkin nearby.

I hope you all enjoy these Salted Caramel Apple Pies as much as I did.  Have a Happy Thanksgiving and I’ll see you all next month.

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Salted Caramel Apple Pies

Course Dessert

Author Judy Heinrich

Ingredients

• 1 box refrigerated pie crust
• 1 large apple peeled and chopped into small pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1/8 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
• 6 store-bought caramels diced into about 4 pieces each

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• In a mixing bowl, combine apples, lemon juice, flour, sugar, and cinnamon and diced caramels. Set aside.
• In small bowl, mix egg with water and set aside.
• Unroll pie crusts. Using a circular cookie cutter or glass, cut out as many circles as you can. I used a glass that was 3 1/4" wide and got 8 circles per sheet of dough. If you want to roll out the pie dough scraps you could probably get a few more circles cut out.
• Place half of the crusts on cookie sheet. Top each pie crust circle with a spoonful of the apple/caramel mixture. Make sure each piece has about 4 or more caramel pieces on it. Sprinkle each with a bit of sea salt. Top each pie with another pie crust circle. Use the tines of a fork to press the edges of the crusts together to seal the top crust to the bottom. Make an X on top with a small knife to slice vents on each pie.
• Brush the tops of each pie with a bit of the egg mixture then sprinkle with sugar.
• Bake in until golden, about 12-15 minutes. Allow to cool on a cooling rack. Store pies in airtight container.
• Optional: Drizzle some of your favorite caramel sauce over each pie for extra caramel goodness!

If you’re looking for other Thanksgiving recipes, be sure to check out my Ancho Chile Brined Turkey,  Sweet Potato Noodles with Pancetta, Pecans & Craisins, Spinach Mushrooms & Cheese Casserole.

 If you want to see what else I’m cooking up at I’m Bored, Let’s Go you can follow me here:
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One of the treats that we like to get over there is shave ice.  And don’t call it shaved (with a “d”) ice.  You’ll be showing your touristiness!  (I like to make up my own words.) We made a beeline to Matsumoto’s and had our shave ice but normally whenever I go anywhere the treat that I usually get is a caramel apple.

No matter where we are, if they have caramel apples, I will get one.  I even have my kids conditioned to watch out for me.  Often, before I even see them, one of them will exclaim…”Hey Mom!!  There’s a caramel apple!”

Have I told you how much I love my kids?

So imagine my happiness when I pinned this Apple Pie Caramel Apples from Miss CandiQuik.  It was so easy and the results were professional. (Being the professional caramel apple snob that I am!)

So let’s get cookin’!  Here is what you will need:

Parchment or wax paper

Lollipop sticks (or popsicle sticks)
12 tart, green apples, I used Granny Smith’s
Peter’s Caramel (about a 1/3 to 1/2 of a block- see post) or 2 (11 oz.) bag Kraft Caramel Bits (or caramels)
Vanilla Candy Melts
Cinnamon-sugar, for sprinkling. Mix together cinnamon with some sugar to your liking. Make sure you don’t go too heavy on the cinnamon though.  It really shows up brown on the white chocolate.

Instructions:  Wash and dry your apples really well. Make sure that there is no remaining water on them.  Remove stems and then insert lollipop or popsicle sticks. Place apples on parchment or wax paper.

In a deep microwave safe bowl, cut some caramel off of your block and place in your bowl.  Microwave until your caramel is melted.  Every microwave has different cooking temperatures so just watch closely while melting.  I use Peter’s Caramel because it so easy and it can be found in kitchen stores or bought on Amazon.com. Plus you don’t have to unwrap a bajillion wrappers!   Here is what it looks like:

When your caramel is ready, dip your apple into the caramel and then turn to coat.

Allow as much caramel as possible to drip back into your bowl.

Here is a great tip!  When the dripping has stopped, take a knife and scrape the caramel from off the bottom of the apple.  This will cut down on the “pooling” of caramel at the bottom when you set your apple down.

See the one on the left?  Muy bueno!  The one on on the right?  Not so much muy  bueno!  Of course, if your caramel just HAPPENS to pool at the bottom, that just means more caramel for you to eat, right?  Yumm!!  If you need more caramel, then just melt some more.  It’s hard to determine exactly how much stays on each apple and how much you will need.

Let your apples cool.  In  separate deep microwave safe bowl, melt two cups of your Vanilla Candy Melts.  I used Guittard’s Vanilla Melts.  They are so wonderfully creamy!

Dip your caramel coated apples into the melted vanilla melts making sure you don’t dip all the way to the top of where the caramel is.  It looks nice to see a little apple, then caramel and then the white candy melts.   Let as much as possible drip back into your bowl and then with a clean knife, scrap the excess chocolate off the bottom of the apple and set back on your parchment paper.  And just like the caramel, if you need to melt some more vanilla melts, then just melt some more to cover all of your apples.

While the vanilla coating is still wet, sprinkle some of your cinnamon sugar mixture all over the vanilla coating.

Let the apples cool and then dig in!  It is also nice to take a knife and slice them up for easier eating.  And I promise, these really do taste like an Apple Pie!  It  might just become YOUR new favorite treat!

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One thing we always love about fall is apple picking. My parents had a bumper crop of apples this year. They picked as many as they wanted and still had 8 bushels to pass on to us. We made Homemade Apple Butter and Upside Down Apple Pie, and lots of applesauce. We had apples coming out of our ears!

About 5 years ago, my husband and I planted a single apple tree at our house. It was just a small little twig of a tree back then, but we were so excited to have that little twig and had high hopes of soon having our very own apples.

Fast forward 5 years to this September. We had apples on our tree this year for the first time! We harvested a whopping 15 apples, but let me tell you…they were the best apples ever!

One of our favorite recipes to make with apples are these Apple Pie Bars.

You’ll love these little bars because they are easily made in a 9×13 pan. This makes them great to take to a potluck or family dinner when you need more than just 8 slices of a pie.

You’ll also love them because they are a perfect fall finger food! No need for a plate and fork with these little bars. Unless, of course, you want a scoop of ice cream on top. Which, by the way, I highly recommend.

These bars have the unique addition of crushed cornflakes over the bottom crusts. This helps some of the moisture from the apples to be soaked up, making the bars easier to pick up. I was a little leery of doing this at first, but trust me…you won’t taste the cornflakes!

What are your plans this fall? They should definitely include making these bars. We hope that you all enjoy them as much as we do!

Apple Pie Bars

3 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups butter
1 egg, separated
1 cup cold water
1 cup cornflakes, crushed
10 apples- peeled, cored and sliced
3/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a stand mixer bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture becomes coarse crumbs. In a separate cup, beat the egg yolk, reserving the egg white until later. Stir the cold water into the yolk. Gradually add the egg mixture to the flour mixture until dough can easily form a ball. On a floured surface, roll out half of the dough large enough to cover the bottom and sides of an ungreased 9×13 inch pan. Place the dough in the pan.

Sprinkle the crushed cornflakes over the dough in the pan. Arrange apple slices over the top of the cornflakes. Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon over the apples. Roll out the second half of the dough to cover the entire pan with a little dough hanging over the edge. Lay over the filling and pinch the edges of the two crusts together. Whisk the reserved egg white until foamy and brush onto the top crust with a pastry brush.

Bake the bars for 45 to 50 minutes or until golden brown.

To make the almond glaze, beat the powdered sugar, milk and almond extract until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the warm apple pie bars.

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So it’s no surprise that I pinned this pin for Mini Apple Pie Cookies from Oh Bite It!

I had every ingredient that I needed except for the apple pie filling so off to the store I went.

On my way out of the grocery store, I was following a very attractive Asian lady.

As I was making my way out to my car, she turned around and said “I forgot where I parked my car.”

I replied “Oh my.  I do that all the time.”  She laughed and said “That makes me feel so much better.”

But then she asked me “Do you think I have Alzheimer’s?”  We both kind of chuckled but I told her no, and that she was probably fine.  I asked her if she could pull her keys out and press them to make her car sound.

She said “I have a Prius and it’s an electric car.  It doesn’t beep!”  “I can’t believe I can’t find my car,” she mumbled  And off she walked to another aisle to look for her Prius.

I packed up my own car and as I drove out of the parking lot, I saw her still walking around trying to find her car. I felt so bad for her.

So I don’t want you to forget where you parked when you go to get the items to make these wonderful cookies!  I want you to remember exactly where you parked so you can get home as quick as you can to get these delicious morsels into the oven! These taste just like an apple pie but quicker and easier.  And if I had some vanilla ice cream, that would be the perfect final touch.

After you make them, I know that you’ll agree with me that This Pin Rocks!

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Mini Apple Pie Cookies

Course Cookies

Author madefrompinterest.net

Ingredients

• 1 Box of frozen Pillsbury Pie Crust 2 sheets per box
• Approx. 1 Can of Apple Pie Filling
• Approx. 1 Cup of Caramel Sauce
• 1 Egg for the egg-wash
• 2 tbsp. Cinnamon Sugar
• 1 tbsp. Nutmeg
• Flour just for sprinkling

Instructions

• Unroll one of the pie crusts and lay it out on your surface.
• Spread the Caramel Sauce over the pie crust leaving about 1/8" of an edge
• Coarsely chop the apples in the pie filling, then spread on top of the caramel sauce.
• Unroll the 2nd pie crust and cut into strips. I used a wavy edged pastry cutter.
• Layer the pie crust strips over the apple filling in a lattice formation.
• Taking a round cookie cutter, cut your cookies and lay on your cookie sheet.
• Beat your egg and with a pastry brush then brush the egg over the top of the lattice pastry strips.
• Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and some nutmeg.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 or until golden brown.

Notes

Depending on the size of your round cookie cutter, this recipe makes between 6-9 cookies.

On Wednesdays, we party with:

Gooseberry Patch

The Life of Jennifer Dawn

The Lady Behind the Curtain

Someday Crafts

And So We Craft

Ducks ‘n a Row

Sugar and Dots

Fluster Buster

The NY Melrose Family

Kitchen Meets Girl

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