Apple Pie...

My Dad LOVED apple pie, I think I get my addiction from him. I remember we used to buy the frozen dutch apple or deep dish apple pies quite a bit and bake them at home in the oven. We could barely wait for them to cool enough to make it edible, often times we'd just dig into it and bear the consequence of a burnt mouth, at least we had vanilla bean ice cream to cool it off a bit.

One time my parents were gone for the day and I decided I wanted to attempt to make an apple pie from scratch (for the first time ever, mind you). We had a bunch of random apples (I don't remember what kind they were, now I know it definitely makes a difference!), pie crusts in the fridge, and most of the spices (I think I had to omit some we didn't have if I remember right). I peeled, cored, and sliced the apples, followed the directions in mixing the spices, poured all the ingredients into the pie dish, baked and cooled it all before they got home. When they got home and my Dad saw there was an apple pie on the counter his face lit up (I think he even giggled a little). "Well, let's crack it open!," he said. Not knowing what to expect, we all took our first bites of my very first homemade apple pie, and surprisingly it wasn't half bad! I remember my Dad saying it reminded him of being a kid, someone had made pies that tasted like the one I made when he was younger and it took him back.

So today, I decided to try my apple pie luck once again (only the second time in all my 26 years, which bewilders me as I LOVE APPLE PIE)...I'm happy to say my Dad would have been in taste bud heaven. I used 5 different kinds of apples (2 Granny Smith, 1 Braeburn, 1 Fuji, 1 Honey Crisp, 1 Pink Lady) and the results were above and beyond my expectations, especially since I pieced together a few recipes I had seen online and added flavors I love in pies like vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

Daddy, here's to you! For your 50th birthday in a week, you get a homemade Apple Pie...feel free to come down and have a bite or two when I'm not looking!