Caramel Apple Pie with Crumb Topping

I forgot to take a picture until there was only
one slice left! Just trust me that it was pretty :)

Brooke and I had another "Chopped" competition - this time we got to pick whatever we wanted to make for dessert instead of pulling ingredients out of a hat like last time (click here for that post). She made an oreo cheesecake with mousse topping and I decided to make a cherry pie. We went to the store for supplies and what do you know, our little grocery store didn't carry cherry pie filling, or any cherries for that matter - so I switched to apple. Instead of making my own filling I went with store-bought apple pie filling and doctored it a little by adding a bit of lemon juice and some cinnamon. I wasn't being lazy not making my own - I just had the rest of the meal to make and didn't have much time! I will post Brooke's dessert later and you can guess which of us won... for now here is my pie:


Ingredients:

• unbaked deep dish pie shell
• 2 cans apple pie filling
• 1/2 cup caramel topping
• lemon juice and cinnamon (to doctor the pie filling and make it taste more homemade)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup flour
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon sugar (I used raw turbinado sugar - it's crunchier)

Spread 1/4 cup caramel topping in the bottom of an unbaked deep dish pie shell, topped with the doctored apple pie filling.

In a separate bowl combine 1/2 cup butter, 1 cup flour, and 2/3 cup brown sugar. Mix together with a pastry cutter, food processor,  or your fingers until crumbs form. Sprinkle evenly over the pie filling and then sprinkle on 1 Tablespoon of sugar over top of that.

Bake at 375' for 50 - 60 minutes until done - watch that the crust doesn't burn. If it gets too brown cover the edges with strips of aluminum foil. After you remove from the oven drizzle another 1/4 cup caramel over the top. Let cool.

Chopped Baking Edition - Niece vs Aunt

Brooke and I had our own version of a "chopped" bake-off yesterday - have you ever seen the show where 4 chefs get a "mystery basket" of 4 random ingredients that they have to turn into an amazing dish that they are judged on (and chopped if theirs isn't the best)? For our competition we wrote a bunch of individual ingredients on pieces of folded up paper and put them in a bowl, then we both drew out 3 ingredients that we had to make a dessert with. Some of our potential choices were oreos, strawberries, bananas, caramel, cinnamon - things I already had on hand. She drew rice crispies, m&ms, and strawberries; I got graham crackers, honey,  and chocolate chips. The rule was to come up with the idea of what we wanted to bake, no searching online for ideas, and then we could go online for a basic recipe only after we declared what we were making - no changing your idea once it was stated. The judges were my sister, niece Macey, and Dave.

I made a 9" scone using all of my ingredients and it was nasty...didn't help that I put it in the oven and forgot to set a timer - and it was plenty overdone, ugh. Macey said "Aunt Jill you're a great cook and baker but this is the worst thing you've ever made" HA. Oh well.

Brooke however made mini cheesecakes and a chocolate bark that was actually, surprisingly, good! I have no idea how she pulled that off! The bark was really good, so good that I'm going to share her "recipe" with you - I absolutely won't tell you how I made the disastrous scone though LOL! On a piece of parchment paper she spread melted chocolate chips (microwave 30 seconds at a time until melted), topped with everything under the sun - rice crispies, m&ms, andes mint bits, etc... - then spread more melted chocolate on the top. Put in freezer until firm and then break into pieces. Everyone loved it!


We had a great time playing Chopped, and the kid totally beat me fair and square! Brat ;)