The Great Apple Pie Bake-Off!
Living in New England, when autumn comes it’s time to go apple picking.
Apples are perfect for juggling!
Once we’ve picked the apples (and eaten our fill of them, plus the orchard's apple cider donuts) we come home for the Great Apple Pie Bake-Off.
It’s always nice when friends have something in common—like a love of apple pie!
For many years we have gone apple picking with two other families we’ve known since our daughters were in nursery school together, and then come home and baked together.
For the bake-off, each family makes one or two apple desserts, and we then eat and critique them—though I must say the critique is very limited, while the praise is substantial.
One year we decided to make a whole dinner using apples, including apple-and-sausage casserole, an apple-and-cabbage dish, and Waldorf Salad. It was good, but after dessert we all felt this was too much of a good thing, so we went back to just making apple desserts, preceded by Chinese take-out.
Each year I try to come up with a new recipe. Here are some of our favorites.