Upside Down Apple Pie

I should have posted this on Sunday but I was a little busy (I promise you that this recipe is worth the wait--it will change the way you do apple pie forever. FOREVER.) Pie is my most favorite dessert in the world, I've never met one that I didn't adore and apple pie is at the top of the list right after blackberry pie.

There is a place called Summit Lake Lodge about an hour, hour an a half, south of Anchorage on the Kenai peninsula where you can rent snowmachines and go out on the lake then come back to the lodge for the most amazing home food you can imagine.

They have these hamburgers called Garbage Grinders that are shrines to the word "gluttony" because they have everything you'd possibly want piled on top of a fat patty, including a fried egg--just the way Grandpa used to eat his burgers. If you can finish the whole burger you know that you have crossed over into adulthood.

They also have all kinds of homemade pies including blackberry, which can be hard to find sometimes. Talk about amazing. The only thing about pie is that in our family there's this big issue over "to heat or not to heat." I want pie and I want it gently warmed, probably with whipped cream or ice cream on top. My father, however, insists on his pie unheated--COLD practically. Can you believe it? Not reheated, just straight at room temperature.

It's worse that drinking room temperature milk. Ugh.

But regardless, he's still my father and deserves respect for the role he played in giving me life. Though I will never understand him and will shake my head when he eats his tepid pie. Sigh.

But enough about Dad. As I was saying--Summit Lake Lodge? Terrific place for pie. Sadly, I believe they've had to close. Another sigh. And as I was saying before I got onto that tangent--upside down apple pie? The best apple pie you'll ever have.

If you already have your own recipe for apple pie that you simply must use, great. Use it, the only difference here is that with this recipe you line your pie plate with parchment paper, put a bunch of sweet brown sugar and nuts on top of the paper, followed by your regular apple pie. You don't have to worry about fancy crimping and sealing, you just put it together as best you can (so fill that pie shell as fat as you can get it) then bake it as normal and when it comes out of the oven you invert it.

The crust is perfect, the extra brown sugar topping makes it heavenly and each bite is a love affair in your mouth. Yes, pie can do that to you. Hot or cold. You can find the original idea at Noble Pig, a great food blog I follow.

4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans
2 ready made refrigerated pie crusts
5 large tart apples, peeled, cored and sliced
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon ginger
dash of salt
2 tablespoons butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Coat a large pie plate (mine is 10-inches in diameter) with cooking spray and line it with parchment paper, the edges sticking up just past the pie plate rim. Coat the paper with a bit of the cooking spray also.

Combine the melted butter, brown sugar and pecans. Mix well and spread in the bottom of the dish over the parchment. Place one of the crusts in the dish over the nut mixture, pushing all around to get the crust securely in the dish and up the sides.

Combine apples, lemon juice, sugar, flour, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and salt. Mix well. Spoon into the pie crust and cut the remaining two tablespoons of butter over the top. Place the second crust over the apple mixture. Seal edges as best you can and cut vents in the top of the crust for steam to escape.

Bake 1 to 1-1/4 hours or until crust is golden.

Let pie cool for 5 minutes. Invert hot pie onto a larger plate. Remove the pie plate and gently lift the paper. Gaze at the beauty of your pie.

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Congratulations to Sherri of Pinetown, North Carolina who won the Whimsy ring giveaway from last weekend. Lovely, lovely goods they have there.

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