Several months back, after seeing some of my fellow bloggers posting about their baking adventures with the "The Sweet Melissa Baking Book" I went right out and bought the book and have been drooling over it ever since then. So I'm happy to be a part of this delicious blogging project over at Sweet Melissa Sundays. For my first week with the group, we baked Double Crusted Caramel Apple Pie picked by Susan over at Baking with Susan who also has the recipe posted on her blog.
I admit. I had some issues with the pie crust. I didn't know until after I started working on the recipe that I was out of flour completely. So I substituted cake flour for it instead as Melissa stated that it was okay to use it if necessary. And maybe that was the reason that I could not for the life of me get a decent dough rolled out. I followed all the steps with chilling the ingredients and the dough but after putting it in the freezer, I got a harder dough. So I managed to squeeze out two mini pies and called it a day. I think next time I would make the pie crust in advance and let it rest a little longer than the recipe called for. So please, keep all this in mind and forgive my frankensteinish pie crust appearance. I think with practice I will get a better feel for the dough and the presence of mind to make sure I have flour on hand the next time I make it :)
I was pleasantly surprised that the caramel turned out pretty good. I've not worked with that before on my own and having done so now I can't see going back to store bought caramel sauce again. Then again, I am a caramel fan and it's hard to find one that won't appeal to me on some level. This one was wonderfully buttery and I loved it. I might get finer sugar next time I make it as I did get a few tiny crunch bits of sugar that didn't dissolve during the cooking from the bottom of the pan.
Based on the reviews of those who were far more organized than I was, I cut back on the baking time and baked it at 350 degrees for approximately 30 minutes until it was wonderfully golden brown. I have a huge sweet tooth, only slightly under lock and key lately, so I omitted the lemon zest so that the pie would have a sweeter taste.
Overall,I liked the pie. I especially feel like the queen of the world having challenged pie dough today.
