.Recipe of the week.

Since it's already November 7th I sent out my Thanksgiving invitations today. Every year we host Thanksgiving here because 1. I like my food the best 2. I love entertaining 3. I love being able to be in one place with those that I love without having to get bundled up and go somewhere else in order to see everyone on that day {same goes for Christmas}. Ask anyone that knows me and they will confirm that I do in fact start planning my Thanksgiving menus 6 months in advance. I love pouring over notes from the previous year and finding new recipes and ways to improve old ones and making my shopping lists and planning the look of the table and such. Heaven.
So, this year when going through apple-based desserts I came across this recipe from Testado Provado & Aprovado for individual apple pies within an apple. How stinking cute are these!? I had them on the list of desserts almost immediately however, after really thinking of all that I have to do that day food-wise I think that they would be better suited to a more casual autumn dinner. They're still so great though that I just had to share them with all of you. Enjoy!

Apple pie in an apple

Ingredients:

8 apples {I prefer Honeycrisp but use whatever variety that you like}

Fresh lemon juice {to keep apples from browning}

1 tablespoon {give or take a bit to taste} apple pie spice

6 tablespoon sugar

6 tablespoons flour

8 tablespoons {1 stick} of unsalted butter

Pie dough {I use the America's Test Kitchen recipe but use whatever recipe that you like or even store-bought if baking isn't your "thang"}

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2. Roll dough out to even thickness then place on cookie sheet or cutting board in the fridge to chill while you prepare the filling.

3. Wash apples then cut a "lid" off of the top of each {see photo}. Scoop the innards from the base of each apple with a spoon or ice cream scoop then chop into pea sized pieces and place in a bowl {leaving our seeds and core}. Chop up the "lids" into pea sized pieces and add them to the bowl as well. rub a bit of lemon juice into the insides of each apple  to keep them from turning brown while you prepare the filling.

4. Mix the chopped up apple bits, apple pie seasoning, sugar, and flour together then fill each hollowed out apple. Top each apple with 1 tablespoon of butter.

5. Remove dough from fridge and using a cookie cutter cut out tops for the apples {the original recipe used a flower shape but I think that these leaf cutters from WilliamS Sonoma are much cuter for Fall}. Remember to poke a couple of holes in each piece of dough to allow steam to vent.

6. Place your dough piece on the apples then brush with an egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Place apples on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for roughly 40 minutes. Enjoy!