Saturday, January 14, 2006

Frozen Apple Pie Filling

Cocoa shared with me, she got it from Kiersten, not sure if it's HER recipe or someone else's, but it's really good.

7-8 C sliced apples (thin) Granny Smith's are best
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 Tablespoons Butter cut into chunks

These are the directions as I tried a bunch of different ways to assemble them quickly (we still have 20 of these in our freezer... and I have made a lot of pies after we froze them)

Take your ziplock bag and dump in everything except the apples and lemon juice and butter.

Hold the top of the bag and shake it up really good. (I did 10 of these bags at a shot, and let the kids help me, since they would just measure the same thing over and over into each bag)

Peal, core and slice your apples and dump them into the bag. Chop the butter up into chunks (I tried to get at least 8 chunks.. it helps to freeze the butter before chopping it up) and dump that in the bag. Zip it shut with lots of air and flip the bag over and shake it all really good until everything is coated well. Open the bag, pour in the lemon juice, squish it around and suck all the air out of the bag with a straw and zip it shut.

Squish it flat and lay it flat in the freezer. I can get 15 high this way.Dont wait until all the bags are done before putting them in the freezer.... they get WAY to juicey.. and dont pour the lemon juice ON the apples before putting in the bag, because then the mix in the bag doesnt coat the apples well.

When you want pie, take it out and lay flat on the counter for about 30 minutes (covering with a warm wet t-towel helps speed it along) OR in the fridge over night. Squish it around to make sure the butter is evenly distributed and dump in a 9" regular raw pie shell, cover with a crust or with a dutch crumb topping. Set the pie on a drip pan (you WILL need it) and bake as you would a normal pie (I did about 20 minutes at 400, and then 45 at 325). I think a deep dish might have worked better, but it wouldnt be up to the top of the pan then once it was cooked. Maybe you could just add an extra cup of apples and use it for deep dish.

The apples will STILL hold their form and not be mushy. I was SO pleased with this recipe.. I intend to do this every year. It takes approx 9 apples to make a pie, and we used about a bushel to do 20+ pies.

BTW, Kiersten gave me this recipe. she must be a VERY good cook! ;o)

13 comments:

  1. Thanks for the post. It's that time of year and we were going to do the one we had from last year which was good but the filling had to be precooked. This looks much easier and should give a fresher product. I'll post another comment after I bake my first pies/tarts.

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  2. I would like to say that you really made my day, it's wonderful when you just look around the web
    and find something like this, reminds me of that ''How to make a dinner for a romantic...'' by Elsa Thomas,
    you're a wonderful writer let me tell you!!! ñ_ñ

    James Maverick (maverickhunterjames@gmail.com)
    3453 Rardin Drive
    San Mateo, CA 94403
    Project Manager
    650-627-8033

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  3. Absolutely phenomenal!! Very easy to prepare, especially when you have one of those apple peeler/corer/slicers (not to mention a husband that does the slicing while I do the preparation). This one is definately a keeper and one to pass on........

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  4. I should also have mentioned above that we thawed a bag of filling and made a pie which was absolutely delicious. The best filling I've tried so far. No need to look any further.....

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  5. I found this recipe last year and made many bags of filling. They were absolutely marvelous to use during the winter. I lost the recipe and spent several days on line looking for it. Fortunately, as indicated by this comment, I found it. Thanks so much.

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  6. This is a creative recipe. I hadn't thought of using nutmeg and cinnamon in my pie. Now I have to try this out! I like your recipe box.

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  7. Glad I wrote this one down, had to search my own blog to find the recipe! Won't be stocking the freezer this year as the apple crop was so bad, but I'm going to try just making a pie with these measurements without freezing it first. ;o)

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  8. I recently gathered some apples from my Brother-in-laws apple tree and prepared the filling and froze. I am having them over for dinner tonight and baking my very first homemade apple pie. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Thank you for the tips. I am going to try to find a good dutch crumb topping recipe to add to the top...thanks again.

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  9. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  11. I have frozen the partially cooked apple filling and an wondering how to bake it. I froze the filling in pie plates so that I can just put it in the crust. Sounded great but now I'm stuck. Don't know if I should thaw it in the crust or just bake it. Will it make the crust soggy if I thaw it or burn the crust if I bake it froze. Oh my!

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  12. I'm sorry I didn't see your question earlier, Sophie! Got a bit bogged down with the holidays. ;o) For future reference, I'd vote for thawing it in the crust and then baking. If it's partially frozen, I'm pretty sure your crust would burn. Had that happen recently when I couldn't get my pumpkin pie filling to finish (why, oh why, did I ever deviate from the filling I know and love?!) and the crust was dry as dust by the time the filling was done.

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  13. How long would the filling last in the freezer before needing to use it?

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