Apple Pie with Crumb Topping

Today is the first perfect fall day we've had all year, and let me tell you what...here in South Carolina, we deserve a perfect fall day. I've said this time and time before, but I will never adjust to the heat and humidity that comes with southern summers. Same with my hair. So you'd think I would be spending this perfect day wearing a jean jacket and wandering around some apple orchard, but I've settled for re-runs of the Housewives of Atlanta. I did, however, make up for my lack of fall spirit with this pie.

That's where I'm at in life.

Ingredients (for pie):

• 1 pie crust
• 4-5 Granny Smith apples
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Ingredients (for topping):

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup flour

Directions (for pie):

• Peel, cut and core apples. Place in pie crust.
• In a medium sauce pan, melt butter.
• Add the rest of the pie ingredients and stir. Bring to a boil.
• Pour filling evenly over apples in pie crust.

Directions (for topping):

• In a medium bowl-and using hands-combine all three ingredients until it's a nice, crumbly mixture.
• Top pies generously with crumb topping.
• Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes until crumble topping is golden brown.
• Serve with vanilla ice cream.

It's really much simpler than it looks at first glance, especially if you buy store-bought crust. Serve warm with cinnamon ice cream and enjoy!

Love and fall...finally,
Rachael

Redneck Apple Dumplings

We all have those family friends; the ones who have seen you go from a COC (child of chunk), to a motivated high school student, to not-so-motivated college student, to a young married lady, to a part-time blogger.

Don't we?

The family I'm referring to are the Luffs. I spent countless summers at their camp in NorCal, Lassen Pines. To a fat little girl, it was paradise. The trees, fresh air and mountain scenery were always just what I needed. Not to mention The Blob (Google it), the cute older boy counselors, the go-carts, and last but not least, the buffet.

I truly love this family, which (respectively) consists of Gordon and Dotti (the hip and cool grandparents), their son and my dad's friend, Scott, his amazing wife, Inger, and their daughters (from left), Anna, Shae and Lindsay. I do have to take this moment and beg for Inger's forgiveness for stealing this recipe from her amazing blog. She claims it's Dotti's recipe, which I don't doubt, because Dotti is pretty fabulous herself. One summer when I was about 12 years old, she bought me a small container of perfume, and I thought I was the sexiest and best-smelling 6th grader in the state.

Turns out I wasn't.

I also have to take a minute and thank my equally-fabulous mother, who I "employ" to help me with my blog. Being a working lady herself, she gets how hard it can be to keep this blog updated, so she occasionally cooks a dish and sends me a recipe and a picture. The poor woman doesn't exactly enjoy doing this for me, but the moment I threaten to close up my womb and withhold grandchildren, she turns into Betty Crocker.

What a trooper.

Ingredients:

• 2 Large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
• 2 (10 ounce) cans of refrigerated crescent roll dough 
• 1/2 cup butter 
• 1 cup white suga
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon 
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle of Mountain Dew
• 1 tsp vanilla 

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 F.
• Grease a 13x9 inch baking pan.
• Cut each apple into 8 wedges and set aside. 
• Separate the crescent roll dough into triangles. 
• Roll each apple wedge in crescent roll starting at the smallest end. 
• Pinch to seal and place in the baking dish. 
• Melt butter in a small saucepan and stir in the sugar, cinnamon and vanilla, then pour over the dumplings. 
• Pour the can of Mountain Dew over the dumplings and bake for 35-45 minutes until golden brown. 
• Before serving, spoon some of the "sauce" from the pan over each dumpling. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Granted, I didn't make this myself, but I have two very important points that affirm the deliciousness of this recipe: 1) my mother does not have much of a sweet tooth, but she has a sweet tooth for this; and 2) Dotti is a true-blue, good, southern woman, and if she makes it, I eat it.

Love and dumplings,

Rachael