WIth love, from Vermont

So the kids went to Vermont and brought back all the things.  Among which was about 80 pounds of apples. And when life (or the kids) gives you apples, make apple pie. It’s a no-brainer.  When the request includes “sugar free”, therein lies the challenge.  So, we go mostly sugar free.  It’s Nana’s crust. You just don’t mess with Nana’s recipes.  But it’s a minimal amount of sugar. Shhhh! No one will know.  I could have taken the easy way out and used frozen crust. However, knowing this crew, I would never have lived it down. Being a baker and all. Nana  AND my brother  would have come back to haunt me. That, I don’t need, thanks. Bad enough my mother’s words slip out of my mouth on occasion and my father whispers in my ear.

It’s a basic crust recipe. The secret is, the butter has to be cold, and it has to be ICE water.  And forget the pastry blender, the knives, just use your damn hands, it’s easier.  Once the crust is in the fridge chilling, get to paring and slicing apples. 8+ cups worth (+ because deep dish).  It takes a while, but hey, the deer will eat good tonight.
So, the recipe*
Sugar Free Apple Pie
1/3 cup thawed apple juice concentrate
Sugar substitute equivalent to 8 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pastry for double-crust pie (9 inches) 
8 cups thinly sliced peeled tart apples
1 tablespoon butter

Combine the first four ingredients. Line pie plate with bottom crust; add apples. Pour juice mixture over apples; dot with butter. Roll out remaining pastry to fit top of pie; cut slits or an apple shape in top. Place over filling; seal and flute edges. Bake at 375° for 35 minutes. Increase oven to 400°; bake 15-20 minutes or until apples are tender. Yield: 8 servings.
1 slice: 337 calories, 17g fat (0 saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 233mg sodium, 45g carbohydrate (0 sugars, 0 fiber), 2g protein.  1 slice: 337 calories, 17g fat (0 saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 233mg sodium, 45g carbohydrate (0 sugars, 0 fiber), 2g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 3 fat, 2 fruit, 1 starch.

Have your bottom crust ready in the pie plate (Nana’s deep dish pyrex, I tend to channel her when I get to baking like this). Have the top crust rolled out and ready to go. And so, mix the apple juice concentrate, sugar sub (I used baking Splenda), cornstarch, and cinnamon, whisk that mess up. Dump the apples carefully in the bottom crust and pile them up so they’re nicely mounded. Pour the mess you just whisked over them. Carefully would be my suggestion, if you don’t want to be cleaning it up off of the counter.  Dot with butter (I may or may not have used more than a tablespoon. OK, yea I did. So sue me.)

Cover the whole mess with the top crust. Fork the edges, twist them, flute them, do whatever you want to do to seal them. I did a flute-y  kind of thing. I swear one of these days I’m gonna try doing a braided edge. Could have latticed it but the apples were piled too high; it would have been a mess. Brushed it with milk for gentle browning. 

It looked dreadfully boring and I hate having to eat the leftover crust dipped in sugar, so I did the heart things. Cut out 8 hearts with a tiny heart cookie cutter from the leftover dough, dipped them in milk (dropped them in is more like it, as both sides needed to be coated, one side to stick to the pie, and the other to hold the sugar) Dipped one side in sugar and stuck them on the top crust. Sugar side up. 

Pressed them down a tiny bit so they stuck. Is that not adorable?  Cut 4 slits in the top to let the steam out (visions of apple pie explosion in my oven) and in the oven it goes. 
Bake as directed. Remove from oven. Let cool enough so it doesn’t burn your tongue if you try to eat it. Voila!  Le Apple Pie!

Serve warm with (no sugar added) vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Or both. Whatever floats your boat. Personally I prefer it with chocolate ice cream. Don’t judge til you’ve tried it. 
The fact that we ate it while watching Stephen King's "Gerald's Game" (it had to be the scene where the dog was eating Gerald, right?) aside, this was not a horrible, no sugar apple pie. In fact, it was quite good, not too sweet, and absolutely no hint of fake sugar. I think the apple juice concentrate helped there quite a lot. Definitely a keeper, and oh hey, I have a ton more apples!


*Credit where credit is due: Recipe from “A Taste of Home”

"Gypsy" ~Fleetwood Mac~“So I’m back to the Velvet Underground
Back to the floor that I love
To a room with some lace and paper flowers
Back to the gypsy that I was
To the gypsy that I was”
~Stevie Nicks~