I had big dreams last night of making a rustic apple tart to round out a stellar steak and potatoes dinner. BIG DREAMS. Heck, I even had the pie crust in the freezer and took it out with plenty of time to start thawing.
I lovingly mixed the apples with sugar, cinnamon, a little flour, and lemon juice. I set it aside to let the mixture thicken up a little. I made sure that the pie crust would be pliable in order to roll it out.
Visions of rustic apple tart slices and perfectly rolled scoops of ice cream filled my head as I prepared myself for the dessert of the century. Surely Nate would swoon over this one!
And then I tried to roll out the pie crust. Sure, some things are worth saving and salvaging…trust me, this is not one of those things. Pie crust is still an anomaly to me, and therefore I deemed it unworkable and tried Plan B. And to be 100% honest, I actually LOVED Plan B more than I imagined loving Plan A.
God works in the kitchen too people!
One of the things I loved about this is I got to use some of the adorable ramekins Nate got me for Christmas…they’re a beautiful red, they’re oven-to-table, and they have lids to snap on! I was so excited about them, and so excited that I was able to use them last night too.
All in all this is an apple cobbler with pie crust on top, but you know everything sounds fancier if you add “deconstructed” in front of it. 13-letter words tend to be pretty impressive 😉
DECONSTRUCTED APPLE PIE
- 2 Granny Smith apples (you can use any kind, but I prefer the texture of Granny Smith)
- 1 Tbsp flour
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- pie crust, frozen (I had enough for 1 pie that I had in my freezer from my last batch of pie crust; however, you could do the same thing with store-bought if you want!)
Pull the pie crust out of the freezer. Preheat the oven to 350. Peel, core, and chop the apples. Toss with flour, lemon juice, sugars, cinnamon, and salt. Let sit for a few minutes while you break up the pie crust. Using your fingers, break apart the partially frozen pie crust. Whether you’re using ramekins or a pie pan, grease it/them with nonstick spray (or butter…again, we have none in our house. I don’t know what’s wrong with me…). Spoon the apples into the bottom, then top evenly with the pie crust crumbles. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes, or until apple mixture is bubbly. If you need to brown the crust a bit, turn on the broiler for 1-2 minutes (just make sure you watch it!) Serve hot, room temperature, or cold…but just make sure you serve it!
Topped with vanilla ice cream this dessert was by far one of the best I’ve had. All I have to say is thank goodness we have more in the fridge for tonight!
Hah! I love it! So creative! So “Julia Child,” who said “serve your mistakes, they’ll never know! Now look, you’ll set a trend!
Love this idea! So cute! It looks FABULOUS as well! : )
Haha yes, “deconstructed” sounds fancier, but whatever you call it, it looks amazing! I want some right now…
I tend to add the word “deconstructed” to dishes I’ll make my family so they “think” that’s how it was supposed to be. What they don’t know won’t hurt them. Plus, give me apples and cinnamon anything and I’m good to go!
I’ll take a deconstructed apple pie every day!!!
Hey Heather!
I think that looks BETTER than an apple pie!! YUM!
oh apple pie is perfect for deconstructing! i must try this!
Yum this looks delicious!! I love it when “mistakes” turn out so well in the kitchen!
Beautiful and tasty looking. I can almost smell it’s aroma coming from the kitchen.
One of the most useful things my Mama and Bigmama taught me growing up was to improvise. It has been a wonderful tool in all types of situations and often makes me wonder why it is a resort to instead of a first thought idea.
Congratulations !!
My hubby would be thrilled if I made these! He loves apple pie and I dont make many.
This is perfect! I love individual sized desserts – something so adorable and tempting about them. Maybe because it means I don’t have to share?? 🙂
I’m home sick today, and I think my doctor wrote me a prescription for these. 🙂
I could go for some of this right now!
I will have mine with ice cream please:)
Thank goodness I’m not the only one who goofs in the kitchen from time to time. It’s refreshing to see talented food bloggers, like yourself, posting the good, the bad and the ugly. Still, this ‘pie’ looks awesome!
This is awesome! So cool of you to salvage it in such a creative way!
This might sound even better than regular apple pie. The top looks great and I love that it’s in a little ramekin. Yum!
I want this! Looks incredible and those ramekins are n.i.c.e. – I want those too. 🙂
Good job, Nate, on the ramekins! Those are so handy and beautiful!
And, sometimes plan B is better anyway — I love how these are individualized, somehow that makes them seem more fancy, like what you’d get in a restaurant!
These look fantastic!! And I agree with you about those ramekins. So adorable!!
This looks amazing!! We love apple pie!
Looks like a great dessert! And I’m more for the filling of pie anyways. 😀
Cheers to you for pulling that off!!
Theres always a way 😉
I love this twist on apple pie!! It would make such a fantastic dinner party dessert:-)
I’ve been really into “deconstructed” foods lately– I think it’s fun to take a classic dish and rework it!
i love individual desserts 🙂 so much more fun to eat than big ones!