Bacon Apple Pie

I recently made a bacon apple pie (with a bacon lattice top). It turned out quite well if I do say so myself. It’s sweet, salty, a little meaty, just a bit smoky with a hint of spices. It's not quite the transcendental experience I was hoping for, but a good, solid pie.


Lattice-Top Bacon Apple Pie

1 9″ pie crust
3 strips bacon, chopped and fried crispy
6-7 medium to large tart apples, peeled, cored and sliced (I used a combination of Cortlands and Ida Reds)
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp Scotch (I used Johnny Black. You want something noticeably smoky.)
1/2 cup real maple syrup
6-7 slices bacon, halved lengthwise

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spread the pie crust in a 9″ pie pan and leave the overhanging edges. Sprinkle the bacon crumbles over the crust.

Mix together the apple slices, brown sugar, nutmeg, cloves, cornstarch and scotch. Spread over the bacon in the pie crust. Pour the maple syrup evenly over the apples.

Arrange the strips of bacon over the top of the pie crust in a lattice, then fold the edges of the pie crust over the bacon and crimp.

Bake for about an hour, until the bacon on top is nicely crisp, the crust is browned and a knife pushes easily into an apple slice. (Happily, these should all happen at roughly the same time.)

More pictures and a story at my blog:
http://elicooks.wordpress.com/2008/10/0 ... ng-better/

Lovely!

It is really beautiful! I wonder if candied bacon(which has the additional benefit of being pre-crisped) would be good in this application.

Hi,

How was it to cut?

Regards,

Mhays wrote: I wonder if candied bacon(which has the additional benefit of being pre-crisped) would be good in this application.

I'll have to give that a shot one of these times...I plan to make this again (and again and again) and I'm one of those people who can't just make something the same way every time.

Cathy2 wrote:How was it to cut?

It wasn't too bad to cut. I used a steak knife held mostly perpendicular to the bacon slices to cut through the lattice.

eli wrote: I'll have to give that a shot one of these times...I plan to make this again (and again and again) and I'm one of those people who can't just make something the same way every time.

I get this from my husband all the time. Thanks for the info about cutting (and the question, Cathy) I was also wondering.

Oh, and eli - I also wanted to thank you for posting the entire recipe and staying around to chat about it, rather than just linking to your blog. It is a pleasure to have a blogger join in the conversation...

Say, Eli, I'd be happy to volunteer to help test drive these pies for you, since we're neighbors and all.

Mhays wrote:Oh, and eli - I also wanted to thank you for posting the entire recipe and staying around to chat about it, rather than just linking to your blog. It is a pleasure to have a blogger join in the conversation...

I guess it just never occurred to me not to...I enjoy the talking about it part almost as much as the actual cooking. Thanks!

JimTheBeerGuy wrote:Say, Eli, I'd be happy to volunteer to help test drive these pies for you, since we're neighbors and all.

I'll be sure to keep that in mind next time I make one...I do still want to try a few more variations while it's still fresh in my mind.

Eli -

If you suddenly get a large increase in hits to your blog tonight and tomorrow, this is the reason:

http://www.pajamasmedia.com/instapundit ... 026077.php

Welcome to the big leagues of blogging!