Ingredients: (organics preferred—but you are free to adjust ingredients, proportions and measurements to your creativity and taste):
- Buy frozen “Organic, Whole Wheat, 9” Pie Shells” (they come 2 per package—refreeze the one you do not use)
- 6-8 medium size apples (we prefer the crispier species, like Gala, Honey Crisp, Fuji)
- 2 tablespoons honey
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric
- ½ cup raisins
- ¼ cup dry cranberries
- ¼ teaspoon liquid vanilla extract
- 1 whole egg
- ½ cup egg white
- ½ bar of butter (Note: To lower the cholesterol content of this recipe, you could use half butter & half grape-seed or canola oil, which are high-heat tolerant)
- pinch of sea-salt (or pink Himalayan salt)
- 1 cup (crushed) cinnamon cracker crumbs
- ¼ cup ground walnuts or almonds
Directions:
- Remove pastry shells from freezer & leave one out for 30 minutes before using (return the unused one to the freezer).
- Core, cut & purée 2 whole apples in food processor or blender & pour into big mixing bowl.
- Slice the remaining 3-4 apples into whole or half slices (judge the quantity you need to fill the pie shell), but not so thinly that they fall apart; & add them to the bowl.
- Rinse raisins & dry cranberries & add to bowl.
- Melt butter (but remove from heat before it completely liquefies & let the remaining solid parts melt on their own) & set aside.
- Add to mixing bowl: honey, cinnamon, vanilla extract, eggs, egg whites, salt & turmeric & mix all ingredients well, but gently so as not to break up the apple slices.
- Pour 1/3 of the melted butter on the shell, slowly, covering its entire inner surface.
- Pour 1/3 of the melted butter (or oil) into the mixing bowl & carefully blend it into the rest of the ingredients, coating them.
- Pour the contents of the mixing bowl into the pie shell. (It is OK if the content forms a mound, as long as it is not too tall & bound to collapse or overflow. If you are left with too much of the mixture, don’t worry about wasting it—just coat with UNmelted butter an oven-proof Pyrex-style glass bowl of an appropriate size & pour the excess mixture into it & top it the same way you will top the pie itself:)
- Mix the cinnamon cracker crumbs with the ground nuts.
- Top the pie & the leftover filling (if any) with the mixture of crumbs & nuts—and pour the rest of the melted butter over the top. If the melted butter is not enough to cover the pie (& the extra filling if necessary), melt a few more pads of butter to finish the job.
- Bake at 350 degrees for as long as it takes the crust to be crisp & rosy, & for the sliced apples to be soft. If it takes longer than 35 minutes, turn up the oven to 400 degrees for 5 or 10 minutes, which should complete the process.