Apple Pies and me

Homemade apple pies...mmmmm. There's just something about them. Just thinking about them opens the door of nostalgia with visions of Autumn leaves, pumpkins, heavily laden apple trees and an underlying cool crispness in the air that is refreshing after the summer heat and even that tastes like apples. I. Love. Fall. Love, love, love.

I also love Jonathan Apples. I can feel the slight pucker in my mouth as my salivary glands kick in to high gear just thinking about them. Crisp, tangy, the perfect savory blend of sweet and sour. Love them with caramel. Love them in pies, apple crisp, cobbler. Love them all by themselves. Best. Apples. Ever.

Okay, that said...I hate making apple pies. Just thinking about making one makes me very, very tired. My hands begin hurting at the thought. I look at those little apples and feel OVERWHELMED with the peeling, coring, slicing process. (Ouch!) Jonathons are not hefty apples. They're usually on the smallish side so it takes more than six to fill a pie shell, more like 12-15 or even more depending on the size of your pie dish. On top of that the apple tree in my back yard doesn't get sprayed often enough to keep them bug free. Thus there is an extra step: digging out the noxious little beasts that have taken up residence in my small harvest. Ick.

Yet I crave the warm, tart sweetness baked in a flaky crust topped with, if the world were perfect occasionally, homemade vanilla ice cream. *Heaven!* If Autumn could be put in a pie shell it would taste like Jonathan Apple Pie. So, on rare occasions I will make the effort. Today was one such day. We had a bigger harvest than we usually get and they are delicious. I also didn't bottle any peaches this year therefore I didn't get my fill of Autumn domesticity. BUT! This year is different because I have a new friend at my house who was born to core, peel and slice apples. I kid you not.

 This little gadget is Magic! I borrowed one from a friend a few years ago and loved it, then forgot about it until a week ago when I tasted one of our apples and "Apple Pie" came to mind. I went to my favorite kitchen gadget store and plunked my money down and brought this little baby home, in red, to match my kitchen of course. (They did have it in lime green too. It was a tough decision: red, green, red, green.) It's now mine, mine, mine. So this afternoon...with a skip in my step and a song on my lips and without even a twinge of tiredness went to the backyard, picked a bucket of sweetness, washed those little Jons and voila!

 I was so excited about getting my pie into the oven that I forgot to add the little pats of butter before putting the top crust on...eek!

 So I did what any self respecting descendant of pioneer stock would do...I improvised. I am a firm believer in the truism: Necessity is the mother of invention. I dug out an old medicine dropper, washed it thoroughly, melted some butter, filled the dropper, then injected it evenly into my pie while my supportive and loving husband laughed at me, out loud, not even behind my back. He will eat his laughter right along with his slice of luscious apple pie and apologize with a sticky cinnamon kiss, I'm sure.

Forty five minutes later...

I love kitchen gadget stores. Especially when you have a choice of colors.