Apple Pie for Breakfast

I like my apples crisp.
Crisp and tart.

No Red Delicious for me. I prefer Gala, Fuji, a small Honey Crisp and of course my childhood favorite, Granny Smith.

I have memories of my mom fixing my brother and I an afternoon snack of apple quarters and sprinkling them with salt. I think the apple/salt love came from her mom.

Ahhh childhood..... apple quarters and Perry Mason take me back.

Living in the Pacific Northwest, it's easy to take apples for granted. We have access to an amazing variety grown locally. Here are some fun apple facts courtesy of the University of Illinois Extension.

• Apples are fat, sodium, and cholesterol free.
• A medium apple is about 80 calories.
• The apple tree originated in an area between the Caspian and the Black Sea.
• In colonial time, apples were called winter banana or melt-in-the-mouth.
• 2,500 varieties of apples are grown in the United States

EZ Orchards is a fall favorite. When my kids were younger we would visit for their fall Harvestfest and now we visit mainly for the farm market.They have lots and lots of apples. And lots of other fun stuff, too.

At my house, a bowl of apples usually sets on the butcher block or dining room table and apple pie is just about a weekly event. As my kids get older the pie disappears faster. This year, the weekend pie only lasts a day or two at most.

Pie for dessert and pie for breakfast.

I discovered what has become the family's favorite apple pie recipe on the website - allrecipes.com. It is Grandma Ople's Apple Pie. This pie isn't your traditional apple pie. It's a lattice-top pie with a rich caramel sauce poured over the top which drips down into the center. The lattice itself carmelizes quite a bit adding to the yummy goodness. Using a good crust makes a big difference. Remember these three words. Freeze the butter.

With that being said, I don't always have the time to make "Grandma Ople's" pie. Times like those call for either a quick pie or simple crisp.

My quick pie is just that. Quick.

I normally use a no roll pie crust recipe (again, recipe on allrecipes.com)  and mix together my apples, sugar, spices with a touch of flour and top it with a simple crisp topping of flour, sugar and butter. I use mostly Granny Smith's along with another type of apple for variety.

My crisp (or crumble by another name) is similar but without the bottom crust and topped with an oatmeal/nut based topping. I add brown sugar to the apple mixture then add the spice to the topping. I like the apples to get a bit more loose and gooey.

Time to make more pie. Who wants to peel the apples?