An Old Fashioned Dried Apple Pie

Dried apple custard pie. 

I was puttering around in my pantry this morning to see what I might want or need to cook today when I spied a little bag of dried apples that I had bought at the Farmer's Market back in the fall.  Those reminded me of dried apple custard pies that my grandmother used to make.  In fact, my grandmother would often dry the apples herself by spreading them out in the sun on a sheet during hot days and taking them in at night or on damp days.  In a few days or weeks (? I don't remember I was not interested in drying apples myself back then), the apples would be dry enough to put away for use when there were no fresh apples available.

Dried apples. 

Several recipes came up when I googled for a recipe that I thought might be close to what my grandmother used to make.  I combined several of them to come up with my own recipe.  First I covered the dried apples with water and brought them to a boil and cooked them until the apples were soft.  After straining off the water, I had about two cups of apples.  Let the apples cool and discard the liquid.

Straining the cooked apples. 

Recipe for Dried Apple Custard Pie

2 cups apples (Prepared as explained above.)
4 eggs
1/2 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
Juice of one lemon
3 tablespoons of melted butter
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of fresh nutmeg
2 cups of milk
1 10-inch (large) pie crust (I used Trader Joes)  These are my favorite. 

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  In a bowl, beat the eggs slightly.  Add the sugars, lemon juice, butter, salt, nutmeg, and milk.  Mix until well blended. Stir in the cooled apples.  Pour mixture into unbaked pie crust. 

Stir apples into the egg custard mixture. 

Ready to bake. 

Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.  Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake another 1 to 1 1/2  hours or until knife inserted into the center of pie comes out clean.

Out of the oven.

When cool it slices nicely. 

Ready to eat.  A dollop of whipped cream would be a nice addition. 

Store in the refrigerator and can be eaten cold or at room temperature. Enjoy!

I just remembered that my husband gave me a dehydrator some years ago which I have never used.  I think it is up at Chatfield.  I'll have to get it out and dry some apples myself one of these days.