Crescent Apple Pie

2 tubes (8 oz.) crescent rolls
3/4 cup of melted butter
3 Granny Smith apples
1 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 cup Sprite

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Peel, core and slice apples into 6 wedges each (total of 18 wedges).  Roll each wedge into 1 crescent each.  Place in 9 x 13 x 2 baking dish.  Mix melted butter, sugar and cinnamon.  Spoon over crescents.  Pour Sprite along edges of dish but not over the crescents.  You want the cinnamon sugar to stay on top of the crescents and not washed off.  Bake 35-40 minutes or until browned and crescents bottoms are done. 

Comment:  If you make this dish just once, you'll never make nor buy another apple pie again!  This is simple, pretty, and soooooo delicious.  Imagine what it would taste topped with ice cream while still good and hot.  You can also make this with peaches - 4 large, or maybe even pears.  You and your guests won't be able to get enough of this one.

Apple Cobbler/Pie

2 cans refrigerator cinnamon buns
1 can (21 oz.) apple pie filling
butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Separate one can of the cinnamon buns and cut each into 1/4's.  Place them loosely into the bottom of a spring form pan (or a casserole dish 9 x 9 (approx).  Open the can of apple pie filling.  Cut the pieces into small chunks and sprinkle half over the buns.  Open the 2nd can and cut into 1/4's.  Scatter these evenly over the apples.  Top with the other half of the apple pie filling.  Bake 30-35 minutes.  While still hot, dabble with butter and squeeze the icing that comes with the cinnamon buns over the apples.  Serve hot.  Will make 10-12 servings.

Comment:  I'm always trying to come up with different sweets to make and take to the nursing home and had thought about making monkey bread.  My idea was to use the cinnamon buns as my dough and pour the apple pie filling over the top letting it sink in.  But when I opened the pie filling I noticed how thick it was so changed my plan and worked it up in the method above.  This is one of the best apple pie anythings I think I've ever had.  It isn't really a cobbler because it doesn't have the thin filling.  It isn't really a pie for the same reason.  It is sort of a monkey bread but you eat it with a fork and don't pull the dough off.  What it really is is delicious!  This would be great with vanilla ice cream.  And it is so easy to make that you can make and take it just about any gathering.  And even if you can't keep it warm or heat it back up - its good cold!  You can change the filling to whatever you might like as long as it goes with the cinnamon flavor in the buns.

Quick & Easy Apple Pie

1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 pie crusts
1 cans apple pie filling
cinnamon sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a 9" cast iron frying pan melt the butter. Remove 1 Tbsp. of butter and set aside.  Add brown sugar and stir until blended and bubbly.  Remove from heat.  Top with 1 pie crust.  Pour apple pie filling on top of crust.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (about 1 tsp.)  Top pie filling with 2nd pie crust.  Brush with the 1 Tbsp. of melted butter.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (about 1 tsp.).  Bake 30-40 minutes or until crust is done and lightly browned.

Comments:  This recipe came from Trisha Yearwood's cooking show and yes I made a slight change.  I used 2 cans of apple pie filling instead of 1.  I also used my square copper pan so it would hold the 2 cans of apple pie filling.  One thing you will notice is that the butter/sugar may overflow to the top and create a caramel which is delicious.   For a dish that is so simple I couldn't believe how delicious it is.  I took some to one of my food testers and she added a scope of ice cream.  I took her a very large serving and she said it was so good that she ate it all in one sitting.  I want to try this using other fruits - peaches, strawberries, blueberries....

Bavarian Apple Torte

Crust:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Cream Cheese Filling
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Apple Topping:

4 cups sliced apples (4-6 depending upon size)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  In a medium size bowl combine crust ingredients.  Press into the bottom and 1 - 1 1/2" up the side of a 9" springform pan.  Cream the filling ingredients together.  Pour evenly over crust.  In a large bowl toss together apples, sugar and cinnamon.  Evenly spoon over filling.  Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes.  Lower heat to 400 and continue to bake for 25 more minutes.  Cool before removing from pan.  Serves 8-10.

Comments:  I found this recipe in an old cookbook and after reading the ingredients I had to give it a try.  I made 1 change and that was to the amount of pecans.  When I chopped my pecans I found that I had about 3/4 cup instead of the 1/2 cup called for so I added them all.  This is one dish that I could eat the crust by itself.  I could eat the filling by itself.  And I could eat the topping by itself.  But when you put them all together you have one very delicious dish.  For my apples I used Gala since that is what I happened to have on hand.  They were perfect.  The pecans give the crust wonderful taste and the texture is perfect.  The filling comes out like a custard and the apple topping is perfectly sweet with just a little firmness.  Don't miss trying this recipe.

Comment from Food Tester Carol:  You may wonder how a person who was not at home for Easter dinner could possibly comment on this pie but I can tell you that the five people who were at home for Easter dinner insisted I write to tell you how marvelous it was.  They told me that the flavors all worked so well together - form ground pecans in the crust, the cream cheese filling and the apples... and not too much sugar that the flavor of the apples was masked.  My family wants me to make this pie at the next family gathering!  They all loved it.