Baked-In-Apple Pies

I got the idea for these when I saw a picture of them a friend posted from pintrest. I thought it was a brilliant idea and one I had to make. Of course I didn't think to look at the recipe cause I knew I could wing it so they are my recipe, but someone else's brilliant initial idea.

Start by making the pie dough. Keep in mind this recipe made about 2/3 more than I needed but I figured its always good to have frozen pie dough ready, but feel free to cut it if you don't want extra.

Mix 3 cups flour and 3 tbs sugar. Cut in 1 cup of butter. After thoroughly mixed, slowly pour in 1/3 cup cold water. Put it on parchment paper and knead it into a solid mass. Wrap up and put it in the fridge while you prepare the apples.

Now I won't even try to pretend that emptying out theses apples wasn't a time consuming effort, thus why I only made six, but they were so cool looking I had to try it. You will notice the carnage from the apple massacre in the background of one of the photos. This is the technique that I used.

Cut off the tops of 6 green apples, just enough to remove most of the base of the stem. Use a small knife to go around and create the wall where you want it to be. Cut across the apple to create triangles which are easier to remove, making sure to cut around the core. After that, I used a combination of the knife and a grapefruit spoon to carve out the rest. You will accidentally poke thru once or twice but its not a big deal, they will just drip a little, but it won't change the taste or even the look much. Make sure you cut off as many usable bits from the core as you can. Put all of the usable pieces in a bowl. If them changing color bothers you toss them with the tiniest bit of lemon juice. I did but then stopped worrying about it because once they are coated they are brown anyways.

Once those are emptied take one more apple and peel and core it. Chop them into similarly sized pieces as the ones that came out of your other apples. Don't worry, no one thinks you were able to manage a consistent size, we are going for a smallish range. Mix all the apple pieces together with 1/2 cup white sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, about 1 tbs ground cinnamon and about 1-2 tbs of maple syrup. Mix together and fill the apples with the mixture, packing firm as tight as possible (you will regret missing any!) and having each apple slightly heaping is fine because the dough will hold it in.

Speaking of the dough, time to get it out of the fridge! Roll it out to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut in strips 1/2 inch wide and about 4-5 inch long. Weave 6 strips (3 one direction and 3 the other) into a latice work on your work surface and then transfer to the apple (trust me, its easier that way). Lightly press the ends onto the sides of the apple so it contours around the top of the apple. Bake them at 375 degrees for about 30-45 minutes, or until the crust is lightly brown. Serve and enjoy!!tec