Hope everyone has fun plans for the 4th of July!! Hubby James and I got invited to do some ATV riding in Southeastern Oregon with friends who are doing all of the BBQing, so I was looking for something that I could bring along to contribute.
I found a few recipes for Apple Pie Fries kicking around the internet, which sounded like a fun treat to share. Here's some pictures of the trial run that my
guinea pigs coworkers at MAK Grills were kind enough to taste test for me!
Here's my take on the recipes I found:
Ingredients:
1 box of pie crusts (2 crusts)
1 12 oz can of apple pie filling
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 egg
Caramel Sauce
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp butter (salted)
Put the pie filling and spices in a food processor, and blend until smooth.
Unroll one of the pie crusts onto a greased baking sheet, and spread the apple filling all the way to the edge.
Place the other pie crust on top, and put the cookie sheet in the freezer for at least 1 1/2 horus. This helps solidify the filling so it won't squish out when you cut the 'fries'.
Once things are good and frozen, take the cookie sheet out and slice into 1/2 strips, and cut those into thirds. (You can let it defrost for a few minutes if the crust is too frozen. You don't want it to crack when you cut it, but you don't want the filling to get gooey again.)
Brush the tops with a little beaten egg, and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top if you like. (We tried to get cute with red, white and blue sugar sprinkles, but it didn't turn out quite like I'd thought in my head)
Preheat your grill (no way I'm cooking indoors in this heat) to 400°, and put the cookie sheet in.
Cook for 15-20 minutes, until they are nice and golden brown.
While those are cooking, make up your caramel sauce. (You can buy pre-made in a pinch, but the homemade version is fairly easy, and it is all kinds of buttery sweet deliciousness.)
Put your sugar and water in a tall saucepan and turn onto high heat. You can swirl the pan to help the sugar dissolve, but you don't want to stir it while it's caramelizing. Simmer for 4-5+ minutes, until you get a nice golden brown color. (Fight the urge to stir it-- the simmering does that for you, and it won't come out as well if you stir. As James promptly found out when I left the kitchen for all of six seconds, and he jumped in to 'help', and ended up with a whisk full of goopy sugar.
)
When it gets to be a nice light brown, remove from heat and SLOWLY pour in the heavy cream. It will foam up like crazy, but just keep stirring quickly and pouring slowly, and it will all incorporate in just fine. (Pay no attention to the hungry puppy in the background, she's a filthy liar and is NOT starving to death like she'd have you believe.)
When the cream has been mixed in, add the butter, and stir until it's all mixed.
I may have snuck a few spoonfuls before it made it to the table.
Once the apple pie fries come off the grill, allow them to cool for 5-10 minutes, then serve with your caramel dipping sauce.
You can also sprinkle a little coarse salt on top if you like the salted caramel taste.
Yum yum yum! Will be making up a big batch for the trip and just reheating them when we're ready to chow down.
