Celebrate Fall Apples

Erma, you are right. It certainly doesn’t feel like fall yet. And unfortunately, there is not a lot of fall produce to work with either. Usually by now there are bushels of apples and piles of pumpkins everywhere you look. But not this year. That late freeze did a big number on all the fruit trees, and especially the apples. The few apples showing up in the grocery appear to be left over from last year as they just don’t have that fresh snap and juiciness.

My daughter has been begging for my French Apple Pie With Nutmeg Sauce, and it really needs tart and juicy apples to be any good. This is a recipe from the 1920’s and the addition of graham cracker crumbs and the nutmeg sauce make it a welcome change from the more traditional apple pie.

As always, the fresher the fruit, and the fresher the spices, the better the pie. Rome Beauties or MacIntosh apples are good here, and nothing tops fresh grated nutmeg that you grate right there with a spice mill or a hand nutmeg grater.

French Apple Pie With Nutmeg Sauce:

8 cups of tart apples
½ cup water
1 ½ cups white sugar
1 unbaked pie crust
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
½ cup flour
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
¼ teaspoon vanilla

Peel and slice apples and place in a saucepan with water. Bring to a boil and cook until tender which will be about 5 minutes. Stir in the sugar gently so apples hold their shape. Using a large slotted spoon, arrange the apples in the crust.

In small mixing bowl, stir in the graham cracker crumbs, flour, and sugar. Add room temperature butter and vanilla and mix with a fork until you have coarse crumbs. Sprinkle this topping evenly over the apples.

Place in a 425 degree oven for 10 minutes and then reduce temperature to 350 and continue baking for another 30 minutes until pastry turns light brown.

Nutmeg Sauce:

1 egg yolk
½ cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon nutmeg

In small saucepan, beat the egg yolk, sugar, and milk together with a hand whisk. Heat to just boiling and remove from heat immediately. Add the nutmeg and stir thoroughly.

Serve the pie warm with hot Nutmeg Sauce.