Deep Dish Dulce de Leche Apple Pie

This year for the Relief Society Broadcast the Stake provided pie afterwards and, to my surprise, the pie they served was actually wonderfully delicious! It was the apple pie with a kind of caramel matrix/sauce with it and even though it must have been commercially made to feed so many I loved it and it has left me with a hankering to try making something like that myself. I found this recipe in a round about internet way, and when we had dinner with our friends the Perrys this weekend they requested it off of my extensive pie list. And while the pie was delicious, there is no doubt about that, I found the caramel a little lacking and thus am still on the perfect caramel apple pie recipe hunt. Should you know of one, find me the recipe so I can try it. If you don't have one, starting here will never disappoint but only make your mouth very happy.

P.S. I used Granny Smith and Fuji apples for my pie, and it was very sweet and I almost think I should have used straight Granny Smith so there would be more tart contrast of the apples against the sweetness of the caramel.

P.P.S. See below link for how to make the homemade dulce de leche.

From Recipe Girl:

http://www.recipegirl.com/2007/10/04/deep-dish-dulce-de-leche-apple-pie/

Ingredients:

1/2 C. brown sugar
1/3 C. granulated sugar
1/3 C. cornstarch (I used flour)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon (I used 1 T.)
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of salt (I also added a pinch of cloves)

7 to 8 cups of peeled, sliced apples
1/2 C. dulce de leche (canned or homemade)
2 T. apple cider (I used cranberry juice)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Double crust for 9-inch pie
Egg white mixed with 1 teaspoon of water
Coarse sugar for top, optional

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2. In a small bowl, mix sugars, cornstarch, spices and salt.

3. In a large bowl, toss together apples, dulce de leche, apple cider and vanilla extract. Add dry ingredients and toss to combine.

4. Roll out pie dough as large as possible keeping it a good thickness. Line deep dish pie pan with crust and let it hang over the sides. Brush with egg white mixture. Add filling and spread out evenly.

5. Roll out second crust and place on top of pie. Crimp edges together in a decorative fashion to seal. Brush with egg white mixture. Cut a few holes in the top crust for venting. Sprinkle with coarse sugar, if using.

6. Bake for 30 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 375F and bake for another 30 minutes.

7. Remove pie from oven and cool on rack for several hours to allow filling to set.

Old-Fashioned Ham with Brown Sugar and Mustard Glaze

I used this recipe for my second annual ham for Mormon med school dinner. Seems it is always my turn at Christmas, and I always end up baking a ham. Last year's ham was such a success that I wanted an equally good recipe but something different. So I settled for this more classic take on ham from Epicurious. Original recipe here:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Old-Fashioned-Ham-with-Brown-Sugar-and-Mustard-Glaze-241636

Many of the reviewers suggest mixing all the glaze ingredients together and pouring it on top of the ham but no consensus is reached. I did not mix and found assembling the glaze components on the ham to be a bit tricksy, and in the end after baking and before serving I roughly scraped off the glaze components anyway. So take that for what you will.

The reviews of this ham were raving, as they were for last year's ham, so I may be the new official ham-baker around Rochester.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 10-pound smoked ham with rind, preferably shank end
1 cup unsweetened apple juice or apple cider
1/2 cup whole grain Dijon mustard
2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/4 cup honey

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Place ham in large roasting pan. Pour apple juice over ham. Cover ham completely with parchment paper, then cover ham and roasting pan completely with heavy-duty foil, sealing tightly at edges of pan. Bake ham until instant-read thermometer inserted into center of ham registers 145°F, about 3 hours 45 minutes. Remove ham from oven. Increase oven temperature to 375°F.

2. Remove foil and parchment from ham. Drain and discard liquids from roasting pan. Cut off rind and all but 1/4-inch-thick layer of fat from ham and discard. Using long sharp knife, score fat in 1-inch-wide, 1/4-inch-deep diamond pattern.

3. Spread mustard evenly over fat layer on ham. Pat brown sugar over mustard coating, pressing firmly to adhere. Drizzle honey evenly over.

4. Bake until ham is well glazed, spooning any mustard and sugar glaze that slides into roasting pan back over ham, about 30 minutes. Transfer ham to serving platter; let cool at least 45 minutes. Slice ham and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Notes: I could not find a non-pre-fully-cooked ham, so I essentially skipped most of step 1. I did cook the ham in the apple juice at 225 for 30-45 minutes, just to get it a little warmed up and let it absorb some of the juices. Then I did the glaze at described above. I didn't really measure the brown sugar, just used what I needed to pat sugar all over the slidy mustard. I think it would be equally good with non-whole-grain dijon mustard and that it might be a little easier to work with.

Had lots of ham left over even with people eating a lot so I froze it in slices. We'll have to see how well that ends up going.