oh dear...guess I should have taken the picture before we cut it....

Hey y'all!

I seem to have developed this knack for creating desserts from limited ingredients.

So during the beginning of July, I and two of my brothers were helping my grandparents move into their new apartment. The only comment I have is that moving in the heat and humidity of July, up and down flights of stairs, really really stinks.

Anyway, we spent a few days unpacking dishes, books and decorating the apartment. And then what comes, but 4th of July!

Holidays always are celebrated with desserts in my family, and so it was no surprise when my grandmother suggested that we make a traditional apple sort of dessert.

But because this particular truck we unloaded was the first load, there wasn't that much foodstuffs that made it down (that came in the second truck later that week). Meaning, I had the apples, some flour, some brown sugar, butter....but no cinnamon, no spices, no white sugar...

So, it was time to dig into my grandmother's recipe books to see what I could find. I'll be frank, I wasn't very hopeful - after all, an apple dessert without cinnamon almost spells disaster.

I got drawn to one recipe called Apple Scallop. Basically, it was thinly sliced apples that were placed in a dish with sugar and some other simple things. But it seemed too simple to me. Or maybe it had to do with the fact that I was craving apple pie at the time.

But again...the cinnamon issue. Ugh!

Now, I don't know why...but my eyes were drawn to a glass jar to my left. It was the apple butter that I had used as part of...something. I think breakfast?

Then a light bulb went off. Apple butter has....cinnamon! Spices! Apple flavoring! Problem solved!

The brain then went into development overdrive. I first decided to make half of a piecrust so that the apples wouldn't stick to the pan. Then taking the recipe for Apple Scallop and treating it similar to scalloped potatoes, I created a sort of pie filling. And then, because of ingredient scarity, I decided to go with an apple crisp sort of topping instead of more crust.

So my dessert turned into a mashup of apple pie, apple crisp, and Apple Scallop.

Now how to name that conglomeration?

In the midst of my brothers and I bouncing ridiculous names at each other, my grandmother raised her fork and said "I call it good."

And it was.


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1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. 
2. Prepare the homemade pie crust. Place in bottom and sides of a 2 qt casserole dish (if doubling, use a bigger dish!). Chill in refrigerator while the rest of the dish is being prepared. 
3. Combine brown sugar, butter, and ¼ cup of flour to make crumble mixture. Set aside. 
4. Thinly slice apples. Peeling is optional, but may be recommended. 
5. In crust-lined dish, place two layers of apples, alternating directions. Sprinkle some flour (around a 1tsp), over apples. 
6. Spoon apple butter liberally over apples as desired. 
7. Repeat Steps 5 & 6 until all the apples are used. 
8. Top with crumble mixture and place in the oven for at least 35 minutes (apples should be tender). 
9. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!  

Old-fashionably yours,

Catherine