Apple Crack (aka Swedish Apple Pie)

Apple Crack...it's really quite addicting.

Yesterday was the perfect day for apple picking. It was sunny, the leaves are at near peak in color, and the apple selection is fantastic. In case you didn't know, Minnesota is the birthplace of some of my favorite apples-- Haralson, Honeycrisp, Zestar, Honeygold, and the latest apple sensation, SweeTango, were all developed by the University of Minnesota's Horticultural Research Center. And, although the numbers are dwindling, there are several "pick-your-own" apple orchards in and around the Twin Cities. We chose an orchard that was pretty close to home--Deardorff Orchards & Vineyards.

We had two choices: to the left was the vineyard with some wine sampling going on, and to the right we had the apples. Hubby took my arm and steered me to the right.

A short, but scenic ride behind the tractor brought us to the apples.

There were plenty of apples to be had...we went a bit overboard.

Of course we do what we always do when we first bring our apples home...we gorged ourselves on some fresh ones. Then, when we had our fill, my thoughts went to what I could bake. Hmmm. It didn't take me long to come up with this one. A co-worker brought a variation of this to work last week and it was way more popular than my chocolate cupcakes. Apple Crack. You can't stop at one bite.

Apple Crack

Printable Recipe

6-8 medium baking apples (I used Honeycrisp)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ cup butter, softened

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 ° F.; butter a 9” ceramic, deep-dish pie plate.

Peel, core and thinly slice the apples and place them in the buttered pie plate. Mix one tablespoon of sugar with one teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over the apples; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and cinnamon. Add the butter, egg and vanilla and mix well with a wooden spoon until thoroughly combined. The mixture will be like cookie dough. Spread the batter evenly over the top of the apples. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the top is browned and the apples are bubbling.

 I used my food processor to easily slice the apples thin.

Mix the vanilla in with the egg before you add it to the flour, then stir it all up.

Just use the back of the spoon to smooth the batter over the apples.

Be very careful. Once the spoon goes in, it's very hard to stop scooping it into your mouth.