Apple Pie Cake

Our family gets really excited about apple desserts. I found this recipe and it just seemed like it would meet the Riddle standard, minimal ingredients and prep, delicious sweet apple dessert. We tried it last night to bring to our Be The Bridge group, and it was a hit. Just so that you know...this desert works well as breakfast too!

This here folks is the last piece. I had to fight to get a picture.

At first glance you may think this dessert has an identity crisis being both pie and cake. But what I have found is that this recipe takes the best parts of both cake and pie and combined them into something beautiful. Super easy prep. There is a biscuit-like dough to prepare that gets pressed in as the crust, apples with just lemon and cinnamon go on top, and then more of the same dough sprinkled on the apples. At some point in the oven the apples release their juice combining with the crust and sprinkled bits, and it becomes a magical mash-up of cake and pie. It cooks for a while, so go read a book or fold some laundry, but it is worth the wait, I assure you.

Apple Pie Cake

Ingredients:
2 Cups flour
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of Salt
1/2 lb (2 sticks) cold butter cut into pieces
5 lbs (about 12 medium) apples
   -Granny Smith apples hold up well in this cake/pie
2 tbsp lemon juice, or the juice of one lemon

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, salt and 1 tsp of cinnamon. Using a pastry blender or two table knives, cut in the butter until it is incorporated in pea-size pieces. (this is just like making scones or biscuits) The mix will be dry and crumbly, but will stick together if you pinch it with your fingers.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Cut apples into thin slices. *some people peel their apples here. I don't. No one in my family cares enough, and I like the peels, but do what you like* Toss apple slices with remaining cinnamon and lemon juice. (I also used a pinch of cloves, allspice and cardamom)

4. Press 2/3 of the flour mix into a 9 inch spring-form pan. You will want to press the mix to cover the bottom and work it up the sides of the pan to make a crust.

5. Pour the apples into the prepared crust. Press the apples down as much as you can into the crust. They will mound over the rim of the pan, that's ok.

6. Sprinkle the remaining flour mixture on top of the apples.

7. Bake on the middle rack of your oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until golden brown on top and you see the apples bubbling. It is a good idea to put a baking sheet on the rack beneath the pie/cake while it cooks. The apples release a lot of juice. (which is part of the magic of this dessert, but it may make a mess if it comes out all over your oven)

8. Remove the pie/cake from your oven, and allow it to cool completely in the pan before you remove the outer band. Serve and enjoy!