Caramel Apple Pie With Crumb Topping

This recipe is cobbled together from 2-3 different recipes.  And the end result is glorious.

1 9-inch pie crust (I used a pillsbury crust)
 Filling
6 apples (I used granny smith)
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon ginger
pinch salt
other spices to taste (I used a touch of nutmeg, cloves, and allspice)
Sauce
1/4 cup butter
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
5 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)
I also added a sprinkle of cinnamon and ginger

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Put crust in pie pan, poke with fork a few times, bake until slightly golden.  Set crust aside on a cooling rack.  Mix the dry filling ingredients in a large bowl or zipper bag.  Peel and thinly slice apples, toss in dry ingredients until coated.  Put filling in crust.  Make sauce in a medium sized pot.  Melt butter, then add flour and stir to form a paste.  Add sugars, water, and vanilla.  Bring to a boil, then simmer about 5 minutes.  Allow sauce to cool slightly, then pour evenly over filling.  Put topping ingredients into a large bowl.  Cut together using a pastry cutter or fork until it resembles coarse crumbs.  Top the pie evenly.  Cover loosely with aluminum foil (you may want to put a sheet of foil under the pie pan also to avoid drippings in the bottom of your oven).  Bake for 25 minutes, then uncover and cook for another 25-30 minutes until topping is golden brown.  Cool on a wire rack.

Spritz Cookies

Growing up I used to love making Spritz Cookies.  They were easy and fun.  But I haven't had a cookie press in a long time.  So I put one on my wishlist and lo and behold my grandma got it for me!  Ironically it was part of my boyfriend's birthday presents since I said it was to make him cookies.  So today on my day off I made some.  They are really easy to make.

Ingredients

1         cup butter, softened

1/2      cup sugar

2 1/4   cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

1/4      teaspoon salt

1          egg

1/4       teaspoon almond extract or vanilla

 

Directions

• Heat oven to 400ºF. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Stir in flour, salt, egg, almond extract.
• Place dough in cookie press. Form desired shapes on ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake 5 to 8 minutes or until set but not brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

For decoration I take confectioners sugar mixed with a little bit of water and food coloring and dip the cookie in that.  The recipe as it stands makes roughly 70-80 cookies.  

This is my new cookie press and the disc I chose

The batter is very dry so I highly recommend using a mixer

The cookies after baking

My icing

The finished cookies