RECIPE: Caramel Apple Pie

Hello darlings, Henrietta here with a new recipe for you to try! I recently found this delightful looking concoction on a wonderful blog called Orange and Black - the Spirit of Halloween. The author of the bog had discovered it in the Apple a Day Cookbook by Janet Reeves. I must confess this is one cookbook that isn’t in my collection but I do love apples so it seems time I found a copy! The recipe sounded delicious and many of the blogs followers had tried it with success so I made up my mind to do so as well.

The perfect opportunity came when the Princess invited Priscilla and I over for dinner and a spooky movie last week, after our visit to Balls Falls. We volunteered to bring desert and agreed this pie would be the perfect thing. Priscilla whipped up the pie in no time (I was having quick nap after our long flight home) and we took it with us, baking it while we dined on a lovely feast set out by the Princess. 

As we sipped tea and talked of our days adventure, the enticing aromas of cinnamon, caramel and apples came wafting through the castle and beckoning us back to the kitchen where the pie was cooling. It was irresistible! I’m embarrassed to say we could wait no longer and sliced the pie up before it was properly cooled. The result was steaming clumps of apple, caramel and pastry. We should have waited longer and let it set but it was delicious all the same. It’s a lovely pie, and surprisingly not too sweet. The Princess declared it the best apple pie she had ever had and even had seconds. Priscilla and I agreed – it’s our favorite new recipe for Fall.

Here it is then, with a few alterations by Priscilla – Caramel Apple Pie.

Ingredients you will need for the pie:

·         Pie pastry to line a nine inch deep dish pie pan

·         Four cups of apples, peeled, cored and sliced

·         One and a half cups of brown sugar

·         One half of a cup of softened butter

·         One half of a cup of all purpose flour

·         One eight a teaspoon of salt

·         Two teaspoons of cinnamon

·         One half of a cup of chopped pecans

Instructions for the pie:

1.       Start by preheating your oven to a toasty three hundred and fifty degrees.

2.       Then line a sturdy nine inch deep dish pie pan with your pastry. Trim and finish the edges of the pastry. I haven’t included a pastry recipe because I find each cook has his or her own favorite – but if pastry isn’t your strong point feel free to buy a frozen pie crust, I won’t tell.

3.       Arrange the apple slices in the pastry-lined pan.

4.       Sprinkle the apples with the pecans and salt. Set aside.

5.       In a medium bowl, combine brown sugar, butter, flour, salt and cinnamon until a paste-like consistence forms.

6.       Pat the brown sugar paste mixture on top of the apple slices to form a top crust.

7.       Place pie on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for fifty minutes.

8.       Remove pie form oven and transfer onto a cooling rack.

9.       Let sit to cool until just warm (at least 45 minutes). I know it’s a chore but do try and wait if you can. We let our enthusiasm get the better of us and sliced it early but the result was mounds of pie instead of slices!

10.   Serve with freshly whipped cream or a rich vanilla ice cream.

Let us know how your pie turns out and if you agree it’s the perfect desert for a crisp cool day.

Click here to buy The Apple a Day Cookbook



Click here to visit Orange and Black: The Spirit of Halloween

Doesn't anyone still wear a hat?

Hello dears, Henrietta here!

I feel a bit of a neglectful old girl for not posting before now, but it's that busy time of year again for us! Priscilla and I spent hours on Saturday going through all sorts of little shops looking for hat pins. It wasn't easy, I must tell you. We saw wonderful glass beads, beautiful feathers and dazzling rhinestones, but store after store had no hat pins. Who would have thought these little, metal delights would become such a precious commodity?

It's very windy riding a broom and being fans of a wide-brimmed look in the hat department, it's quite necessary to affix them on securely. The unfortunate things is even the most obedient and well-trained hat pins tend to wander off on their own, getting helplessly lost. All of the wonderful old silver pins Auntie Willemeana left us have one by one gone missing. This culminated last year at our annual Balls Falls outing when we found ourselves without a single pin to protect our points!Luckily the ever resourceful Priscilla came our rescue.

You see she had been enjoying a pumpkn spice tea while chatting as I organized the kitchen in anticipation of stuffing the Thanksgiving turkey. I had bought a brand new package of skewers with sparkling sharp tips and I had washed and laid them out to dry. I prefer the long, metal skewers to sewing up a turkey with kitchen twine and a needle. It's something my mother taught me and I've never been convinced the other way is any better. Priscilla asked about this and I shared my technique with her, demonstrating on an old tea towel.

Later that morning as we gathered out hats and brooms in preparation for th journey to Balls Falls, Tessie broke the news that all of our hat pins were missing in action. Luckily, Priscilla recalled the long, metal skewers and thought that if they worked in turkey skin and tea towels, they would work just as well in satin or felt. We swore each other to secrecy and thrust the things through our hats. To our great joy they worked quite well, thought perhaps not as pleasing to the eye as they could be. Priscilla remarked that it being Thanksgiving, they were quite appropriate and thought them a novel fashion choice. (Mind you, she's a witch that can make a potato sack look like a Paris original with a bit of work.)

Well my dears, I am proud to tell you all that after much searching we found some new and unadorned hat pins and are looking forward to adding jewels, beads, feathers and more over he next few days so that we will have them for Thanksgiving this year. Do look for them if you run into us at the festival, though if you look closely you may a few turkey skewers in with the mix just for fun!






Here's an interesting looking little book on hat pins. I must confess I haven't read it myself but I am intrigued. Perhaps it would do for a stocking stuffer this Christmas for Priscilla? Shhh! Don't mention it to her so we can keep the surprise.