What do you do when you wake up in the mood for Wildflower Cafe's apple pie with currants, but you don't want to get out of your pajamas for the whole morning? You get creative. Lucky for me, I had apples on hand. But no currants. Hmmm. I know! Use dates instead! Dates have this rich, deep sweetness, and I just learned that in ancient times, honey was derived from dates that had been allowed to ripen more than usual, then extracted. It was not from bees at all. Now you know. (Hopefully my sources are accurate)
Something old- antique tray- something fresh- pretty green apples- something foreign- Danish crystal candle holder- and something tiny- teacup.
Maybe I did get a little crazy with the spices. Ginger, cloves, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and just the tiniest pinch of cardamom. But it worked. It worked really well. Oh and don't forget the lemon zest and juice. Really brightens the flavor. Then add sugar- some people favor brown, but white works just fine too.
Tuck those apples into the soft dough. I'm enjoying this oval baker from AJ's. Tiny pie is just my size.
Drizzle with butter and pretty sugar. The butter is necessary because... because it just is.
Bake 45 minutes @ 350 degrees. (I always have to spell out degrees because I can't find it on my keyboard.)
Just nothing like a homemade pie.
Oh I got pony plates!
There are three more and they are so sweet.
Before peeling the apples, I indulged in a girlish tradition- twisting the stems and saying the alphabet to find out who I love. Or who loves me. On both apples, I got J. How did they know? How did the apples know about my crush on Justin Bieber? So wrong! but I defy anyone to watch his cover of Chris Brown's "With You" and not fall at least a little in love with him. Impossible.
"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." -- Carl Sagan
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