Open-Faced Designer Apple Pie

     Another open-faced pie!  In a way, I do favor the open-faced pies; they have less dough, which means less butter, which in turn means less guilt during and after consumption. And of course, they’re prettier :) But this also means assembling takes more painstaking care. Each slice had to be laid just so… Because of this, there are no pictures of the pie-making process – I was too busy trying to make everything come together to even think about capturing anything on camera.

     I would have to say that the pie came out quite nicely, appearance-wise. It sort of reminded me of a chrysanthemum, one of those extremely big ones that seem to be blooming right before your eyes. Appetizing, no?

     However, it didn’t taste as good as it looked (isn’t that always the case?). This was my second time making the cream cheese crust, and it came out quite tough (probably not enough blending with the butter). Even while I was kneading the dough, I knew this wouldn’t be a good batch, but there was not much I could do at that point. I was very glad the little leaves were there because they hid the over-browned outer edge quite well – even though they were a pain to cut out, vein, and paste on. I wonder when I’ll ever be able to consistently turn out good crusts!

    Also, although this pie is more aesthetically pleasing, I like the apple to crust ratio of a conventional apple pie better. There’s just not enough filling in this one:P There’s something more satisfying about eating pie with filling jumbled on high.

Midnight snack with a double scoop of store-bought Snickers ice-cream and a single side of guilt.