Reviewed: Jan. 26, 2011

I made a batch of this with fresh local organic apples in Sept., and we have used two jars so far. One qt jar = 1 regular/shallow 9" pie for us. So far, our favorite method is to bake the pie crust for about 5 minutes unfilled (with holes pricked in it) at 425 F then pour the filling in (I crumble a little extra pie crust over the top - tastes great and looks pretty, but less work than building a lattice or doing a top crust) and reduce the temperature to 350 F and bake for about 45 min. This is such a huge hit with my husband and 5 year old that a whole pie can disappear in less than 24 hours. I am really glad I tried this recipe!! The only changes I made to the original recipe were to omit the food coloring (yuck) and substitute cardamom for nutmeg. This will definitely become a yearly favorite for us! Thank you!

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9 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

ScottFamily

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Warrenton, Virginia, USA

Living In: Bel Air, Maryland, USA

Reviewed: Jan. 5, 2011

I made this recipe to can as well. It has been a couple of months since I canned it and it looks so unappetizing. I do not even want to try it.

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6 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Mindy in AZ

Reviewed: Nov. 17, 2010

This was good, but I adapted a few things and changed some quantities. I used wide mouth jars for easy filling. I left out the food coloring and the nutmeg. I increased the cinn. to about 3 Tbls. (think about 1 tsp per pie recipe). I used about 6 quarts of apples. (I would say that it is about 40 medium sized apples.) I used clear jel very successfully in place of the corn starch I used about 1 and 1/4 cups. I mixed the sugar, cinn, salt and clear jel together. I heated the water up in a pot on the stove until it was hot but not boiling and then slowly poured the dry mix into the water, whisking as I went. I had no problems with clumps or anything. I filled my jar 1/2 full of apples and then added several ladles full of syrup, I pushed and pressed to get the bubbles out before I added the other apples and the rest of the syrup. Make sure you leave a FULL 1 inch of head space. If you leave any less, you will take your jar out of the water thinking everything went great, and then the oozing will start. In this case, your jar didn't seal and you will have to reprocess in a clean jar with a new band. Overall, the taste is good and I would recommend this to a friend!

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16 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Meghan

Reviewed: Nov. 10, 2010

I'm in the minority here, but this didn't work out for me. I can quite a bit, but there is too much syrup here in comparison to the apples. When I made a pie with this, it didn't set at all; the syrup was runny and overflowing. That shouldn't have happened, as I followed recipe exactly. You need about twice the apples and half the syrup. Cornstarch shouldn't be canned anyway.

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8 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

DANIELA92

Cooking Level: Expert

Reviewed: Nov. 9, 2010

I made this recipe and am thrilled with it. What a great gift idea. I made the recipe EXACTLY (except for food coloring) as written and it's perfect! Thanks for sharing.

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3 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Stonehill26

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Nashua, New Hampshire, USA

Reviewed: Nov. 7, 2010

Very easy to make and the syrup tastes awesome! I haven't yet made any pies with this though. I got just over 7 quarts out of this (which was about 4 apples per quart on average, depending on the size of the apples). I only had 4 quart jars handy, so I'm freezing 3 1-quart plastic containers and have the leftovers in a smaller tupperware in the fridge. I'll probably use some of this for a Thanksgiving pie and make some more to give as gifts (I'm really into canning things this year). Oh, and I used 2 cups brown sugar and the rest white, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, and about 1/2 tsp allspice. I don't think I had quite 1 cup cornstarch, but it was close enough that the syrup thickened up nicely. I followed some other reviewers suggestions about prepping the apples in the jars before adding the cornstarch/water mixture. That way, my syrup didn't get too thick and I wasn't trying to do too many things at once.

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4 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Erika

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Tucson, Arizona, USA

Reviewed: Oct. 21, 2010

I did add more spice....made the cinnamon heaping tsps, fresh grated nutmeg and 1/8 tsp clove. When I filled the jars up to one inch of the top they gushed when I took them out. The ones I only filled half with syrup did not. I tried cutting down on the cornstarch as it seemed too much but in the end had to ad all that was asked for, also forgot the lemon juice to start and what a difference it makes. I will definitely make more and work on the gushing problem till I am satisfied.

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1 user found this review helpful

Reviewer:

MIDOW

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Powell River, British Columbia, Canada

Living In: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Reviewed: Oct. 16, 2010

This filling is great! I did up the spices a bit and added a little allspice, but otherwise, I have had so many good reviews that I can't keep an apple pie around the house for more than a day! Works well to make apple crisp, too. Thanks for the recipe!

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1 user found this review helpful

Reviewer:

jessyfish

Living In: Vernal, Utah, USA

Reviewed: Oct. 13, 2010

This is a really nice pie filling. It's easy to throw together a batch when the Honeycrisp are ready here in WA State. I've never gotten a full 7 quarts out of it, but no one here has complained about having to munch on that half quart on their vanilla ice cream. I leave out the yellow food coloring everytime, can't quite comprehend putting it in lovely food. Note that the recipe says TWO quarts per pie. I actually use 1 quart per pie because we are happy with a little bit thinner/smaller pie, but if you're looking for the pie that mounds up, use more. I leave 3/4 to 1 inch of headspace, because it does expand quite a bit. I've not had any troubles with spoilage because of the cornstarch. Last year's batch tasted great 11 months later. I have a batch going right now. It will take me about 1.5 hours to process once I get everything out and going. Pretty nice for pies stored up in the winter! I gave four stars because I made it as is the first time around and it wasn't spicy enough. I just taste the syrup and amend based on flavor now. Try a splash of vanilla to the syrup after taking it off of the heat!

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6 users found this review helpful