Every once in a white, in the middle of gray winters, you need something bright. Something tangy. Something vibrant. Enter this tart. As you all know, I have this “thing” for Meyer lemons and it is the season right now, so I made this tart. I’m made things before with the rosemary and Meyer lemon combination and I really love it.
It’s not often that I have to serve pie to 30 people. I think that happens maybe once ever few years, actually. But tonight is an occasion that I need to present some of my goodies in front of a large group of people. I thought about just making cookies or brownies, but then I thought that a pie would be more impressive. Also, I thought that this might give people occasion to see a recipe that will work for Thanksgiving, if you are serving a whole lot of people. You will need a rimmed half-sheet pan, but I think that most home bakers will have that. Maple extract adds a lot to this recipe; my flat smells absolutely wonderful because of the boost of the maple syrup flavor.
Here is one for all you arts and craftsy minded people out there: making mini-pies in jam jar lids. They are the perfect size, are oven safe and if you buy the pretty colored ones, are even great for presenting the little pies. The bottoms come off the Mason-jar style, so it’s also super easy to pop the pie out for those 1-2 bites. In theory, they are reusable, but because they are so cheap, who cares if one or two go missing!
It’s my Mum’s birthday tomorrow, and I can’t very well show up empty handed. When I asked her what type of a birthday cake she wanted, she said “something with apples” so while this is a pie not a cake, it’s a birthday pie. And it’s a “pretty lady” pie because it uses pink lady apples, it is also because my mum is a very pretty lady too.
It’s bad luck in German tradition to wish someone a happy birthday before their birthday, so I am not doing that yet though. 🙂
This is the 26th version of apple pie on my site to date. Sure, some of them add cherries or blueberries. Some of them are two crust, some lattice, some quirky cutouts as a lattice, and yes, some of them are swirls like this. What can I say: I really like apple pie. It’s one of the comfort foods (along with Spätzle) that I reach for first. And it *is* the start of apple season. Yup, that’s my excuse for making pie when I have 8 million other things that I should be doing today.