The Ramblings of Carmom: Tasty Tuesday- Apple Pie in a Jar

I came across this great idea for a pie in a jar on this website. I thought it was such a cool idea that I decided to make the pies for the kids teachers as an end of the year gift. I usually don't give food items but since I thought these were so cool I just had to make them. And let me tell you they were so fun to make too. It was also pretty cool that I could stick with the apple theme for the teachers. And if you don't like apple pie you can make any other fruit pie work for this as well. The really awesome this is once you make these you can put them in the freezer and eat them whenever you are ready for delicious hot treat. And don't worry the jar won't break going from freezer to oven either. Anyway, here's how I made them...

You need half pint wide mouth canning jars. I ended up using the Balls Platinum Half Pint Wide mouth but if you can find the ones with straight sides they will work better. That way you can actually pop the pie right out of the jar. But otherwise use the Ball jars they seemed to be the easiest to find, at least around here, and just eat right out of the jar.

Using either homemade pie crust or refrigerator pie crust start lining the jar. Once you have covered the inside of the jar with the pie crust you will then make your filling. Put your filling into the the jar about a 1/4 below the rim. You can then either do one of two things. Using the lid of your jar cut out a topper and then use a miniature cookie cutter to cut out a vent or you can make a crumb topping. I made a crumb topping for the teachers gifts.

Okay, so here my recipe for apple pie.

1/2 to 3/4 cups sugar, use the least amount if you are doing a crumb topping.

3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon all spice

6 cups thinly sliced, peeled apples, about 2 1/4 pounds (I usually use half Granny Smith and Gala)

In a mixing bowl combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, and allspice. Add apples; toss to coat fruit.

If you are making your own crust here is a pretty simple recipe.

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup shortening

3 to 4 Tablespoons cold water

In a mixing bowl stir together flour and salt. Cut in shortening til pieces are the size of small peas.

Sprinkle 1 Tablespoon of the water over part of the mixture; gently toss with a fork. Push to side of bowl. Repeat till all is moistened. Form dough into ball.

Use this to line your jars for pie.

For crumb topping. 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons margarine or butter

Combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in margarine till mixture resembles coarse crumbs; sprinkle over filling.

And here are my jars ready to be wrapped up to give to the teachers. These were just so much fun to make. I need to make more for our freezer so that I can enjoy these little cuties.