5th of July Papple Pie!

Did you ever have one of those moments where you just took a look around and were overwhelmed by the beauty and abundance of your life? I certainly hope that you have; I do often. But this past weekend I felt like I got way more than my fair share of those moments. I spent an amazing weekend with awesome people, including my wife and best friend, hanging out on the sunny banks of Lake Murray in my home state of South Carolina, which is always lush, verdant, and comforting this time of year (serial killers and adulterous governors notwithstanding). The entire weekend was honestly too fabulous to put into words, but allow me to recap for you a few of my favorite memories from the trip:

* Basically living in my bathing suit for three days straight.

* Floating, drink in hand, just off the dock with a crowd of people who could, without pausing for breath, discuss national politics, classic films, and zombies all in one conversation.

* Making way-too-potent Jello shots in the kitchen while the whole house joined together in an impromptu chorus of Tiny Dancer

* Being towed behind a boat in an inner-tube while trying desperately to hang on long enough not to shame myself (I was successful, by the way, though when I finally did fall off, the force with which I hit the water was such that I pulled a muscle. Whatevs. Totally worth it).

* Taking a moonlit boat ride back to the house after watching fireworks.

* Napping in a hammock with the wife, like we didn't have a care in the world. Because at that moment, kids, we really didn't.

And amid all that swimming and sunning and napping and talking and drinking and singing and laughing, I simply did not take time to bake a single blessed thing...and I have no regrets.

BUT! Somewhere amid all that fun I was having, it did occur to me that returning home from such a great time might be a little depressing if I didn't have a plan for something fun to do once I got here. And thus the idea for 5th of July Pie was born. See, I had no time nor desire to break from the revelry to bake a pie on the 4th of July, but the 5th of July was a day that needed some cheering up and was therefore a perfect day for baking. Of course, I had no idea what kind of pie that was going to be, but I figured it would come to me. And then, as if by fate, shortly after beginning the drive home to Charlotte, we passed one of those amazing roadside fruit stands that are only found on the best of South Carolina backroads, and this one was selling half-bushels of beautiful, ripe South Carolina peaches (trust me, kids, Georgia is the "Peach State" in name only). So we bought a half-bushel and brought it home. The thing was, though, I didn't want to use all of my beautiful peaches in a pie, which I would have had to do if I were going to make straight up peach pie, so instead I decided to get inventive. There was a full bag of Granny Smith baking apples sitting right on the table, so I figured I like peaches...I like apples...put 'em together and you get....PAPPLES! And so, without further adieu, I give you:

5TH OF JULY PAPPLE PIE!

I started out with this basic apple pie recipe from Splenda.com, and modified it as follows:

Peel, core, and slice approximately 6 green baking apples (I was using a deep-dish pie pan, so you may need to modify your fruit amounts based on your pie plate).

Then peel, pit, and slice 4-5 ripe peaches.

Keep apples and peaches separate.

Add 1/2 c. Splenda Brown Sugar Blend to the peaches

Add 1/4 c. regular granulated Splenda to the apples

Follow the rest of the recipe as instructed, dividing each ingredient quantity in half to distribute evenly among peaches and apples (although you should probably add an extra tablespoon of corn starch; I only used the three tablespoons called for in the original recipe and the pie came out a bit runny because of the excess juices from the peaches).

Roll out refrigerated pie crust into pie pan, then layer the fruit as follows: half of apple mixture, all of peach mixture, remaining half of apple mixture.

Cover with remaining pie crust, seal edges, and cut slits in the top.

Bake for 30-40 minutes at 425 degrees. Pie plate should be cool enough to touch before cutting.

The end result was pretty delicious. The warm, gooey-sweetness of the peaches and brown sugar was an excellent undertone to the crisp tangy bite of the green apples. The softness of the peaches and firmness of the apples also mixed nicely with the flakey crust and juicy filling to make for an overall wonderful pie experience. Not sure if I can wait until next July 5th to do this one again.

So that's Papple Pie, folks. If you give it a try, let me know how it goes, and, as always, happy baking.

And now, I leave you with gratuitous vacation photos! Because I can...