Cran Apple Pizza (Pie)

Making a fruit pie in a pizza pan accomplishes two things.  One - it stretches to serve (a LOT) more people.  Two - your crust and your filling are much more noticeable and appreciated.  I like to drizzle mine with a powdered sugar / milk glaze, which makes it all the more appetizing.  

I started making apple pie in a pizza pan a few years after I was married, and it has become my second-oldest son?s self-proclaimed comfort food.  I?ve made it for him for almost every one of his birthdays  (and he just turned twenty nine).  

Although his favorite is still plain apple pie, I decided to jazz it up a bit by adding a few fresh cranberries.  It turned the juices a rosy red color, and added some zing - I loved it.

If you've never tried bottling sliced apples - I highly recommend it.  I reach for these bottles when making pie, cobbler, crisps, and I even enjoy them plain with cinnamon sugar.  Every fall I get out my apple peeler/corer/slicer and go for it.  I place the peeled apple slices in a large kettle with a few tablespoons of water until they turn limp enough to pack into bottles.  I add no sugar or water, and it makes it?s own juice as it processes.  Talk about convenient!  Canned apple slices in the grocery store are hard and tasteless - don?t you agree?  

I also tried out using large elbow macaroni to ?vent? my pie this time.  It worked fairly well - although it still spilled in my oven and gave my smoke alarm a run for it?s money.  (You may consider placing a sheet of foil on the rack just under the one that holds your pie - just in case)

This works out just right using the Never-Fail Pie Crust recipe (link is HERE).  If you roll it thin enough, it is just the right amount of pastry dough.  

For the recipe, with links and photos - go to: