THE OPPOSITE OF MUD SEASON in
Vermont is the "leaf-peeper" season
in the fall, when tourists flock to
our state in search of a piece of
Vermont-beautiful scenery adn
authentic food and gifts. Roadside
sales of homemade baked goods
abound, and we never seem to have
enough. When you just can't make
enough apple pies, and when you
need to make lots of them in a
hurry, the Swedish Apple Pie is
your ticket ... and the purchasers
won't even know or care that it is
gluten-free. My friend Dottie gave
me this recipe years ago when we
were on apple pie baking duty for
our kids' preschool. "Crusts?" she
said. "Who makes crusts? This just
can't fail, and it tastes lots
better." The beauty of this pie is
its simplicity. It contains minimal
ingredients, and the hardest thing
is peeling the apples. It also can
be sliced into neat squares and
wrapped individually in plastic
wrap, making it both a bake sale
and lunch box favorite. The key to
success with this pie is creaming
the sugar with the butter, which
traps air bubbles adn creates a
crusty loft. This recipe works just
as well with seasonal fruits like
blueberries, peaches, and even
lightly sweetened rhubarb. It is a
great recipe, for example, when you
overdo PYO blueberries, and end up
with more than you can eat before
they spoil. This pie freezes well,
and thaws tasting freshly baked.
