First Lady Michelle Obama's Apple Cobbler

A couple of days ago, Pritchard Parker told me he would like pie.  I had been baking many, many cookies, then a cake, then brownies and he was in the mood for a change of pace.  Of course, I immediately started quizzing him: What kind of pie? A lemon meringue pie? A chocolate cream pie? A coconut pie? A cherry pie? He replied, simply, "A fruit pie."

As I contemplated this request (don't you love it when people you enjoy cooking for actually make a request) and knew fresh fruit is in short supply, here in the middle of winter, I considered frozen fruit. Finally, I decided on apples, which are available all year round.  And who doesn't like apple pie? 

I remembered this post from Lisa's blog,  The Cutting Edge of Ordinary.  I made the pie once before and everyone loved it. Plus it makes an extra large pie, and as alert readers of this blog know, my husband has a huge eating and fuel burning capacity. 

This pie is quite easy to make but it does take some planning ahead and also up to 3 hours of baking time.  Fine with me. Running the oven for 3 hours when it is freezing cold outside works out just fine.

I do hope you will jump over to Lisa's blog, to read her post about this pie, and also to enjoy her gorgeous photographs of it.

First Lady Michelle Obama's Apple Cobbler
8 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup flour

Mix these ingredients together and refrigerate overnight so the spice goes all the way through the apples.

3 sheets refrigerated pie crust
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Butter and flour the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Roll out 1 1/2 pie crusts really thin, as thin as possible. Layer the bottom of the baking dish with the pastry and prick a few holes in it.

Pour the apples with their liquid into the crust. Dot 3/4 of the stick of butter over the apples. Roll out the remaining 1 1/2 pie crusts and cover the apple mixture entirely.  Pinch the edges of the dough around the sides of the dish so the apple mixture is completely covered.

Melt the remaining 1/4 stick of butter and brush over the top of the crust.

Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.  Bake for up to 3 hours until the crust is golden brown and flaky.  Start checking the cobbler after 2 1/2 hours to prevent over browning.