Scrumptious Apple Rose Pie

This post is going to have a lot of pics... because this pie was so pretty!  I found it on Pinterest and the food blogger is located in Belgium, so I had a pretty difficult (and hilarious) time translating her post.  So the recipe is sort of cobbled together... but still delicious!

Yield:  One gorgeous pie

Ingredients:

5-6 apples
2 cups heavy cream
3 eggs
5 tablespoons flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Zest from 1 lemon
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions:
If you are making a pie crust from scratch, consider using this recipe - Vodka Pie Crust

To begin, make the cream for the pie.  Mix the heavy cream, sugars, lemon zest, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, salt and egg yolks in a bowl until frothy.  Add flour and mix until combined.  Set aside.

Next is the time consuming part!  Set out a bowl of cold water to keep the apples from oxidizing.  Do not peel the apples.  Using a vegetable peeler, make ribbons of the apples.  The easiest way I found to do this was by holding the bottom of the apple in my palm and running the peeler up and down the length of the apple.  Try to make the peels as thin as possible.  They don't have to be of uniform shape or size, as you will be wrapping them into these roses, and it will be fairly easy to conceal any imperfections.

As you can see, I had extra pie dough, so I also made mini muffin sized apple pies, with one rose in each.

Once you have peeled the apples (your hand will be tired!), it is time to start assembling them.  Set aside some of the pieces with more red, or the pieces that look more like leaves.  Begin with a peel at a time, wrapping them around each other.  Once you have a small bundle that resembles a rose, you can enhance the effect by sticking one or two of the smaller red pieces in the middle.

Pour the cream into the pie shell and each time you assemble a rose, place it standing in the cream.  You may have to press down a bit to get them to stay.  Start from the outside going in, and they should hold up pretty well.

Once you have filled the pie crust with roses, sprinkle the top with a bit of additional brown sugar and cinnamon.  Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about an hour, or until the cream has set and the top of the pie is browned.

Tips -  To make mini apple pie roses, use a mini muffin pan and follow the same process.  I used the vodka pie crust recipe and was able to make 1 pie and a dozen mini rose pies, using the additional dough that was meant as a pie top or double crust for the minis.  Enjoy!