Fried Apple Pie

It's that time of year where we get a whiff of fall. This leads to one of my favorite activites - apple picking. We go to Homestead Farm in Poolesville, MD off River Road and get a haul of Golden Delicious (appropriately named), Jonathan, and Granny Smith apples. All good for cobblers, applesauce and, of course, fried pies.

For anyone who harbors the illusion that I am a sophistimacated foodie, I have this recipe to offer - fried apple pie. My first taste of a true fried pie was in Dollywood where they were the size of dinner plates. My arteries are still recovering. It was the perfect cross between pie and doughnut. Since DC is hardly the fried pie capitol of the world, I needed to figure out how to make my own or go without until our next Dollywood trip.

Thank god for Paula Deen, grand empress of tacky Southern food. Literally a week after the infamous Dollywood trip, there was a recipe for fried pie on Paula's Home Cooking. It lived up to all of my fried pie memories.

I'd have to say that this is truly in the top ten of trashy food I have made. It uses a canned biscuit dough for heaven's sake.

Fried Pies
1 canned flaky biscuit dough (should have 8 biscuits)
5 firm apples (Granny Smith, Courtland) peeled and chopped in to 1 inch chunks
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Raisins or dried cranberries (optional)
Vegetable oil

Mix the apples, sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice in a bowl. Toss thoroughly and add the cornstarch. Simmer under low heat until apples are soft and have given up some of their juices. Pour of out some of the juices.

Roll out the biscuit dough until 1/2 inch thick. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the apple mixture onto the circle of dough. Brush the edge with water and fold over in half. Press the edge with a fork to seal.

Deep fry in hot oil unto golden brown. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Eat. Resolve to eat salad and sushi for the next week.