Apple Pie For Christmas

I was walking through Walmart's frozen food section yesterday, looking for frozen veggies.  Being a sucker for pies, I stopped to ogle Sara Lee and Marie Callendar when a price point for another pie caught my eye.  While Sara and Marie were hawking their pies for $7 or $8  bucks, a little bakery out of Washington state was offering a huge 40 oz Deep Dish Apple Pie for $3.48 cents!.  Certain that this was not priced correctly I was ready to abandon the pie at checkout should the pricing be wrong.  After all, you can't buy a "piece" of pie in a restaurant for the price of this huge pie.

As I checked out I was on high alert for a different price to pop up on the scanner screen.  But, sure enough, this hefty apple pie sells for $3.48 at Walmart.  I am always thrilled to get a bargain,  but  being skeptical of today's retail environment, I felt sure this pie would be made cheaply and would certainly not taste good.

When I got home I unpacked my groceries and once again marveled at heft of this 40 oz pie.  Since I google everything, I put the pie in the oven and set the oven temperature and  bake time per the package instructions, and set off for google land.

I was soon amazed to learn that these particular pies have attracted a cult following.  Entry after entry praised the delectability of these pies.  One pastry chef marveled that the crust was as fine as can be prepared by the finest   bakery chefs in the country.  Other boards lamented shortages of these pies in certain parts of the country and said they tend to buy five or ten pies at a time and hoard them against future shortages.  Many attributed the fineness of the pies to the fact that these pippin apples are picked fresh, sliced, and layered into the flaky pie crust with great care.  One frugal fan praised the bargain price of 8.7 cents per ounce of deliciousness.  Another post griped that this same pie could be had last year for only $3.00 even!

As I spent a good half hour googling and listening to the songs of praise for these pies, I began to pick up the scent of apple and spice emanating from my kitchen.    The combination of rave reviews and kitchen scents soon took the form of "culinary foreplay".   While pleasant I was soon lamenting that I must wait for this apple pie to finish baking, and to further torture me by the prep mandates to wait 30 minutes after taking the pie from the oven before slicing.

Finally, the oven timer  buzzed and I hurried to the kitchen and removed a lovely golden crust pie and set it out to cool.  I loitered around the kitchen just to drink in the aromatic ambrosia of apples and cinnamon, took out the pie knife and made ready for slicing.  I continued the "busy-ness" of waiting by setting out a pie plate and fork.  I carefully folded a paper napkin and set it beside the plate.

At long last the pie cooled to a slicing temperature and I cut a small slice for tasting.  I was fully prepared to add a dollop of Cool Whip on the next slice but wanted to savor this pie in its "native state".

So did the pie live up to all the ethernet praise?   You  betcha!  A delicious blend of tart and sweet assaulted my taste buds and the buttery flaky crust added immensely to this marvelous deep dish apple pie.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to run back to Walmart...hoarding is not always a bad thing!