Flower Apple Pie

I am not a baker. There, I said it. I have baked about 6 pies in my life, all apple. On my third attempt, I tried a new recipe online and have not turned back. It was the only recipe that I saw at the time that precooks the apples. That is HUGE advice when making an apple pie! There is nothing worse than crisp apples in a soft crusty pie - those little babes have to be tender and gooey!

Here is the perfect recipe: https://www.tastesoflizzyt.com/homemade-apple-pie/
I did not make any substitutes or changes - it really is perfect as is!

Now, although I don't bake often, I always wanted to try and design a nice looking pie. You see bakers braid lattice, make beautiful roses, leaves and other flowers. I had purchased a mini cookie cutter set to use for my kids lunch boxes, that would be perfect to decorate our pie!

My 3 year old daughter took the store bought pie dough and cut out each flower one by one using 5 different cutters. She kept them close together, but managed to not cut any edges off. It was the most mind boggled I've ever been.. to see how naturally this came to her. It was a very proud moment!

So in making this pie, I learned a few things:
1. Check off each step as you go. I was so excited about the flowers, I forgot the whole step of putting dots of butter on top of the pie before the dough went on.
2. Once decorated, it is very hard to brush milk on without pieces flying all over the place. It will be necessary to brush each flower and lattice strip BEFORE they go on the pie.
3. Have strips of foil ready to cover the edges of the pie, as they will cook faster than the center. This will allow you to continue cooking full time, without the edges getting much more brown.The center of my pictured pie could've used more time. Thankfully with precooked apples it didn't affect much.
4. Take notice if your oven bakes unevenly. The back of my oven gets hotter than the front so I have to turn my pie throughout.

That's it for now! Looking forward to trying again and again with more designs to come!