orange apple upside down pie

Sometimes you don’t mess with an icon. And, in this case, the apple pie is an icon in America. You’ve heard the saying, ‘It’s about as American as apple pie!’

But, being the slight ‘rebel’ I am, certainly not in a negative sense but in a way that makes things interesting and novel, I decided that this apple pie thingeee needed a makeover.

The first version of this orange apple pie was for my son-in-law’s 50th birthday party. OK, yes, another ‘rebel’ thing. Why not ‘pie’ instead of cake! Well, it got rave reviews. It was even better on days two and three when you could slice it and have it with coffee for breakfast.

The citrus flavor explosions in this upside down pie, yes, another novelty with a pie, upside down, are tingling for the palate. I mean, you don’t expect it. And, sometimes when you don’t expect something, you’re more open to accepting. That’s fair warning when you bite into a slice of this pie. It’s not your traditional apple pie. Oh, yes, you get the apple and spice flavor, but the orange, well, it’s as different as apples and oranges!

And, the orange slices, which are very thin with the rinds, are perfectly edible! There’s nothing more tasty than a baked orange slice. And, if you want to get a tad bit more fancy before you serve each piece, then just zest on some fresh nutmeg. Just a hint of the fragrant spice. It’s something that just intoxicates the senses!

orange apple upside down pie

Yield: About an 8x12 inch tart pan

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Ingredients

• Preheat oven to 350
• 8 thin orange slices, seedless
• 6-7 cups apple chunks, bite size, washed, skin on, crisp apple type (i.e., honeycrisp)
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• ½ cup golden raisins
• ¼ cup dark brown sugar, packed
• ¼ cup flour, all-purpose
• ¼ tsp. sea salt
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 5 Tbl. butter, salted and diced
• 3 strips (3x9” each) puff pastry, room temperature, flattened out to about 9x13” size
• 1 egg white
• 1 Tbl. turbinado sugar
• 

Instructions

1. Put a piece of parchment paper in your pan with overlapping sides. This will help with removing the pie. Place the thin orange slices on the bottom.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the apples and lemon juice/zest. Toss and blend. Add the raisins, brown sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and toss and blend together.
5. Place in the pan on top the orange slices. Put the butter pieces on top. Leave about an inch space all around the apples.
6. Place the puff pastry on top. Tuck the overlapping dough all around the apple mixture. Use a pastry brush and coat the top with the egg white. Sprinkle on the turbinado sugar.
8. Bake in a preheated 350 oven about 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack. When cool, place a plate or serving piece on top and invert.
10. Gently pull back the parchment paper. The oranges and ‘pie’ should be beautifully intact.

Notes

You can use any type of baking pan. I used the rectangular tart pan because it more easily accommodated the puff pastry. But, you can certainly adapt for a round pie plate.

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