 All right, today we are making fried apple pies. Mama always used dried apples most of the time. But I got apples on sale today but I wouldn't get one free for bags of them. So I'm gonna be using some Gala apples. They're really, really good. They're sweet and they're tart. One of my very favorite apples to work with. So we're gonna get these peeled up and put in this pot and we're gonna simmer them in some sugar. I just take the top and bottom off. Peel them. And I peel them all first because they're gonna turn a little bit before I can get them all cut up. And that way you don't have all the slices getting brown. This apple is sweet and tart. It's a really good cooking apple. It holds its shape really well for pies. Now we've got about five little apples in there which is probably about, this is a half cup, about three cups, baby of apples. I'm gonna get a different cup because I got that with juice on it. So I'm gonna put about three quarter cups of sugar in there. We're gonna turn it on. I'm gonna add just a half a cup of water or so. A couple of tablespoons of butter and we're gonna simmer these. Now you can add cinnamon if you wish. My mother never did. Her apple pies were just simple apple pies with nothing but butter, sugar and apples and that was it. So that's just how we ate them. But now I'm a spice person. I love nutmeg and I love all the pie spices. So I will put a few spices in my apples but you do not have to. This is just pie spice. And I don't put a lot. Just enough to give it a good flavor. We're gonna cook these until they're tender. So the apples are starting to turn clear and you still got a good bit of juice to get rid of because it's gotta turn thick. So I'm gonna turn it all the way up on high and you gotta watch it close because you don't wanna burn them. And you're gonna cook it until the liquid in the bottom becomes like a syrup. All right, now you have mostly apple. There's no syrup unless it's sticky. It's nice and sticky. The apples are sticky. So they're gonna make really good fried pies. That's how they have to be so that they don't break down the dough when you lay them on top of your dough. They look really good. Now it's time to make the dough. Now we love biscuit dough with our fried apple pies. It's nice and crunchy. We use the buttermilk. It gives it the amount of sour to the pie. It really, really is delicious, okay? I'm just gonna make a biscuit dough and I'm only gonna make about a half a batch of biscuit dough because I'm not gonna make a lot of fried pies tonight. So that's a cup of flour. You're gonna use about a eighth cup of shortening and you're just going to cut in the shortening till it's about pea size like you would for a biscuit. This is self-rising flour so I don't have to add anything to it except the shortening and the buttermilk. It makes a really crunchy pie. And I've had people ask me, can you fry these in the oven? Of course you can, but I prefer them, of course, deep-fried. All right. Now we're gonna add a little buttermilk to it just until blended. Now you're gonna get your sifter. You're gonna sifter surface. You're gonna get your dough out on the surface and we're gonna knead it a little bit. Don't think you got to buy a special tool to make a fried pie. I've had several people send me these things that crimp the pie for you and there's really no need in having a gadget to do that when you can just do it. I mean, the hardest part is making the dough and rolling it out, not crimping the pie edges. So if you can do this part, you can do the other part, just as easy. And the dough does need to have some pretty good elasticity to it or it's just gonna tear into pieces when you try to make the pie. So make sure you can kind of pick it up like that and you need to roll it out as thin as you can or they'll be really thick. So I just take the bottom of my sifter and I cut out circles. And at this point, we can go ahead and put some oil in the skillet and get it preheated so that we're not sitting around on it, waiting on it to get hot. I'm gonna go ahead and turn it on high. I use oil and butter when I fry my pies. We're gonna go ahead and put in about a quarter inch at least of oil, probably about a half inch of oil and then you're gonna use a half stick of butter as well. Just go ahead and cut out all of them after I've already rolled them just to make them a little bit bigger to work with and to make sure that they're not too thick. And now we're gonna put about eighth cup and apple in each one. I usually try to use something in that way. I don't have too much everywhere. It's got too much. I'll take some off. If you get too much, they're not gonna close good. If you don't use all your apples and your pies, eat them with some biscuits in the morning the next day. Or just fry up some the next day. You can always mix up some more biscuit though. I have done that, like cook a bunch of apples at one time and then put them in the refrigerator. They'll stay in there good for several weeks if you want to make some for Thanksgiving and to turn around and make some for a party. A few weeks later, you can do that. Sure can. I'm just, I got wet hands. And I'm just gonna go around the edges of one side with my wet hands. And then we're gonna flip it over and crimp it. So you're just gonna flip it over and use a fork and press it good. Do a good job pressing it down because if you don't, it'll open up. Try not to go all the way through and cut it in half, but press it good. And this is the part that people wanna buy something to do for them. And this is not hard to do. So if you can roll it out and make the pie, you can definitely do this part. And I'm gonna show you something when I close this next one without it stuffed. Like when you close one, if the apples aren't exactly where you want them, don't be afraid to just kinda move it around a little bit. Now, when you make your dough, you need to make sure you can pick it up and not tear. If it's gonna tear, you need to need a little bit more flour in it. Because if you don't get it nice and stiff, then your pies are gonna fall to pieces. You don't need to be hard as a rock, but it needs to be stiff enough like a dumpling. Melt this butter in here. As soon as that melts, we're gonna blot some. I usually drop three at a time, this size. I brushed my hand over that one and tore it, and it's got a little hole in it too. It's hard to make all of them look perfect. Even I can't do it. They're gonna taste perfect. That's all that matters, right? Just get them golden brown. You can kinda pick them up and look. You don't want them to get too brown. You can turn your oil down a little bit once you start them if you need to. Because you want your biscuit to get done. I think these are ready. So I've got a pan lined with parchment over here. Look them over on the pretty side. And they start running pretty quick, so you can tell just the difference in me taking those out. That's the brownest one, because it was in there the longest. When I was growing up, my mama made these for the Collard Valley Homemakers Club. Did y'all have a Homemakers Club where you lived? All the women in the Valley would get together and they would cook for fall festivals and they would make quilts and they would do crafts and community service and they entered stuff in the county fairs and made a booth every year. And they just did a really nice job. Our Collard Valley Homemakers Club was a bunch of very talented women in the Valley. But mama made these every year for fall festival and now Casey would make her potato candy and she would make her pool candy and mama would always make fudge and they would have chili and different things like that and it was just a lot of fun. These are ready. Hurry, get these out, they're brown. Nice and toasted, I never did it. Mama never did it, but I like to sprinkle mine with cinnamon sugar. I'm gonna leave these unsprinkled on this side but I'm gonna sprinkle all of these that are really hot with cinnamon sugar because that's how I like them. And that way we'll have them both ways. But you gotta sprinkle them while they're hot or it won't stay on there and be good. While they're still breezy. That's all there is to it. Now I will say this, if you fry apple pies you can see how much darker the second batch is compared to the first batch. If you fry apple pies and you're making them for something like the Homemakers Club, now this is only a one cup biscuit recipe and it made, if you're using the bottom of a normal sifter, it made one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight pies. So that gives you an idea. So if you're making them and you're gonna raise money, just know that there are eight pies per one cup of flour. The official taste tester, Mr. Nichols, try one without cinnamon. I guess I'll try one. Men love fried pies. That's good. But assuming sugar is better. To me it is, but many people didn't grow up with the cinnamon sugar. So they really like this plain apple pie the best with that delicious feeling. It's better than McDonald's. Here goes Tammy with her taste test. Oh, she gets to taste the sugar and cinnamon. Okay. Yeah, I got this message from a guy. He goes, you know what? I know you cook a lot mama, but sometimes we do go just to step up above mama. So if you improve something, sometimes you need to just shout it out. Well, I have to say these fried apple pies are improved with a little cinnamon sugar on them. Look at that nice feeling. And remember, if you use the dried apples, the apples are gonna look darker. You can't get a better dessert, period. That's so good, ain't it? Mm-hmm, best. Reminds me. Mm, being a kid, my mama would always make these in the fall for the festival. Yummy. Thanks for watching Colored Valley Cooks, where we cook like mama did. Bye, y'all love ya.