Grammy's Easy Cherry Apple Pie

+ some thoughts from the adirondacks

Hello hello! I hope y’all had/are having lovely weekends. I just got back from a trip to the Adirondacks, which some of you may have seen on my IG story. I got to spend a lovely 4 days with my grandparents and overlapped a couple of days with my aunt. We went for long country drives, watched the snow thaw at the end of a long winter, ate out, stocked up on maple syrup, and enjoyed being together.

One of the big things I always appreciate when I’m out of Brooklyn is the quiet, and it’s particularly quiet in the Adirondacks (the North Country, folks up there like to call it). I’ll take walks and hear a car coming from a literal mile away. I’ll hear nothing but silence as I shut off the lamp to go to sleep, so different from the traffic that hums through my window in Brooklyn. As much as I love NYC, I really relish the quiet outside of it.

Okay, some trip highlights! One was getting a BEHIND THE SCENES TOUR of a maple syrup sugar shack. The sugar shack is, well, a small wooden shack in a residential backyard. The walls are lined with maple syrup that you buy with cash on an honor system, writing down your haul in a notebook and leaving your doubloons in a basket. While we’ve been to this same sugar shack (the name of which I couldn’t tell you for the life of me) for decades, we’ve never been there while the team is there making the maple syrup.

That changed this weekend! The kind owner was there and humored my request for a tour, taking us back to see the sap getting pumped into huge troughs before it goes off to get boiled. Did you know sap is clear, and turns amber during the boiling process?NOW YA KNOW!

Sap on the left, ready to sell on the right

Another huge highlight was baking the white chocolate cardamom cookies I shared last week for my grandparents + aunt. Since my grandparents live 7+ hours away, I’m not sure they’ve ever actually tried any of the recipes I’ve personally developed. I brought up dough and a small jar of freshly ground cardamom from my freezer and baked them off.

The biggest reason I love developing and sharing recipes is helping you all build warm memories with the people you love - the ones you look back on and it feels like a warm hug. That’s something I saw in a big way by sharing my gooey, warm-from-the-oven cookies with my grandparents. There’s a mood shift when you bring something warm and sweet out of the oven. It brings joy, gratitude, and a moment of being present together.

My grandpa, who’s not supposed to eat too much sugar, told me there’s nothing better than an oven-fresh cookie and held my hand for a long time (sorry if I’m embarrassing you if you’re reading this, Grampy!!). And my Grammy and aunt simply loved them. Being able to share something I’ve poured so much love into with them, and seeing them enjoy it so much, made me so so happy.

First time trying snow shoeing, and my aunt asking me to pose afterward

This week’s recipe

All this Adirondacks talk brings us to this week’s recipe: my Grammy’s easy cherry apple pie. I shared a pic of it on my story, and got a lot of excited reactions.

It’s incredibly easy and tasty, with the cherries and apples adding nice textural and flavor contrast. A little heavy cream or milk poured on top before baking adds a slight creaminess to the filling and helps make the pie not too sweet. It pairs great with a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream, or as breakfast with a scoop of yogurt (I did this on my drive back this morning!).

Grammy made it without even realizing it was Pi Day eve. You can make it in a pie dish, or in a square tin like Grammy. It’s the kind of recipe you can just throw together for an easy, sure-to-please dessert. I know we’re now past Pi Day, but this is an any-day pie, or save it for summer or Thanksgiving. And don’t forget to bake it with love.

Grammy’s Easy Cherry Apple Pie

Makes one pie

Ingredients

• One pie crust (store-bought is fine)

• One can of cherry pie filling (trust me on this)

• 2 large apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/8-inch thick slices

• 1/4 cup milk or heavy cream

• Turbinado sugar or granulated sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lay out your pie crust into a pie tin or a square baking tin. If you haven’t already sliced your apples, place the crust in the fridge while you do so.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the cherry pie filling and sliced apples. Pour into the pie shell. Pour the milk or cream over the filling, avoiding the crust. If you’re using a square baking tin, fold the extra pie crust over onto the pie. Sprinkle some turbinado sugar or granulated sugar on top of the pie and any overlapping crust.

3. Bake for 30-50 minutes, until the filling is bubbling. I’m giving a wide range because Grammy actually baked this without me (I simply got to be the beneficiary). Don’t stress, it’ll be delicious.

Lots of love,

Maddie