In the late fall or early winter when I was growing up, when it was time to use up those apples in the cellar, I’d wander into the kitchen to find big half-sheet pans filled with golden-brown apple slices. They didn’t last long in my house with brothers who ate their weight in food daily and a dad who worked hard doing carpentry work during the day and taking care of his corn fields, orchard, and gardens in the evening.
For many years, I would fondly recall my mom’s apple slices. I’d mention apple slices to people when they’d talk about apple pie, and I’d get blank stares. Nobody knew what I meant.
I was talking about these on the CITR forum and to my delight, at least two people knew what I was talking about. I think these are too good to keep secret. They masquerade as pie, but pie is good right out of the oven. So are these, but where pie gets all soggy the next day, these improve with age.
This recipe makes a big half-sheet pan full (18 x 13) or can be halved to fit a regular 9 x 13 pan.
Apple SlicesGlaze:
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk
Preheat oven to 400° F. Core, peel and slice apples to about 1/4-1/2 inch thickness. I used the food processor slice blade to get these done, and they ended up about 1/4 inch thick. Perfect for getting them to cook through. Combine sugar, 4 tablespoons flour, cinnamon and mix with the apples to coat them. Set aside.
Combine flour, salt and shortening (or lard) and cut the shortening into the flour mixture until coarse crumbs are formed. Beat lemon juice, egg yolks and water together and pour over flour mixture. Stir to mix, until combined. Add additional liquid to get it to come together if necessary. The picture below shows how it might come out and how it should look.
Divide dough in half, with one half being slightly larger than the other. Roll out dough to fit the pan size. Don’t roll it out like pie crust. Roll or pat it into shape right in the pan! I have one of those double-ended rollers, with one end that’s great for getting into the corners, and the one you see below, which is great for getting the middle done. Spread sliced apples evenly over the dough. Sprinkle with any remaining sugar/cinnamon/flour mixture that might remain in the bowl.
Roll out the other half of the dough to fit the top. A trick: Since this dough is so hard to handle, I took another half sheet (same size) and rolled the top out on the bottom of the second pan. Make sure the pan is heavily floured. Roll it to size and flip it over to cover the top. Pinch the edges to seal and prick the top randomly with a fork or slash with a knife to allow steam to escape.
Bake in 400° oven for 40 minutes until crust is brown and apples are tender. If you notice the crust becoming too brown too quickly, cover the top loosely with foil and continue baking. Remove and place the pan on a rack to cool completely.
Glaze: Combine milk, confectioners sugar, butter and vanilla until smooth. When the slices are cool, spread the glaze over it. Allow to harden. Note: This is the recipe for glaze for a smaller version, but this amount spreads nicely over the entire pan of slices. Do more if you like thick glaze. I don’t.
Alternative: Sprinkle with confectioners sugar while still warm.
Slice into 2″ x 2″ squares, or as big as you want ’em. Or as small as you want ’em. Feel free to enjoy a large apple slice with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or grab one as you run out the door because they’re really portable!
Really important: If you wait at least two, if not three, days to bite into one, the crusts begin to soften. Never soggy, just tender. The top crust is crispy-ish right out of the oven, but waiting awhile makes it delectable and soft through and through. You’ll see. Eat one now, and then wait. If you can.
Get the printable and save it to your recipe box:
Apple Slices
murphala blogs at Flour, Water, Yeast & Salt.
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Robin from Rurification says:
Mmmmm. I can’t wait to try these!
On February 24, 2012 at 7:21 am
Glenda says:
This one sounds like a keeper. I am saving it for apple season. I have frozen slices….wonder if they would work?
I hate soggy pie so this should be an improvement.
On February 24, 2012 at 7:27 am
Teresa says:
Never heard of these either – but have now and can’t wait until fall to try these!
Thank you for sharing.
On February 24, 2012 at 8:14 am
LK says:
I use frozen apples/fruit in a traditional Mennonite version of this. There are at least 3 traditional versions that I am aware of. It is called Fruit Platz. The “crust” portion of it is very simple and you press it into place. I posted it on Farm Bell Recipes a while back. It is one of our family favorites and so easy to make! It freezes well too.
I made it for a couple of community events and they loved it each time. It disappeared quickly! I thought that it was funny…one of the MEN even asked for the recipe! lol
Hmmm…now I’m going to have to make some…
On February 24, 2012 at 8:19 am
BuckeyeGirl says:
Also good if you put cinnamon into the glaze! We like cinnamon in our house!
On February 24, 2012 at 9:51 am
murphala says:
Thanks everyone! Teresa, you’re welcome, Glenda you’ll love ’em, and I think frozen slices would work just fine. I think I would probably hesitate to use canned filling though. LK, is your dough similar, with eggs? Robin, I’m make some and bring you a sample. 🙂
I don’t think it’s really clear but this recipe makes a big half-sheet pan full (18X13), and can be halved to fit a regular 9X13 pan. Enjoy!
On February 24, 2012 at 9:52 am
brookdale says:
I was going to ask you about the pan size but you beat me to it! I’ve never heard of a “half sheet” pan.
Could you put the pan size into the recipe? Thanks! Will definitely make this when the apples are ripe this fall.
P.S. I like your little roller!
On February 24, 2012 at 10:27 am
murphala says:
Brookdale, I’ll see what I can do to get that info into the recipe. Just after I hit submit on this, I realized my error and sent an email to try to get that put in here and the recipe, but maybe Buckeye Girl knows what I can do to make that correction?
I’m making these again soon so I’m going to try some cinnamon in that glaze!
On February 24, 2012 at 10:35 am
Suzanne McMinn says:
I’ll take care of it, murphala! I apologize! I’m behind on email.
On February 24, 2012 at 11:21 am
murphala says:
Suzanne, no sweat at all! I just imagined someone making this and ending up with dough for days (and a two-inch thick crust) and shooting a nasty look toward Indiana and saying “Why didn’t she TELL us!?” 😉
Hope you all have a lovely day today!
–Murph
On February 24, 2012 at 11:37 am
prvrbs31gal says:
These are a favorite in hubby’s family. I use small jelly roll pan (I forget what the measurement is… 10×14? 11×15?). When I was at a bakery across from the Taste of Home store in Wisconsin, they were selling it as “Slab Apple Pie” and the glaze was so thick it looked like frosting. These are great for potlucks and cookouts, because unlike apple pie, they can be eaten without utensils. Yum-O!
On February 24, 2012 at 1:27 pm
bonita says:
Thanks so much for the recipe. These were a childhood favorite and I used to hope that I would be sent to the bakery for bread on Thursday, for that was the day the bakery made apple slices. MMMMMMMM
On February 24, 2012 at 4:27 pm
whaledancer says:
Sounds delicious. When you’re letting these age for a couple of days, do you refrigerate them?
On February 24, 2012 at 5:38 pm
murphala says:
Whaledancer, I don’t, but you can! Usually they are cut into and about half gone by the next day. 😀
Hmmm… slab apple pie actually sounds familiar to me (though we never called it that, I’ve heard that somewhere before!) The jelly roll pan (I don’t have one) sounds like it’s about right, only slightly smaller than my half-sheets.
Bonita, enjoy! 🙂 My favorite getting-sent-to-the-bakery day was cheese strudel day! Mom couldn’t/didn’t make those!
On February 24, 2012 at 6:52 pm
andtat says:
I made these by accident a couple years ago, because I was trying to make apple bar cookies, that turned into a pie, that turned into something much like this. I’m a bit disappointed that my “invention” was not so new after all.
I highly recommend mixing sugar, Cinnamon, and brown sugar together and sprinkling that on top.
On February 24, 2012 at 6:58 pm
cbfisher says:
Made these tonight for my family. They were a hit! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Actually, I had already bookmarked and printed out the recipe, thinking it would be a hit. A few days later, my 21 year old daughter saw it (she subscribes to the blog as well) and immediately emailed it to me saying we needed to make it. Great minds really do think alike! ;D
On March 12, 2012 at 9:45 pm