In June, I was back at home, and that usually entails a countertop toppling over with fruit because my mom buys so much all the time. She practically lives off fruit because she gets it really cheap at the Asian and Persian supermarkets (yea yea, Crown Valley Marketplace and Saigon City!!!) I came back from the university to a huge box of ripening champange mangoes and a whole bag of red apples. My great-aunt (the most amazing baker and resourceful cook in our family) had given me Pillsbury pie crusts a while back and these I froze. Figuring I should use up these things that needed to be done away with.
I sliced up the mangoes and apples, and mixed these with brown sugar and cinnamon. I rolled out the pie dough, parbaked it in the pie plate, then filled it with the fruit mixture. After which I popped in the oven a bit longer. Out came this delicious, quick, and satisfying pie that's just the right amount of natural sweetness with just a bit of savoriness from the crust. It's quick and a nice change from the usual apple pie, which in stores is laden with too much syrupy filling.
Easy Mango-Apple Pie (serves 8-12)
Ingredients
1 champagne (or Kent/Keitt) mango cut into slices
2-3 apples cut into same sized slices as the mangoes
1 frozen pie crust (or you can make your own, but I lazy ;P )
1/4 or 1/2 cup (I think) of brown sugar
Cinnamon to taste (be liberal!!! It's tasty AND good for you!)
Directions
1. Parbake the thawed pie crust according to directions.
2. Meanwhile, mix the fruit slices, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
3. Let the pie crust cool a bit, then spoon in the fruit filling.
4. Bake until the crust is just golden.
*Note: to prevent burning the crust (which I was on the verge of doing), put aluminum foil over the edges of the pie crust.
Judgement? Great! My dad loved it! And it makes me happy when my dad likes my baking, cuz I tend to experiment with "healthifying" things and then he doesn't like the blander taste or weird texture. I'm still trying though. More experimentation will lead to perfection.
Try this sometime. Maybe you have some addition or suggestion to it to make it even better. Let me know! But, in general, mangoes are just about a great addition to anything, and definitely perks up the usual apple pie.
