When it comes to breakfast, my family usually skips. My husband and I work opposite schedules, and (as far as I know) neither of us are really eat in the morning people. He can wake up at noon and want lunch on the weekend, but I could do waffles any time of the day.
Tonight, I started making the filling for chicken pot pie (I will post soon) but it got so late while I was cooking that my husband who works on public school hours had to go to bed, while I was still awake and cooking. So he skipped dinner and went to sleep. Knowing that he will be hungry in the morning, I scoured my and fridge once again to see what I can come up with to give my husband some breakfast, because I know he won't have time to eat cereal (and I don't feel like making the almond milk for him to do so).
I figured since I already have the makings of pies out and working, I would at least try some sort of pie. I realized I had apples that needed to be eaten now, or they might go bad. Okay, an apple pie sounds good...only he is going to crash very quickly with just apple pie. At least I know I would, so I kept thinking about what we have in the fridge. We have another package of bacon, and sure apples and bacon can go good together! Ideas began forming...then I thought well, that is some protein, but not a lot. How can I add more? Easy! Cheese! I love apples and cheese! Only I used the last of the cheddar over the weekend, on mac and cheese. Hmmm, I wonder, since provolone is sharp, and apples are good with sharp cheese, would that work? And shocker, I tasted a little bit with apple and bacon, and it did! So, my breakfast on the go turned into a bacon and apple pie with provolone on a whole wheat crust! I don't often actually make my own recipe, rather usually find another one and if I want to, I modify it, but tonight other than the pie crust, I pretty much did whatever I thought would taste good, and voila! I think I have a pretty snazzy on the go breakfast!
First, I peeled and cored four green apples.
Next I used my mandolin to cut "fries" out of my apples. I love that that tool lets me cut veggies at a consistent size for even cooking.
After this, I cut up bacon into small bits and fried it up in a pan. Once it was crispy and done, I drained it, and dumped the pan out.
I did dump as much of the bacon grease out of the pan as I could, however I left the pan coated to start cooking the apples.
I dumped the apples in, lowered the flame to what might be low or medium/low, and started adding spices that I thought would be good
First I added three heaping tablespoons of dark brown sugar.
Next I started to add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, but about half way through sprinkling the teaspoon, I realized that half a teaspoon was probably enough...so I stopped.
I stirred it up, keeping it on low while starting the pie crust.
I was given this recipe from a book called Vegan Viddles for a whole wheat and oil pie crust. Since whole wheat and oil were about the only ingredients I had, that is what I went for! I was a bit nervous about making a pie crust out of whole wheat flour though. I will put the recipe at the end of this post.
First I mixed the salt and flour together. then I added the oil. I mixed it together by hand, and added the water. Before adding the water, make sure to incorporate the oil evenly into all of the flour. I actually didn't know how much I was going to need, so I made a double batch. For a double batch, I actually added maybe four more tablespoons of water than the recipe called for, because it was very dry, and just not coming together.
When it looked like this, I took off a small chunk and rolled it out.
Now for the next decision in my recipe. How do I bake these pies? Do I use mini pie tins? No, I don't want them that big and messy. Do I do a half circle shaped pie, that you pick up and can take with you? Maybe, but in my tiny oven, it would take forever to make enough for all of these apples, so what do I do? I pull out my muffin tins! YAY.
I rolled out the dough pretty thin, and I took a muffin paper and placed it on top.
I cut around the paper so I had about the right size, and placed it in the tin. I did this six times, trying not to overwork the dough.
Next I sprayed the pan with olive oil, and placed in the circles. I baked the pie crust for about 10 minutes until the edges started getting hard and holding up on their own. I think honestly that I did not roll them quite thin enough.
After the crust was cooked a bit, I threw the bacon in with the apples and heated them back up in the frying pan.
I scooped two big spoonfuls into each pie shell, and put a wedge of provolone on top. Since I still doubled it over, my second batch, I put half of that wedge on top of the apples, and half under.
Then I baked them for about another 10 minutes. I took them out when the cheese started getting brown and bubbly.
The final step of course is to put them on a cooling rack. This recipe made one dozen bacon apple pies. For just going through and trying to use what we have around the house, I think I did a pretty dang good job! The pie crust is not super light and flaky, so the next time I do pie crust, I am back to white flour and butter I think...but they do hold up very well, which makes them easier for transport!
I hope you enjoy on the go apple bacon pies!
Pie filling
4 green apples
3 heaping tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 package of low sodium bacon
3 slices of provolone cheese
Peel, core, and slice the apples into an even size. Slice bacon into small pieces to make bacon bits, and fry them up in a frying pan (you could crumble them after the bacon is cooked also). I cook the bacon until it is nice and crispy, almost burnt, but not quite. Take the bacon out and drain it on paper towels. Dump out the bacon grease from the pan, but leave it coated with whatever is left. Put in the apples. Stir in the brown sugar and cinnamon. Assemble pie crust according to the directions below:
Roll out the dough and place it in the muffin tins cut into circles, and cook on 400 degrees F for about 10 minutes, until the sides start getting stable and hard.
Take them out of the oven and mix the bacon in with the apples. Heat back up on the stove for a minute, then scoop 2 scoops of apples and bacon into each pie crust. Place a 1/4 wedge of provolone cheese on top of each pie (or 1/8 of the provolone on top and another 1/8 of the wedge under the apple). Bake in the oven until the cheese turns brown and starts to bubble.
Take out of the oven, and when they are cool enough to take out of the pan, place them on a wire rack to continue cooling.
Easy cheesy!
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