Cheeseburgers and Apple Pie

I didn't set out to make the All-American meal. In fact this Bacon Cheeseburger Roll-up has been on the menu quite a few times, and I'm just now actually following through.

I am most thankful I finally followed through. This recipe was perfect comfort food for a chilly fall evening, and super easy to make. I'll admit I was a bit of a skeptic where the Velveeta was concerned, but we all loved the end result. As per usual, I made a few changes where I thought they would be good. First, I used my go to Kirkland bacon crumbles in place of cooking my own. Then, in addition to the Velveeta, I put a light sprinkling of cheddar. I feel like the Velveeta is good for its melting properties, but cheddar brings a better flavor. Finally, I chopped up a few dill pickles very finely and mixed them into the meat. I've learned from previous recipes that the tang of the dill pickle is a good partner to the sweet tendencies of the processed cheese. I'm not sure you could even taste the pickle, honestly, but there was a lovely balance of flavor throughout.

Then the pie. I just made the pie because we have a ton of apples left from our orchard run in early September. I don't want them to go to waste, and I hadn't made a pie with them yet, so...

I don't encourage anyone to make pie like I do, especially this time around. I changed recipes twice in the middle of production, ultimately settling on this one. The pie crust recipe I have is similar to this one from All Recipes. Finally, finally I have learned to produce a decent pie dough. I still have a ways to go to properly roll out and crimp, but progress is a good thing.

This pie was heavy on the spices (the lack of same was why I switched away from one of the other recipes in the first place). I didn't think there was too much spice, but it wasn't subtle either. You'll notice that I have star cut outs in the crust. That's so I could put the cubed butter on the pie without removing the whole crust. I did not read far enough ahead on that instruction either.😅 In summary, this was an excellent apple pie, but not truly distinguishable in a world of many apple pies. We all ate and enjoyed it, but I couldn't tell you a thing about it that was special, just that it was very good. So, I'll recommend apple pie in theory, but if you find a recipe you like, stick with that.