The responsibility of making dessert for July 4th fell on me this year, but I guess that's just an occupational hazard of being a baker. The real problem is when I want to make peanut butter pie topped with banana pudding and chocolate whipped cream, but my mom would really prefer classic apple pie a la mode. The logical solution? Make both.
Unfortunately I only got one picture of the peanut butter/banana/chocolate crazy layers pie before I smudged it (and by "smudged" I mean "ate"). From top to bottom it's chocolate whipped cream, sliced bananas, vanilla pudding, more sliced bananas, and baked peanut butter pie all piled into a graham cracker crust. Half of the brainstorming credit for this pie goes to brother Beau who I always consult with on food-related matters.
The apple pie I just kind of threw together. I started with a cinnamon pie crust which I filled with chopped apples tossed with sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, lemon juice, and flour; then I covered that with another cinnamon crust and topped it with a mixture of oats, melted butter, sugar, cinnamon, and flour. The crunchy oat topping contrasted perfectly with the gooey filling (if I do say so myself!), and the addition of vanilla ice cream and homemade whiskey caramel really rounded it out.
More thorough recipes available by request!
