yes, sometimes it just doesn't work...like this flat apple pie

I seriously don't know what I do wrong. I have a few ideas that I could try if I was willing to try this yet again. But, I tried making this darn Flat Apple Pie two times already and I'm just done. The Pioneer Woman made it look so easy that I went in completely confident that I could do it in no time flat also. I don't know how she does it! I tried it with my pie crust recipe and her pie crust recipe (which I think is really cool, actually. I need to try it in a regular pie pan with a regular pie now) and both times went so wrong...

My First Attempt:

I intended to make this for my little brother's birthday treat. This good idea came to such a sad end. The first time, I made the apples before I had the crust ready. Because of this, I had to let them sit around while I made Ree's pie crust. Then I saw that she freezes her crusts. So, I had to bag them up and freeze them. I couldn't wait that long so I then made my own pie crust and tried to use that. After all the sitting, the coating (sugars and flour) turned into a liquid syrup.

#1 I rolled out my pie crust
#2 I put the apple filling in the center (there were probably too many apples)

#3 I turned up the edges and put the butter on top

#4 I cooked it in the oven. After moments, the filling started running out the bottom, over the parchment paper and burning onto the cookie sheet. There was no salvaging this, though I tried to spoon some back onto the center.

#5 I baked it the whole time, took it off and let it cool on the sheet. It looked fine, though it had no gooey center. It was purely apples and crust. I guess luckily, Nathaniel was being stood up on the island next to the cooling rack and in one easy side swipe of the foot knocked the rack and disastrous pie onto the floor. It was kind of a relief- I didn't have to decide what to do with it.

Needless to say, Brett didn't get this apple pie for a birthday treat. Bummer. Or maybe it was a good thing so he didn't have to eat kind of a yucky dessert.

My second attempt:

The recipe makes two apple pies so I had extra apples. I decided to rinse off the left over apples and remake the filling. This time, I wouldn't have the runny syrup. I thought if I had the dry coating on the apples, I wouldn't have the yucky running. I also decided to use the freezer pie crust I had from Ree's recipe from the day before. I thought maybe that was part of the problem too- trying to use my own. Now, I've never had a pie crust like this. The taste is really good (from snitching some unbaked dough) and I look forward to using the rest of this crust in my next pumpkin pie. So, I tried again the next morning with enthusiasm that I was going to master it this time.

#1 According to her directions I thawed and rolled out the crust first and put it on parchment that covered the entire cookie sheet (should the dripping happen again)

#2 I had already measured out the dry ingredients but hadn't put them with the apples until I had rolled out the crust. But, it took me 30 seconds tops since all I had to do was throw the apples in the sugar mixture. Then I used a little less apples and put it in the center of the crust.

#3 Then I folded up the edges, dotted the butter and pressed around the bottom edges making sure everything was sealed tight. I even double patched some places with extra dough to ensure no leakage. I felt pretty confident.

#4 Cue the leaking (see the leaking in the first attempt) and by the end of the 30-40 minutes I had charred filling. Again, dry apples, no filling and nice flaky crust.

# 5 As promised, you can cut this pie with a pizza wheel. It was dry, a little tasteless since there was no sugary goodness left inside. I did try a bite and it wasn't so bad when it was warm. I tried saving it to have a little later and it was just not good. Boo.

If you can figure out this recipe, please let me know. The recipe is at the top if you click on "Flat Apple Pie".

Some good things that came from this disaster:
1. I found a new crust recipe to experiment with
2. I remember how much I love my pie pans
3. I realized that I should plan ahead when trying a new recipe for events such as birthdays and not let my baby around my newly baked goods or they will meet a sad, sad end.