Apple Pie with Brandy Caramel Sauce

Preheat oven to 425.

Peel and core apples and cut into ½" thick wedges. Place apples in large bowl. Stir in flour, apple jelly, lemon juice, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and sugar. Let stand 30 minutes, gently stirring occasionally.

Buy or prepare double pie crust for 9" deep dish pie pan.

Stir apple mixture; reserve 1 TBSP juices. Spoon the apples into the bottom crust, packing tightly and mounding in the center, if necessary. Pour remaining juices in bowl over apples. Sprinkle apples with 3 TBSP sugar and dot with butter (I totally forgot to do that!!!!!).

Top with second crust, pressing down around the pie. Brush the top of the crust (NOT the edges, although I did!) lightly with the reserved 1 TBSP juices from apples and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar.

Place pie on a jelly-roll pan and cut 4-5 slits in top of pie for steam to escape.

Bake at 425 on lower oven rack 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 and transfer pie to middle rack and bake 35 minutes. Cover pie loosely with aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning, and bake 30 minutes more. Remove to a wire rack and cool 1 ½-2 hours before serving.

Brandy-Carmel Sauce

Bring whipping cream to a light boil in a large saucepan over medium heat and stir occasionally. Add sugar, and cook, stirring occasionally, 4-5 minutes or until sugar is dissolved and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and stir in butter, brandy and vanilla. Let cool 10 minutes.

NOTE: This is absolutely wonderful! It is from the September 2008 SOUTHERN LIVING. It gives a recipe for a cornmeal crust, but I just bought the Pillsbury crusts in a box and used them. The most time consuming part is peeling the apples. (My husband prefers McIntosh apples for apple pie, so that is what I used. I did put down the apples they recommended, tho). The rest is quite simple. The ingredient list said to use 2 TBSP to ¼ cup of butter. However, there was a note saying to use all the butter for the best flavor, which I did. I figured, at this point, who is counting calories???????????????????? Oh! It did say you can make the sauce a day ahead and refrigerate. Before serving, sit out for 30 minutes and then microwave in a glass bowl. And FYI: I heated it when the pie was gone (it makes much more than you need!) and put it over vanilla ice cream and it was wonderful!