Dried Apple Zucchini Pie

Our zucchini plants are still producing great lots of squashes. The late August planting that I've started doing in recent years works way, way better than spring planting. The pest-bugs are almost non-existent and we can barely keep up with using what 5 plants produce. One year I made sweet pickles, using my mother's 7-day sweet pickle recipe, substituting zucchini instead of cucumbers and it worked very nicely. But this is my first time to use zucchini in apple pie.

Dried Apple-Zucchini Pie

Our friends, Betty and Dennis, were coming for dinner last week. The menu was simple - beef stew, homemade biscuits and pie. The reason the photo is half a pie, is because I forgot to take the photo until after we'd all had a piece. Everyone agreed my experimental recipe was worth keeping, so here it is for you to try. You could use fresh apples, but the dried apples were convenient. If you use fresh apples, be sure to add additional flour to the recipe.

Dried Apple-Zucchini Pie

4 cups of dried apples (we got ours from the Amish Store)
2 cups thinly-sliced zucchini
1 1/2 cups apple juice or water
Juice of 1/2 lemon
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
2 rolled-out pie crusts

Combine the apples and apple juice or water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, add the zucchini slices and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Add the lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon and flour to the apple-zucchini mixture and stir to dissolve sugar.

Line a pie plate with one rolled-out pie crust, then fill with the apple-zucchini mixture. Dot the top with butter. Moisten the edges of the pie crust, then place the second crust on top and crimp to seal the edges.

Brush the top of the pie crust with half and half or milk, then sprinkle the top with sugar. Cut slits for the steam to escape. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Let pie sit for about an hour before serving.