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Dear Reader,
I've asked the folks on my staff to write about one of their favorite Christmas memories during this holiday week. Today, Tina shares her Gram's French Apple Pie and a Christmas memory she says is a little "corny" but I think it's very sweet.
Tina's favorite Christmas memory. . .
It's a little corny, but here it goes. My husband (who wasn't my husband yet) and I moved to Florida from Massachusetts away from all of our friends and family in 1988. We were very young (I was only 18 and he was 19). We had no money, I was a full-time college student and only worked part-time and he had just started a new job making $8.00/hr which had to cover all of the household bills. We were all alone, 1300 miles away from family and it was Christmas.
I was really sad. It was my first Christmas away from home, and we had no money to fly back home for the holiday. There were no presents under our three foot Christmas tree, adorned with a few strands of garland and one Ornament, ("Our First Christmas Together" ornament that we still put on the tree every year). We didn't have any money to buy gifts for each other, so we bought the tree and the ornament instead.
Anyway, waking up Christmas morning was not something I was looking forward to, after all, there was nothing to do--no presents to open. When I got up, I noticed there were ten little tiny presents under the tree. What?!! Where did they come from? My husband had bought and individually wrapped ten bottles of nail polish that he got two for $1.00 at the pharmacy and wrapped each one separately so that I would have something to open on Christmas morning. Twenty-one years later, we are still together and still talking about our nail polish Christmas.
Gram's French Apple Pie
This is my favorite because it reminds me of my grandmother. I use to love when she made it, or when we made it together. She passed away eight years ago from brain cancer and I miss her every day. Gram's pie is always a request whenever I go anywhere, and I need to bring a dessert. In fact, I'll be making it twice this Christmas--once for my family and another pie for my husband's family.
6 Cups Apples
1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cups milk
2 T. margarine
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup Bisquick Baking Mix
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease pie pan. Mix apples and spices together in a bowl. Pour into pan. Beat remaining ingredients until smooth (1 minute). Pour over apples.
3/4 Cup Bisquick Baking Mix
1/2 Cup chopped nuts
1/3 Cup brown sugar
3 T. margarine (softened)
Mix with fingers until crumbly. Sprinkle on top of pie. Bake 55-65 minutes.
(Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.)
Happy Holidays,
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
http://www.DearReader.com
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Tina, "Gram's French Apple Pie" sounds really good to me right now - wish I had it already made - am sure I will be making it for "after the holidays" - perhaps for the New Year - Thanks for sharing -
- Doris -
Posted by: Doris | December 28, 2009 at 03:28 PM