Lunch: Lauren Conrad's Favorite Apple Pie

Recipe by Lauren Conrad If you're making a rosette-style pie, like the one pictured, soak the apple slices in water for one hour, so they're pliable and easy to work with, before starting this recipe.

This recipe includes superfoods such as:

Cinnamon, Apples

Health benefits of Lauren Conrad's Favorite Apple Pie

Cinnamon is one of the best ingredients that someone with insulin sensitivity can eat. Half a teaspoon of cinnamon per day has been shown to be very effective at normalizing blood sugar levels. Cinnamon contains hydroxychalcone, which is thought to enhance the effects of insulin. It has also been suggested that Cinnamon prevents post-meal blood sugar spikes by slowing the gastric emptying rate - meaning that food digests slowly. (Reference: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11506060). Apples will improve your body's sensitivity to insulin (Reference: http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/27/1/281.full)

Ingredients

8 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced thinly
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. granulated sugar
3 tbsp. flour
1/4 c. caramel sauce (recipe below)
2 pie crusts, refrigerated 1 hour
egg wash (1 egg mixed with 1 tbsp. water)
sanding sugar (for decorating crust)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 °F.
For the Apple Pie Crust and Filling: Mix apples, sugars, flour and cinnamon in one bowl. Set aside.
Roll out your pie dough circles and add one to each mini pie tin.
Add the apple mixture to each pie. For a rosette-style apple pie like the one pictured, layer slices from the outside in, working in circles until the pie is full. You may have to bend or cut the apple slices to fit in the very center. For a traditional, double-crust pie, just pour the slices in, creating an even layer in each pie tin. Set aside.
For the caramel sauce: Melt butter in a saucepan, then add flour, stirring to form a paste. Add water and sugar and bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer for about 10 minutes, just until the sugars are melted and no longer grainy.
Drizzle caramel sauce over all of the apples.
If you're making a traditional, double-crust pie (instead of rosette), roll out a second pie crust for each of the pies and use cookie cutters to cut out a design in each one, then place the crust on top of each pie, crimping the edges to seal it. If you don't have cookie cutters, use a knife to cut vent holes in the pie crust instead.
Brush the crust with egg wash and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake for 35 minutes, or until the juices are bubbly.