After the massive flooding in the Baton Rouge area on August 19, our neighborhood Civic Association agreed to provide desserts for a local church who was serving nightly suppers to Red Cross volunteers and others just needing a meal. I signed up to bring a dessert on Tuesdays. Tonight I’m making Easy Apple Slab Pie for the supper served at this church.

Easy Dessert for a Crowd

Our Tara Civic Association asked neighbors to sign up for double recipes of desserts. Up to 120 people were coming to nightly suppers for out-of-town Red Cross volunteers and others displaced by the flooding at a local church. I decided to do my part in the relief efforts — a small very contribution. Here are volunteers getting “to go” plates ready.

I’m make Apple Slab Pie which is a variation of Apple Pie. It is easily adapted to a large crowd. Rather than making the dessert in a pie shell, the idea is to roll the pie crusts out onto a cookie sheet, layer on the apple pie filling and spread on the streusel topping. It is quick to make and simple to cut into portions and serve on a buffet line. It tastes good like apple pie and is unique! No one else brought a dessert such as this one.

1000 Year Flood

The constant downpour of rain on Friday and Saturday (August 18 and 19), mixed with already record rains in August, resulted in flooding which is described as an 1000 year flood. Twenty parishes (counties) are included in the state’s disaster application which stretched 200 miles across the state in pockets of flooding. Homes flooded which never expected to flood and were not in flood zones. Our local newspaper states that “FEMA has taken in more than 130,000 applications from households seeking assistance for the August floods.” (The Adovcate, Sept 1, 2016 p. 4A.)  I’ve read in other sources that 60,000 homes flooded — don’t know why the discrepancy. Businesses closed (flooded or no one was able to come to work), libraries flooded, churches flooded. In our parish (county) 12 schools flooded and will need to be relocated. In one quick hour, folks lost everything — the emotional toll will last years. Here’s a flooded church’s belongs out on the highway to be picked up.

The flooding came quickly. Countless friends describe the waters coming into their streets on Saturday. Not knowing whether to stay and protect their homes or leave, many chose to stay–not thinking it could get much higher. Then, friends say, the water just gushed into their homes Saturday night with massive force. One co-worker came down her attic ladder where she was stashing things with her dachshund under her arm when someone came to get her. The water was chest high. Her dog and a bag of important papers and clothing were the only things she could save.

Here’s a truck on a highway picking up debris. My favorite garden store just down the street flooded losing everything! Where will I go for unusual vegetable seeds and seedling plants for my garden? Very sad.

Anther friend and her husband vowed to stay–they had a 2 story  house. But neighbors came with a boat and insisted they leave in the middle of the night — the water was 2-3 feet high. The wife left then she finally frantically convinced her husband to come too. Another boat –nicknamed “The Cajun Navy” returned to get him.  Snakes and reptiles are seeking higher land, too, and it’s just not safe to stay in the houses.

I took a drive to the subdivision where I lived when I first moved to Baton Rouge. This one broke my heart–my old house is the first one on the right.

Now these folks are displaced, living with family and friends and trying to cope with rebuilding their homes. It will take years. This disaster relief unit is commercial one. It was sent here to help the Winn Dixie grocery store clean up and re-open.

In my current home and zipcode, only two homes were expected to flood–according to computer modeling. So, not everyone flooded! Some of us are well off. And countless organizations are helping those who lost homes such as removing sheet rock and mold. Amazing stories.

Making the recipe

This recipe is easy to make; I need to get going here–the dessert is due at 5:00 pm. It is adapted from a recipe on the Pillsbury and General Mills WEB site — All Rights Reserved — but I’ve changed it up quite a bit and now call it my own.

I’m using convenience pie shells and canned apple pie filling to make this recipe quickly. The Lucky Leaf brand has some cinnamon mixed into their pie filling. The Duncan Hines brand has more apples, so I mixed the two brands. I wouldn’t normally used prepared pie filling — but time matters here.The streusel topping includes both old fashioned oats and quick-cooking oats. The old-fashion oats give a nutty flavor and crunch; the quick-cooking oats are easier to mix in.

I am using one 15-oz package of refrigerated pie crust which contains 2 pie shells and am using a 15-3/32″ x 10-5/16 aluminum cookie baking sheet (I don’t except to get these pans back). Stretch the pie shells out into the baking sheet, cutting and piecing as needed. Use your thumb or a tiny bit of water to help pieces stick together. (I’ve doubled the recipe for this meal and am making two slab pies using 4 pie shells.)

Spread the 2 cans of 15-oz apple pie filling onto the crust.

Mix up the streusel topping by cutting the margarine into the dry ingredients using a pastry blender, a fork or your fingers. Make sure the margarine is cold; freeze a few minutes if necessary. Once mixed, spread over the slab pie. It is much quicker and easier to use a food processor. In this case, omit the old-fashioned oats and stir them by hand last after the margarine is cut into the topping.

Bake in a hot, 425 degree oven, for 30 minutes until the crust is browned, the filling bubbles and the topping is browned. 

Cool until the baking pan can be handled. Cut 4 x 5 to make 20 pieces. Tastes great with ice cream or whipped topping.

Here are pieces of Easy Apple Slab Pie. A small gesture for those in need.

References:

://www.nola.com/weather/index.ssf/2016/08/la_flood_victims_black_and_whi.html