As soon as we made plans to go apple picking, Matt asked if I would make an apple pie. With all of those farm-fresh apples how could I say no?
The thing is, I don’t really love pie. Scratch that, I love pie filling, I just don’t care much about the crust. On the other hand, I love apple crisp. I find any form of crumb toppings to be irresistible. As a result, this apple pie topped with an extra thick layer of crumb topping was the perfect dessert for us.
The last time I made this pie, I use a store-bought crust (shh, don’t tell!). This time around I went all out and made the crust from scratch. I used a recipe from the The Art & Soul of Baking, a great resource for anything you could want to know about baking.
[print_this]Double Crumble Hot Apple Pie
Makes 2 pies; Serves ~16
For Crust
Ingredients
- 1 sticks (1/2 cup) unsalted butter cut into 1/2 inch pieces and frozen
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plus additional for rolling the dough)
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup cold water*
Cooking Directions
- Place all ingredients except for water in the large bowl of an electric mixer
- Using paddle attachment, put mixer on low and mix ingredients until they form a coarse mixture of large crumbs (about the size of a peanut)
- Add 1/4 cup water and put mixer on low for about a minute, add additional water (1 tablespoon at a time) just until dough is moist enough to hold together
- When dough is ready, form into two large disks and wrap each in seran wrap; refrigerate dough for at least one hour
- Once dough has been chilled, you can roll it into a thin layer; flour a large flat surface and place dough on top of that with an additional couple of tablespoons of flour on the dough; roll dough with a rolling pin into a large round layer about 1/4 inch thick**
- When ready, gently place the dough in a 9-inch pie dish and press down so that the dough is snug; trim any excess dough that comes over the edges
Note:
Make sure your butter and water are very cold to keep the dough from getting too warm while working
*Amount of water could vary depending on humidity levels
**I heard that you can skip the flour and roll the dough between two pieces of parchment paper
Source for pie crust: The Art & Soul of Baking
Crumb Topping:
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
- 2 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, melted
Cooking Directions
- While dough is chilling, prepare crumb topping
- In a large bowl, use a fork to stir together all dry ingredients; mix in butter until topping fills large clumps
- Place bowl in refrigerator to chill while preparing filling
Apple Filling:
Ingredients
- 1 dozen medium baking apples (I used cortland)
- Juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Cooking Directions
- When ready to bake your pies, pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
- To prepare filling, peel and thinly slice apples (~1/4 inch thick)
- Place apple slices in large bowl; add remaining ingredients and stir into apple mixture
- Pour half of apple mixture into each prepared pie crust
- With your hands, crumble topping over apples and press firmly to form a entirely cover pies
- Place pies in center of oven and bake for half hour; at this point, cover top of each pie lightly with tin foil to prevent topping from burning
- Continue baking pies for additional 45 minutes or until filling is bubbling and apples on the inside are tender
- Serve warm, preferably with vanilla ice cream
Source for filling and topping: Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey
Note:
Dough for pie crust and mixture for crumb topping can be prepared up to 1 day in advance; store in refrigerator until ready to make pie
Since this recipe makes two pies, you can bake one now and save one for another time. To freeze pie, prepare as directed without baking. Once put together, wrap tightly with tin foil and freeze for up to one month
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Do you prefer apple crisp or apple pie?
