Apple Crumble Pie Recipe, Links, and tips!
Links:
Sally’s Baking Addiction - Apple Pie with Chai Spices (for the apple filling recipe)
Sally’s Baking Addiction - Apple Crumble (for the crumble topping recipe)
Serious Eats - Science behind the Perfect Apple Pie (for the general fun of learning!)
King Arthur Flour - Pie Baking Guide (literally all you need to know about baking pie!)
The Gourmandaise School - Evan’s 3-2-1 All Butter Crust Recipe
Jaime’s Frankenstein’d Recipe that includes parts of these - as long as you use reputable sites like Sally’s, KAF, and Serious Eats, anything you do will work beautifully!
Crust Ingredients (ALL BUTTER)
12 ounces all-purpose flour
8 ounces unsalted butter (2 sticks), cubed into 1/4” pieces and frozen for at least 15 minutes
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 - 5 ounces ice water (I put 5 ounces of water in a measuring cup and then add 1-2 ice cubes)
Crust Directions:
1. Add the flour, sugar, and salt into a food processor and pulse a few times
2. Add the cubed butter and pulse 5-7 times
3. Add the ice water in three parts; pulse 3-4 times in between each. Depending on your environment if you live in a drier region you may need up to the full 5 ounces. If humid, 4.5 ounces should do
4. Place a long piece of plastic wrap down and pour the crust in the middle of the plastic wrap. It doesn’t have to come together - you can pat it together a bit but it isn’t necessary
5. Fold the plastic wrap together semi-tightly in a square/rectangle, then when firmly wrapped, use a rolling pin to “roll out” the dough into a square/rectangle, all the way to the edges of the plastic wrap. This saves a lot of effort!
6. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes
Crust Rolling Directions:
1. When the crust is chilled, take it out of the fridge and lightly flour your board. Lightly flour the top of the dough, and your rolling pin as well (not TOO much - if you use too much you risk drying out the dough!)
2. The dough can sense your fear! Be purposeful in all your movements - starting from the middle, roll out to the edge, then start back in the middle and roll toward you
3. Pick up the dough and make a 1/4 turn; start from the middle again and roll out to the edge, then start back in the middle and roll toward you
4. Repeat this step until the crust is approximately 3” larger around than your pie pan
5. Carefully lift the crust into your pie pan and trim the edges but only as long as they are still slightly overhang from the pan. Trimming too short will cause shrinkage
6. Crimp your crust in the pan but again - don’t crimp too short! Make sure the crimp is still just barely over the edge of the pan
7. For a single crust pie, preheat your oven to 375F and blind bake the crust for 15-20 minutes. To do so, place parchment paper down and fill 2/3 of the way with pie weights (they can also be dried rice/dried beans!)
Filling Ingredients:
3.5lbs apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thinly - but not mandolin thin! - use half firm-sweet and firm-tart. I uses Granny Smith for firm-tart and Ambrosia for firm-sweet
2.5 Tablespoons lemon juice (fun tip: buy in bulk and freeze the juice in ice cubes for later!)
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg (if you have the nut you can grate it)
1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/8 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper (this is usually 8-10 turns on your pepper grinder)
10 Tablespoons granulated white sugar
1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Filling Directions:
1. Combine all items in a bowl and let sit for 1 hour to soak
2. Hand place the apples into a colander and add the leftover liquid to a small saucepan
3. Cook the liquid over medium heat until thick and syrupy and water has been evaporated, about 4 minutes
Crumble Topping Ingredients:
1 cup walnuts, chopped finely
1/3 cup brown sugar (light or dark)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 1/4” pieces, cold
Crumble Topping Directions:
1. Add all (except the butter) ingredients together in a bowl
2. Add the cubed butter and rub between your fingers with the other ingredients until cohesive
Final Directions:
1. After the crust is blind baked, add the apples to the crust. I like to arrange them in circles but you can just throw them in, too!
2. Take the syrup and pour over the top of the apples
3. Add the crumble topping and pat down
4. Bake at 400F for 15 minutes, then turn down to 375F for 25 minutes
5. Cool on a wire rack
6. For the best results, chill overnight in the fridge first
