Crumb-Style Apple Pie

Okay, so where shall I start? How about with an apple pie recipe that I have been making on a weekly basis for the last couple of months? It's a recipe I found in my Cooking Light magazine (Oct 2007 issue, "Susan Bracket's First Prize Apple Pie")- an award-winning, delicious, crumb-style apple pie. My husband can't get enough of it!

I experimented to see which type of apples tasted the best. I tried Jonagold, Fuji, and Gala (those were on sale!)-- but not Pink Lady as called for in the original recipe. We liked the Gala apples the best. I will try the recipe out with Pink Lady apples in the future (and provide an update when I do), but for now, I'm sticking with Gala apples.

The pie is the perfect balance of sweet and tart and the crust is thin and crisp. The pie holds up rather well to reheating, but fresh from the oven is best, of course. Put a dallop of vanilla ice cream, and you have the best comfort dessert ever!

Crumb-Style Apple Pie

What I do first is prepare the crust. While the crust is in the refrigerator, I peel and slice the apples and then make the topping. Once the topping is done, I mix the apples with the sugar-filling. It takes roughly 30 min for me to do all that-- the amount of time the crust needs to be in the refrigerator. I'll then assemble the crust into the pie dish, add the apple mix, then the topping. I find that the longer the apples and the sugar-mix is together, more liquid appears at the bottom of the bowl. I don't really like that, which is why I mix the sugar and apples together towards the end of the pie assembly.

Crust:
1 1/2 C. All Purpose-Flour
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Baking Powder
2 Tbs. Chilled Butter (cut into small pieces)
2 Tbs. Vegetable Shortening
1 tsp. Vinegar
7 Tbs. Ice Water

Filling:
1/3 C. Granulated Sugar
2 Tbs. All-Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Ground Nutmeg
1/8 tsp. Salt
7 C. Thinly sliced peeled Gala Apples
Cooking Spray

Topping:
6 Tbs. All-Purpose Flour
3 Tbs. Brown Sugar
3 Tbs. Chilled Butter

1) To prepare crust: Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Cut in butter and shortening with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle surface with vinegar and ice water, 1 Tbs. at a time, tossing with a fork until dough is moist and crumbly (do not form a ball). Gently press dough into a 4-in circle on 2 sheets of overlapping heavy-duty plastic wrap, and cover with 2 additional sheets of overlapping plastic wrap. Roll the dough, still covered, into a 12-in circle. Chill the dough 30 min or until the plastic wrap can be easily removed.
2) Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
3) To prepare filling: Combine granulated sugar, and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a small bowl. Sprinkle sugar mixture over apple; toss well to coat.
4) Remove top sheets of plastic wrap from dough circle; fit dough, plastic wrap side up, into a 10-in deep-dish pie plate coated with cooking spray, letting dough extend over edge of plate. Remove remaining plastic wrap. Trim off the extra dough with a knife. Spoon filling into crust.
5) To prepare topping: Combine flour and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle topping mixture over apple mixture. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees (do not remove pie from oven). Bake an additional 40 minutes.

Yield: 8 servings
Adapted from: Cooking Light (Oct. 2007)