Apple Crumble Pie
For this recipe, you’ll need a single-crust pastry for a 9-inch pie. With the help of my friend Lovella, we’ve created an easy and detailed tutorial for how to make a pie crust. Alternatively, you can purchase Krause Farm’s premade pie crust. They come two rounds to a package, but as this is a large pie, I recommend using 1 ½ rounds to roll out your pie crust.
I prefer to use a glass pie plate to see whether the bottom crust is brown. Bake your pie for at least as long as the recipe calls for, as it’s pretty hard to over-bake an apple pie as long as you protect the crust. You want the filling to be bubbly and the apples to be fork-tender.
Apple Crumble Pie
Ingredients
Filling
8 cups peeled, cored, and thinly sliced apples – I prefer to use a mix of ½ Granny Smith and ½ sweeter apples such as Ambrosia or Gala
3/4 cup granulated sugar (you can substitute with ½ white and ½ brown sugar if you prefer)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
¼ tsp. nutmeg, preferably freshly grated
Crumble Topping
1 cup flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar or dark brown sugar, packed
½ cup butter, cold
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Transfer the pie dough to a floured board. Roll the dough until it’s 2″ larger in diameter than the top edge of the 9-inch pie pan. Transfer the dough to the pan, and flute the edges.
Mix sugar, flour and spices together in a small bowl. Place sliced apples in a large mixing bowl, sprinkle with lemon juice and then add flour/sugar/spice mix and gently stir to combine.
Filling
Layer a handful or two of apple mixture into the pie dish at a time, spreading and pressing into an even layer and turning slices flat (this will help ensure you’ll fit all of them in). Sprinkle any remaining juice or flour over the top.
Crumble Topping
Combine the flour, brown sugar, and butter in a medium bowl. Using a pastry cutter, fork or your hands, blend the mixture together until coarse crumbs form. Squeeze the mixture into large clumps until all the butter is absorbed and your crumb topping comes together. Spread this mixture evenly over the top of the apples. This makes a lot of crumble, so pat it down as best as you can to ensure it stays in place.
Place the pie on a baking sheet to catch any drips, bake at 425°F for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350°F and bake for an additional 30-45 minutes until the crumb and crust are golden. Start checking for doneness after 30 minutes. As oven temperatures vary, it may take up to an extra hour to bake. If the crust and/or crumb begins to brown too quickly, cover the pie loosely with foil and/or a pie shield. Make sure to bake the pie long enough that the mixture is bubbly to ensure that the bottom crust is cooked. Since you are baking the apples raw, they will release juice which can make the bottom crust slightly soggy. Positioning the rack to the lowest position and baking the pie long enough will ensure that the bottom crust bakes properly.
Remove the pie from the oven and cool to lukewarm before slicing.
