A Recipe For Your Weekend: Classic Apple Pie with Oat Crumb Topping

Excerpt from www.littlekitchenbigflavors.com.

Apple pie slice à la mode.

Can you feel it? It’s Fall. It’s here. Gone are the days of the 9 PM sunsets and mornings wearing short sleeve shirts and flipflops.  Turn off the air conditioners and pull out the jackets.  Because the cooler weather is here to stay.  Can you smell it?  I can’t pinpoint where that Fall smell comes from, but I do know it’s there.  Something to do with the leaves falling from the trees and the dry, crisp air, I think.  So, pull out your pumpkin and spice-scented candles.  Get this pie in the oven and let the whole house fill with the comforting aroma of sugar, cinnamon and apples. It’s time for pumpkin cappuccino and Octoberfest beers.  The Halloween costumes are already lining the store aisles.  Apples are fully grown and ready for picking out at the local farms.  And, every year, we head out to Becker Farms to pick a bushel of apples for pie making.  Except this year, because of our wacky spring weather, only 10%  of their apple crop grew.  So, while pick-your-own apples weren’t an option, we still headed out there to snag some of their pre-picked McIntosh apples.  Let the pie-making begin.

Peel, core, dice.

This is the same apple pie recipe that my Mom has been making for years.  Except, unlike her, I make my own crust.  But, you could absolutely swap out homemade for store-bought.  This has been my mother’s approach to pie crust for years (to my Grandmother’s dismay), and I promise that every slice is still promptly gobbled up.

Pie filling in the unbaked crust.

Do you even need me to sell you on how perfect apple pie is?  Very simply one of the best all-american desserts around.  And this variation, with the oat crumb topping, is my favorite.  It’s like a delicious cross between apple pie and coffee cake.  Using plenty of cinnamon, sugar, and butter.  It is the best ending to any meal and a great beginning to any day.  I love how the juices from the apple combine with the granulated sugar to form a syrup that coats the bottom layer of crust.  So, while the crust is flaky and crisp, it’s also sugary and soft.  And, who doesn’t love a crumb topping?  The crunch adds a complementary texture to each apple-sogged bite.  And, it’s lot easier than the whole lattice crust method, and still looks just as lovely on the plate.  Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and settle in to Fall.

Finished apple with with oat crumb topping.

Classic Apple Pie with Crumb Topping
Serves 8. Prep time: 2 hours, 30 minutes. Cook time: 50 minutes.

Ingredients

• Apple Filling
  • 8 medium McIntosh apples
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• Crust
  • 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup butter (one stick, cut into 1/2 inch pieces)
  • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• Oat Crumb Topping
  • 1 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cups quick cooking oats
  • 1/2 cup butter (one stick, cut into 1/2 inch pieces)

Directions

Crust

1. In a food processor fitted with a pastry blade, blend flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder together. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.
2. Mix water and apple cider vinegar together, add to processor. Pulse until moist clumps form. Keep pulsing (adding more water, one teaspoon at a time, if mixture is too dry) until dough just forms into a ball. Flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for one hour.

Oat Crumb Topping

1. In a mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, and oats. Then add butter pieces. Use fingers to pinch the mixture together until it resembles crumbs. Set aside.

Apple Filling

1. Roll out crust dough into a 13 inch round. Transfer to a greased 9 inch glass pie dish. Fold excess dough over, and press to seal the seams. Then, use a fork to crimp edges around the rim of the pie dish. Freeze crust for 20 minutes.
2. Peel, core, and slice the apples into 1/2 inch thick slices. Toss with cinnamon and sugar.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle 1/4 of oat crumb topping mixture on bottom of unbaked pie crust. Pile apple filling on top, mounding in the center. Press remaining crumb topping onto the apple filling.
4. Bake for 45 minutes.
5. Turn temperature down to 325 and continue baking 20-30 minutes more until topping is brown and filling is bubbling. Tent pie with foil if the topping is browning too quickly. Cool before serving.

Post, photos and recipe courtesy of Mrs. Flavors at the local blog Little Kitchen Big Flavors. You can find the original post and many more delicious seasonal recipes at littlekitchenbigflavors.com.