My Very Favorite Apple Crumb Pie

Lainey6605's Note:

This is my all-time favorite recipe for apple pie. The crumb topping is so delicious and the apple filling flavor is just right. You will need a deep dish pie pan for this. The crumb topping will seem like a lot when you're putting it on but it turns out wonderful when baked. I bake my pie on a cookie sheet, lined with aluminum foil. You can use your favorite pie crust for this or try "My No Roll Pie Crust", one of my favorites for one-crust pies.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Serves: 12

Yield: 1.0 pie

• 1 unbaked deep-dish pie pastry (9 inch)

Crumb topping

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• ground cloves, pinch
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces and chilled

Filling

• 6 (2 3/4 lb) gala apples (peeled, cored and cut into 1/2 inch dices) or 6 (2 3/4 lb) golden delicious apples (peeled, cored and cut into 1/2 inch dices)
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ground cloves, pinch
• 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar (optional)

Directions:

1. Arrange a rack in the lowest slot of your oven.
2. Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
3. Prepare pie crust and fit into a 9-inch deep dish pie plate.
4. Refrigerate until you are ready to add filling.
5. For crumb topping, combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and cloves in bowl.
6. With pastry blender or your fingertips, cut in butter until crumbly.
7. For filling, in a large bowl, toss together apples, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and cloves.
8. Spoon filling into pie shell, mounding slightly in the center.
9. Top filling with crumb topping.
10. Place on foil-lined baking sheet.
11. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.
12. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F; bake 30 minutes more, or until fruit is tender.
13. Loosely tent pie with aluminum foil during last 20 minutes of baking.
14. Let the pie cool for at least 1 1/2 hours.
15. This pie can be made a day ahead.
16. Cover pie and store at room temperature.
17. To serve, dust with confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Reviews

[JeannieDee]

Overall, this was simple to make and really good. It wasn't the prettiest of pies but I will definitely make it again. I used a frozen deep dish pie crust just to clear some space from our freezer. I used about 8-9 small gala apples(sliced not diced), a tad more cinnamon and no cloves. I would cut the topping in half next time because it was too much and was falling off the pie before baking. I threw away about 3/4 to 1 cup of it. Ha! I seriously just realized I only used 6 Tbsp butter thinking that 3/4 cup was 3/4 of the stick. We didn't even miss it but the topping was a bit powdery which I thought was from using a food processor. I think I'll try increasing to the whole stick to see if that makes it more crumbly than powdery.Make sure you use foil on top of your sheet pan during baking. The disposable pie plate is actually stuck to the foil with no hope of removing easily (hmm... maybe I'll use the non-stick foil next time). Again, overall, it was simple to make and really good.

[Karen67]

I really like this pie a lot, and only gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because I think I would like it better if it didn't have the cloves in it. I did just down the butter to about 6 tbsp and the rest of the crumb toppings by 1/2. I also added some powdered milk into the crumb topping for some added calcium while sticking with a flour like consistency (and it worked great). I also was using a store bought deep dish crust, which is nowhere as big as a my deep dish pie plates, so I ended up splitting the filling and toppings into two slightly skimpy pies. Next time I think I would do 1 1/2 of the fruit filling, and a full recipe of the topping for 2 pies, and I think it would be the perfect amount for store bought crusts.

[Tonda]

I can't believe this recipe doesn't have more reviews. It is by far one of the best pies I have ever made and eaten. I used 1 1/2 tbl. apple pie spice for the spices listed. Was fantastic. It looks picture perfect and tastes phenominal.