Recipe: Apple Crumb Pie

I went apple picking last weekend in Poolesville, MD (near Rocklands Farm), and I ended up with close to 20 pounds of honeycrisp apples! So of course I had to bake an apple pie! I found this recipe on the website of Mel's Kitchen. It's not too hard, but I did have to peel, core, and slice at least six apples!

Ingredients

Pie Crust:
• 1 single crust pie dough ( no-fail sour cream pie crust)
Apple Filling:
• 3 pounds apples [I sort of went by eyeballing how many apple slices would fit into a pie]
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about 2 lemons)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup sour cream (optional)
Crumb Topping:
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces

Directions

1. Make the pie crust according to directions, roll it out into a 9-inch pie plate and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before filling with the apples.
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Peel, core and slice all the apples to about 1/4-inch thick. It doesn't have to be exact - just try to get them all about the same thickness so the apples cook evenly.
3. Toss the apples in a bowl with the lemon juice, sugar, and cinnamon, then stir in the sour cream, if using. Scoop the apple mixture into the chilled crust.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Add the butter pieces and cut in with a fork, your fingers or a pastry blender until the mixture is coarsely combined and makes a streusel-like consistency.
5. Lightly press the crumb mixture on top of the apples. Place the pie on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake for 60-90 minutes until the apples are tender and the crust is golden brown. If the crust edges are getting too dark during the last 30 minutes of baking, you can cover them with foil for the remainder of baking.
6. Serve warm or at room temperature. This pie is divine with a bit of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

And of course I made my own changes. I used a store-bought Pillsbury frozen crust that I simply rolled out into the pie plate. And I only had one lemon, but I think it was sufficient. 60-90 minutes is quite the range, so I went in the middle and baked my pie for 70 minutes. I thought the streusel was annoying to make, but I haven't found much on buying pre-made streusel (other than this website, which doesn't give me many details on how much is in one order, etc.). I will say that, for next time, I'll try adding other spices like nutmeg rather than using just cinnamon; I didn't use the sour cream, so maybe I'd try that another time, too. The pie definitely tastes better the next day when the apples have had time to absorb all the spices!

Original Recipe Source: adapted from a 2007 Real Simple magazine (used a completely different pie crust, omitted walnuts and raisins, used salted butter in the topping and a different variety of apples)