Peppercorn Press

Apple Crumb Pie

Apple pie was always a favorite in our house growing up.  My parents had an agreement — Dad would peel the apples and my mother would then make the double crust pies.  I don’t think they have ever broken this arrangement. 

Apple pies are still one of the family favorites, and while our filling has evolved over the years, and as adults we have added a crumb topping as well, one thing has stayed the same…  We still use the Classic Crisco Pie Crust.

What ever crust recipe you like to use, we think you will love this Apple Pie recipe with crumb topping.

Classic Crisco Pie Crust (from the Crisco website)

1 1/3  cups Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose Flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ stick well-chilled Crisco® All-Vegetable Shortening Sticks OR 1/2 cup well-chilled Crisco® All-Vegetable Shortening

3 to 6 tablespoons ice cold water

Blend flour and salt in medium mixing bowl.  Cut chilled shortening into 1/2-inch cubes. Cut in chilled shortening cubes into flour mixture, using a pastry blender, in an up and down chopping motion, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some small pea-sized pieces remaining. Sprinkle half the maximum recommended amount of ice-cold water over the flour mixture. Using a fork, stir and draw flour from bottom of bowl to the top, distributing moisture evenly into flour. Press chunks down to bottom of bowl with fork. Add more water by the tablespoon, until dough is moist enough to hold together when pressed together.

TIP:  Test dough for proper moistness by squeezing a marble-sized ball of dough in your hand. If it holds together firmly, do not add any additional water. If the dough crumbles, add more water by the tablespoonful, until dough is moist enough to form a smooth ball when pressed together.

Shape dough into a ball for single piecrust. Flatten ball into 1/2-inch thick round disk.

TIP: For ease in rolling, wrap dough in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes or up to 2 days.

Roll dough from center outward with steady pressure on a lightly floured work surface (or between two sheets of wax or parchment paper) into a circle 2-inches wider than pie plate for the bottom crust. Transfer dough to pie plate by loosely rolling around rolling pin. Center the rolling pin over the pie plate, and then unroll, easing dough into pie plate.

Trim edges of dough leaving a 3/4-inch overhang. Fold edge under. Flute dough as desired.  

Crumb Topping

Ingredients

½ cup very cold butter cut into small chunks

½ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup all purpose flour

Preparation

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the chopping blade, pulse all three ingredients until crumbly.  Set aside.

Apple Filling

Ingredients

6-7 pie apples such as Winesap or Empire apples peeled and sliced

Juice and zest from one orange

¾ cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/8  teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preparation

Place the peeled and sliced apples in a large bowl.  Add the orange juice and the orange zest.  Toss to coat the apples with the juice.  Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. 

Drain the excess juice from the apples.  Pour the sugar mixture over the apples and toss to coat the apples.

Arrange the coated apples in unbaked piecrust.  Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the apples.  Bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes until golden brown and apples are tender.  Check pie half way trough the baking time and cover the edges of the crust with foil if necessary to prevent burning.

Allow pie to cool to room temperature to allow any juices to settle into the apples.