APPLE PIE WITH CRUMB TOPPING

This crumb and pecan topped pie is best served while it’s still warm and bubbly. I used a combination of granny smith and gala apples for this one. Macintosh and Rome apples work well too. Just pick what you like or what looks good in the market.

INGREDIENTS:

-Apples, about 8
-Pie Crust, make your own or cheat like I do and use the refrigerated kind
-Brown Sugar, about 3/4 cup
-Cinnamon. a teaspoon or so
-Corn Starch, 1/4 cup or so
-Vanilla
-Flour, 1 and 1/4 cup
-White Sugar, 3/4 cup
-Butter, 2 sticks plus a bit more for buttering the pan
-Pecans, about a cup

DIRECTIONS:

Butter the pie pan and gently press the crust into it. Set it aside.

Peel the apples.

Core and slice them. This gadget makes it much faster and easier.

Combine the apples, the brown sugar…

…the cinnamon and the corn starch. Stir gently until the apples are well coated.

Spread the apples into crust. Sprinkle with a bit of vanilla. Cut about half a stick of butter into thin pats and arrange them over the top.

Combine the flour and white sugar in a bowl.

Using a pastry blender or a fork, cut in the remaining butter. Mix in pecans.

Sprinkle the topping over the apples. It’ll be a lot so you’ll have to mound it on top and be careful to keep it from spilling over.

Place the pie in the bottom half of the oven and bake at 350 for 75 to 90 minutes. You might want to put a baking sheet beneath it to catch any drips as it starts to bubble. Remove it from the oven and let it cool on a rack

The day I made this pie was quite rushed and I didn’t let it bake or cool quite long enough so it looks more like cobbler here but it still tasted delicious. Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream on the side.