First of all, let me just say: make up your mind already!!! I have never seen a weekly poll's lead change so many times. Geez! Just kidding :D! But yeah, the title pretty much sums it up: this apple crumb pie is the best apple dessert I have ever tasted. And that includes years and years of apple strudels I have eaten at various restaurants (apple desserts are my favorite kind). When I was eating a slice of it I thought "I could make money off of this pie". I always have some minor note to say about an apple pie, but I am speechless about this one. The recipe(s) are from various sources. Rating: 5+ out of 5.
Pâte Brisée recipe: adapted from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook
Ingredients: Makes enough for one single-crust 9-inch pie.
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
- ¼ cup ice water, plus more if needed
Instructions:- In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and salt. Add the butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some larger pieces remaining, about 10 seconds. To mix by hand, combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, the cut in butter with a pastry blender.
- With the machine running, add the ice water through the feed tube in a slow, steady stream, just until the dough holds together without being wet or sticky. Do not process more than 30 seconds. Test by squeezing a small amount of the dough together if it is still too crumbly, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Turn out dough onto a clean work surface. Place on a piece of plastic wrap. Shape into flattened disk. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight.
Apple Pie recipe: adapted from AllRecipes.com & Martha Stewart
Ingredients:- 1 recipe Pâte Brisée
(see recipe above)
- 1 recipe Crumbs
(see recipe below)
- 6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup white sugar
- ¼ cup water
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- 2 tablespoons honey
Instructions:- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- On a lightly floured piece of parchment paper, roll out Pâte Brisée dough to a 12-inch round. Fit dough into a 9-inch glass pie plate, pressing it into the edges. Trim to a ½-inch overhang all around. Chill pie shell and dough until firm, about 30 minutes.
- Melt the butter in saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add both sugars and water; bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer for 5 minutes, then take off heat and let it cool for a bit.
- Pour the liquid over the apples and stir to coat. Add the cinnamon, ginger, allspice and honey, and stir again. Fill pie-crust with the apples and glaze. Top with crumb topping.
- Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes, then lower temperature to 350°F and continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes. Transfer pie to a wire rack to cool completely.
(I like to eat it when it's warm but not hot) Crumbs Topping recipe: adapted from Pierre Hermé's Desserts
Ingrdients:- 5 tablespoons (2½ ounces) unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup sugar
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
Instructions:- Working with a rubber spatula, cream the butter in a small bowl until it is smooth. Stir in the sugar and then the flour. By the time you add the flour, you'll probably find it easier to mix the ingredients together with your fingers. Just blend the ingredients until their texture resembles fine meal.
Unbaked pie crust with apples drenched in a spiced, caramel-ish liquid.
Topped with Pierre Hermé's crumbs ;).
Baked and (somewhat) cooled.
This is the first piece I sliced. The pie was still warm so it didn't hold it all together. Thinking I would later slice another piece and photograph it, I wasn't prepared for the fact that the pie would be gone 2 hours later! So sorry, this is the best shot I've got. I ate it with vanilla ice cream, which is how apple strudels are served here. So incredibly yummy the warm pie with the cold ice cream!
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