Apple Pie

I always bring the apple pie for Thanksgiving – or I have for the last 3 years. I’m the baker – it’s my job. However, I’ve been cheating. I’ve been buying frozen pie crust, because I was scared to make it from scratch. It’s not my fault – my mom repeatedly told me it was too much work to make pie crust, and often doesn’t taste as good as store bought.

She’s a liar.

It was so fucking easy. Sorry, Mom. Maybe you just didn’t have a good recipe… or maybe it was because you were using shortening instead of butter. Shortening isn’t food! I made a butter crust, and it turned out great! Well, we haven’t actually eaten it yet… but it looks great. I’m sure it’ll be fine.

I’m also a big fan of a crumble topping – because, I mean, duh. It’s literally half butter. And I get to use my hands to mush it all together. Win, win.

Back when I didn’t actually know how to cook or bake, I would bring stuff to share anyway. Or, even worse, I’d invite my mom and sister over for dinner. My sister often didn’t eat much. Mom was a little bit better at hiding the fact that it tasted horrible. The first time I brought apple pie to Thanksgiving a few years ago, my sister whispered, in shock, to her husband, “It’s good.” It was so validating.

So, cross your fingers for me that this pie tastes as good as it looks.

Pie Crust

1 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick cold butter, chopped into cubes

Approx. 6 tablespoons ice water

Mix flour, sugar, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Add butter, and mash it in with a fork until it forms coarse crumbs. You want there to be plenty of butter clumps remaining, so don’t mix it too well. Slowly mix in water, one tablespoon at a time, until it holds together. Roll it up into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for as least 2 hours (I left it overnight). When you’re ready to bake your pie, roll out the dough onto a floured surface, and press into pie pan.

Apple Pie with Crumb Topping

Topping:

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 stick cold butter, chopped into cubes

Filling:

5-7 large apples, or 8-10 small apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thin

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 450 degrees, and place oven rack on lowest position. Mix the dry filling ingredients in a small bowl. Toss apple slices with lemon juice in a large bowl, then mix in the dry ingredients. Toss everything together, and layer apples in the pie pan, mounding them more in the middle. Mix all topping ingredients together, and mash the cold butter in with your hands until it forms course crumbs. Again, you want some chunks of butter to remain, so don’t be overzealous. Pat topping evenly over apples. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350 and bake for another 45 minutes. If the top browns too quickly, loosely drape a sheet of tinfoil over the top.

Top with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream, and eat the whole thing right out of the pan. I won’t judge you.