This was not my original plan for 4th of July dessert. I was going to do a cheesecake which had fruit that made it look like an American flag. My brother is not a fan of cheesecake. My brother is not a fan of cream cheese (I don't know what's wrong with him). So I was a good sister and I changed it to apple crumble pie because I knew he liked that and I really just wanted all the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth to stop.
Since I wasn't initially going to make this, I hadn't taken my usual apple crumble pie recipe with me. I had to find something new, and I'm glad I did because I found an amazing pie crust recipe! This crust is SO EASY anyone can make it without failing! I promise!!! So here you have it. The pie crust...
Butter Flaky Pie Crust
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, chilled and diced
1/4 cup very cold water
1. In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in water, a tablespoon at a time, until mixture forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
2. Roll dough out to fit a 9 inch pie plate. Place crust in plate, press dough evenly into the bottom and sides of the pie plate.
Easy right? I will say this. I didn't think to pull the crust out of the fridge so that I could give it time to soften a bit before rolling out, so I stuck it in the microwave on the very lowest power setting for about 15 seconds or so. You don't want the dough to get warm because then the butter pieces will start melting and it just won't bake right. Also, this is a single pie crust recipe, just double it if you need a crust to cover the filling :)
And here's the apple crumble part!
Apple Crumble Pie
Pastry for a single-crust 9-inch pie
6 cups chopped, peeled tart apples
2 TB butter, melted
2 TB sour cream
4 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 TB all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
TOPPING:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cold butter
(For the topping, I did brown sugar instead of regular granulated sugar, because a crumble is just not a crumble to me unless brown sugar is used in it. You could do it either way and it will be fine)
1. Line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry; flute edges. In a large bowl, combine the apples, butter, sour cream, lemon juice, sugar, flour cinnamon and nutmeg. Spoon into pastry shell. For topping, combine flour and sugar in a bowl; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over filling.
2. Bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes or until the filling is bubbly and apples are tender. Cool on a wire rack.
I think I cooled mine for about an hour and it was perfect for eating by then.
Doesn't that look delicious? You could probably just replace the 1/2 tsp each of cinnamon and nutmeg with a whole teaspoon of apple pie spice.
I'm going to try and explain through pictures, the easiest way I have found to get a pie crust into a pie plate (You might be thinking 'There's not any possible way that's easier than trying to pick it up with my hands and having it fall apart! Blasphemy!' But this is probably a technique you already learned from your mom. We're not reinventing the wheel here). ANYWAYS! Roll it out flat. Duh...
Put the rolling pin in in the center and pull the dough over it.
Set the pin in the middle of the plate, so that half the dough is laying in it, and roll the pin out so that the dough ends up doing this:
See? I don't know how many times 'easy as pie' was referenced to while baking this thing. Really it was a ridiculous amount.
Here it is before baking.
And AFTER! I don't know that there's much better in life than a good crumble pie...
Source: www.allrecipes.com