By special request - Apple Pie for Thanksgiving

My friend Ann stopped me at shul yesterday and asked me for the recipe for my Apple Crumb pie so she can make it for Thanksgiving. This is a real winner, in the literal sense of the word. A few years ago, my community organized an apple pie contest, and this pie won first prize.

While there area few stages involved, including making your own pie crust, you don’t have to blind bake it, so it’s not too long in the preparation and there’s nothing too complicated to do! Serve this warm with vanilla ice cream, and watch your guests melt! I prefer making this with butter, as it always tastes better, so only use margarine if you need the pie to be parev.

(Sorry no picture yet – I haven’t made this for a while. I will update this week)

Happy Thanksgiving, all you Americans out there.

APPLE CRUMB PIE

Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F)

Crust

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup unsalted butter/margarine cut into small pieces

3 tablespoons cold water

How to do it

Mix flour and salt. Using a pastry blender (or two knives) cut the butter/margarine into the flour until you get a rough dry texture – like crumbs. Add the water one tablespoon at a time mixing it in with a spoon. Add just enough water to make the particles stick together (Note: don’t use too much water – they butter will be enough to keep the dough together. At the end, even if you think there isn’t enough water, just gather all the remaining dry ingredients into the dough with your hands to make a ball, but don’t handle it too much as this will harm the flakiness of the pastry later on.)

Press the dough into a 9 inch Pyrex pie dish, or any similar size low-sided dish. Work the dough across the bottom of the dish outward from the middle, evenly spreading it down onto the dish by working it with your fingers. Then work the dough up the sides of the dish, until the remaining dough rises above the sides. The dough should not be too thick (about 3-4mm thick – but you don’t have to measure!). Trim the overlapping dough by running a knife along the rim of the dish, and neaten up the edges with your finger so the dough is smooth.

Set aside.

Apple Filling

Ingredients

5 cups peeled, cored and very thinly sliced green apples (yellow apples also work)

½ cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

1/3 C brown sugar, firmly packed

¾ cup all purpose flour

6 tablespoons unsalted butter/ margarine

How to do it

Combine sugar and cinnamon and apples. (Note: Make sure you slide the apples very thinly – no thicker than 2mm – to ensure that they bake through properly. It takes a little longer but it’s worth the extra effort) Mix well so that all the apple slices are separated and covered with the sugar mixture. Pour apples into the prepared pie dish.

In another bowl, mix the brown sugar and flour. Cut the butter into this mixture (as with the pastry) until the mixture is crumbly. (Note: If it starts clumping together, don’t worry, just separate the clumpy bits into smaller pieces when you spread it on the apples. It may not look perfect, but it will taste good.) Sprinkle the crumbs evenly over the filling.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. You can test that they apples have cooked by sticking a toothpick into an apple and making sure it’s not still hard.

If possible, serve it when it’s still warm. It also reheats really well. Enjoy!

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