Apple Crumb Pie

By Carolanne

This pie is great for beginners—no rolling of the crust necessary. As Jill says, “Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and life is good.” by Jill Blessman

Ingredients

• Crust:
• 2 Cups flour
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2/3 Cup oil (canola, corn or vegetable)
• 3 TB. milk
• 2 tsp. white or cider vinegar
• Filling:
• 6-8 assorted apples (Jill has used Jonathans, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Rome and McIntosh. Any good baking apples will do.)
• 1/2-1 Cup sugar (depending on the tartness of your apples)
• 1 tsp. PENZEYS CINNAMON
• 1 tsp. PURE VANILLA EXTRACT (Jill uses DOUBLE-STRENGTH)
• 1 TB. butter, cut into small pieces
• Topping:
• 3/4 Cup flour
• 1/2 Cup sugar
• 1/3 Cup butter (5 1/3 TB.), room temperature
• 1/2 tsp. PENZEYS CINNAMON

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 375°. Occasionally this pie can leak, so put your top oven rack in the middle of the oven and place the lower rack beneath it. Place a large piece of aluminum foil on the lower rack. In a 9-inch pie plate (or use a bowl if you prefer), combine the crust ingredients. Stir just enough to combine. Press into the bottom and up the sides of the plate; you should have plenty to get all the way up and over the rim. Make sure there are no gaps or cracks in the dough, because this is what keeps the juices in. Chill the crust while you prepare the filling.

For the filling, peel and thinly slice the apples. Place in a bowl with the sugar, CINNAMON and VANILLA. Mix well. Scoop the apples into the crust, heaping them up a bit in the center. If you feel you didn’t end up with enough apples to mound them up in the center, just slice up another 1-2 apples. Scatter the extra slices over the rest; no need to mix them in. Tuck the pieces of butter into the apples here and there.

For the topping, combine the flour, sugar, butter and CINNAMON in a bowl. Mix with a fork or your fingers until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Scatter the topping over the apples, making sure no apples are peeking out. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350° and bake another 45-60 minutes. Let the pie rest for at least ½ hour. The juices set up and it’s easier to slice.