Football Apple Crumb

The neighbors invited us over to watch one of the NFL Playoff games this past weekend, so I offered to bring this little delight over. In actuality, my husband secured our invitation with promises of pie and his homemade guacamole. It did not disappoint! My only complaint is that the crumb topping didn't look quite right. It tasted great, but it didn't clump and golden up the way it was supposed to. I suspect it's because I tried mixing up the topping without the nuts first, and then adding in the nuts once it was already pretty well blended. Next time, I'll stick to the instructions. Blend ALL the topping ingredients together with your fingertips.

Football Apple Crumb Pie
filling:
5 large (larger than fist) Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, thickly sliced
1 large Stayman apple, peeled, cored, thickly sliced
1/4c. fresh orange juice
1/4 c. white sugar, heaped
1 t. ground cinnamon
1 T. arrowroot starch
1/4 c. applesauce

topping:
3/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. (packed) golden brown sugar
3/4 c. chopped walnuts
6 T. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 t. salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a pie dish with homemade pie crust. Prick all over with a fork. Stick in the freezer for about 10 minutes while you preheat the oven to 375F. Place pie weights in crust and bake for 12-15 min. Remove pie weights and continue baking for another 12-15 min, until the crust is golden brown.
Mix all filling ingredients together in a large bowl. Pour into pie crust. Using your fingers, blend ALL the topping ingredients together until well-mixed, moist, and crumbly. Heap on top of pie filling. Bake at 350F for about one and a half hours. Crumb topping will be nice and brown, but not burned and apples will be soft when pierced with a fork.

Current Pie Tally: 72

New Neighbor Apple Crumb Pie

I don't even know what variety of apple I used for this pie - maybe Honeycrisp or Jonagold. Whatever local variety was available at the co-op. At any rate, they were not recommended pie apples and I ended up cooking the pie for more than twice the time advised by the recipe. Regardless, the end result was deliciously sweet and gooey and I narrowly avoided burning the crumb topping. In fact, the above photo is of the half-cooked pie. I took it for posterity in case throwing it back in the oven proved to be disastrous.

Current Pie Tally: 61

Christmas Apple Crumb

Christmas Apple Crumb Pie
filling:
5 lbs. Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, thickly sliced
1 T. fresh lemon juice
2 1/2 T. unsalted butter, finely diced
1/3 c. sugar
1 t. ground cinnamon
1 T. arrowroot starch
1/4 c. homemade baby food applesauce

topping:
3/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. (packed) golden brown sugar
3/4 c. chopped walnuts
6 T. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 t. salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a pie dish with homemade pie crust. Prick all over with a fork. Stick in the freezer for about 10 minutes while you prepare the filling and topping. With the exception of the butter, mix all filling ingredients together in a large bowl. Pour into pie crust. Dot with butter. Using your fingers, blend the topping ingredients together until well-mixed, moist, and crumbly. Heap on top of pie filling. Bake at 350F for about one hour. Crumb topping will be nice and brown, but not burned and apples will be soft when pierced with a fork.

Current Pie Tally: 43