Apple Crumb Pie

We all thought a double crust apple pie was good. What about an apple crumb pie, though? An apple crumb pie is every child's, and adults, dream. The crumbs are just delicious balls of sugar and butter. Granted flour too, but who cares about that. It's the sugar that satisfies our taste buds, and the butter that leaves us with a warm melt in your mouth feeling. 

For this pie, I still used my No Fail Pie Crust even though it left me with half a ball of dough. With Thanksgiving coming up, though, I don't really care and I could also always use it some other time, but for now it will be turned into a pumpkin pie. Make sure you keep it in your fridge if you're not going to use it the same day or aren't going to make a double crust pie, or a lattice pie. Just know, you will have left over dough when making a crumb pie. 

The apples I used for this pie were Granny Smith apples. They were superb! Out of the apples I have used they are my favorite, and Granny Smith apples are my favorite kind of apples anyway. 

I have no tips or pieces of advice for this pie. Except maybe to have patience when making your crumbs. It is a little tricky.

Recipe for Crust
3 cups flour
1 1\2 cups butter
1 teaspoon salt

1 egg
6 Tablespoons water
1 Tablespoon vinegar 

Directions
Combine first three ingredients. Beat next three ingredients, and pour
into flour mixture. Mix well.

Recipe for Crumbs
1\2 cup flour
1\2 sugar
3 Tablespoons butter ( you may need more)

Directions
1. In a medium bowl, stir together all-purpose flour and brown sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Recipe for Apple Crumb Pie
Prep Time 30 minutes
Bake 1 hour
Oven 375 F
Serves 8


1 recipe no fail pie crust 
6 cups thinly sliced, peeled apples ( Any apples are good, but Granny Smith is delicious.)
1 teaspoon lemon juice ( This is optional. I did it for my apple crumb pie, and it tasted good. It helped with making the apples taste tart as well as sweet.)
3\4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
1\2 teaspoon cinnamon
1\2 teaspoon nutmeg
Crumb topping ( Recipe above.) 

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375. Make crust, and split into two halves. Unroll one half into a 9 inch pie plate. 

2. If desired, sprinkle apples with lemon juice. In a large bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add apple slices; gently toss until coated.

3. Transfer apple mixture to the pie crust lined pie plate. Sprinkle with crumb topping and crimp edges as desired. To prevent over browning  cover edge of pie with foil. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil. Bake for 20 minutes more or until apples are tender and filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack. To serve warm, let pie cool at least 2 hours.

And, As I Always Love to Say... Enjoy

Peach Pie with Lattice Crust

    My second test subject for my pie journey was peach pie. Peach pie is not a pie you see often in stores. You mostly hear about peach cobbler or some kind of peaches n' cream candy. No one knows why peach pie is not as common as say apple, or strawberry-rhubarb. My journey, though, will be covering all pies.

   The first thing about this pie that I will note is that I did use frozen peaches. I would have preferred fresh, but only for the reason that I like fresh foods better than frozen. The second thing to note is that instead of using the crust recipe that my cookbook calls for, I used my mom's recipe which she got from her midwife friend. I have come to find that this recipe is very good, and I have decided to use it for all of my pies. I will post the recipe for it with any other pie recipes I post in the future. One thing about this pie crust you must know is that it is enough for a double crust pie, a pie with a lattice crust, or two pies with no crusts on top. It works out well and is very simple.

   A lattice design is a very delicate procedure, but it is well worth it when the pie is done and ready to serve. A lattice design is probably, so far, one of my favorite crusts for a pie. It is just so pretty. I have two tips for this pie. Tip #1: Sprinkle a little flour on the dough, rolling pin or surface to help roll it out. I have found that to be helpful. Tip #2: Roll out your dough on parchment paper. This will help with the dough not sticking to the surface on which you rolled out the dough..

   Now all I have to say is. Lets get cooking....

Peach Pie with Lattice Crust.

Never Fail Pie Crust
3 cups flour
1 1\2 cups butter
1 teaspoon salt

1 egg
6 Tablespoons water
1 Tablespoon vinegar

Directions
Combine first three ingredients. Beat next three ingredients, and pour
into flour mixture. Mix well.

For a Lattice Top
Half of your pastry dough.

Directions
1: Roll out your pastry dough to size of pie pan, and cut into strips. Lay 7 pastry strips on top of the filling 1 inch apart.
2: Fold alternate pastry strips back halfway. Place a pastry strip in the center of the pie across the strips already in place.
3: Unfold the folded strips; fold back the other alternate strips. Place another pastry strip across the first set of strips parallel to the strip in the center. Repeat the weaving steps until lattice covers the filling. (One side is done at a time. Also it possible you may have some strips left. One tip I do have about this is to crimp the edges of the pie crust together to make a nice finished look to your pie.)

Recipe for Peach Pie
Prep Time: 35 minutes
Bake: 55 minutes
Oven: 375 F
Serves: 8

1\2 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons quick cooking tapioca
1\4 teaspoon cinnamon
1\4 teaspoon nutmeg
6 cups thinly slice, peeled peaches or frozen peach slices
(Recipe for pie crust above)

1. For filling, in a large bowl stir together sugar, tapioca, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add peaches. Gently toss until coated. Let mixture stand for 20 minutes or 45 if using frozen peaches.

2. Meanwhile prepare dough. Line a 9 inch pie plate with half of dough.

3. Stir mixture. Transfer peach mixture to pastry lined pie plate. Keep the edges of the bottom pie crust long so that you can crimp the edges around the lattice strips. (Lay the lattice strips on filling as directed above)

4. To prevent edges from over browning, cove edges with foil. Bake in a 375 oven for 25 minutes (or 50 minutes for frozen fruit). Remove foil, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes more or until pastry is gold and the filing is starting to bubble.

5. Cool pie on a wire rack.

As I love to say..... Enjoy!

Double Crust Apple Pie

Nothing in the world seems better than apple pie. The smell, the look, the taste is everything to us.
This apple pie started a long process for me of learning how to make pies and become really good at it.
I will make a different kind of pie once every week. I am going to record my progress on my blogs as well as
posting pictures of them and the recipes. Many people find pie making hard. It can be, but with practice and patience I will over come this hardness. I do have to say, though, that the hardest part of the pie is the crust. The crust is something that can change from a flaky perfect shell to a hard tough shell in a matter of seconds. The reason for this is overworking the dough for the crust. The crust for my pie was not perfect, but thankfully it did not turn out to be really tough. My family were my so called guinea pigs for my experiment. My dad told my mother that the crust was amazing and the taste was just perfect. He was not home when the pie was made. He had no idea that it took me almost twice as long to make the crust than it should have. I was thankful for this praise, but I knew the truth. To my mind and taste buds the crust was not amazing. It tasted slightly tough to me. It didn't have that soft flaky-ness that we all hope for in our crusts. I was not beaten by this though. I started my crust with the knowledge that it possibly could turn out tough. It was my first time. My advice to all pie starters is, DON'T LET YOURSELF BE BEATEN!

Double Crusted Apple Pie.

 Recipe for the Crust.
2 1\4 cups all purpose flour ( When I made my pie I used an all purpose gluten free flour)
3\4 teaspoon salt
2\3 cup butter
8 to 10 tablespoons water

 Directions
1. In a medium bowl stir together flour and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until pieces are pea-size.

2. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the water over part of the flour mixture; gently toss with a fork. Push moistened dough to side of bowl. Repeat, using 1 tablespoon water at a time, until all the flour mixture is moistened. Divide in half;  form each half in a ball.

3. On a lightly floured surface, use your hands to slightly flatten 1 dough ball. Roll dough from center to edges into a circle 12 inches in diameter.

4. To transfer pastry, wrap it around the rolling pin; unroll it a 9 inch pie plate. Ease pastry into pie plate without stretching it. Trim pastry even with rim of pie plate. Transfer filling into pastry lined pie plate. (Recipe for filling will follow down below.)

5. Roll the remaining dough ball into a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Place pastry on the filling; trim to 1\2 inch beyond edge of pie plate. Fold top pastry under the bottom pastry. Crimp the edge as desired. (For my pie I did a fluted edge.) Cut slits on top pastry to allow steam to escape. Baked as directed in individual recipe.


Recipe for Apple Pie
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Bake: 1 hour
Oven: 375 F
Makes: 8 servings

1 recipe Pastry Double-Crusted Pie ( recipe up above)
6 cups thinly sliced, peeled cooking apples ( You can use any kind of apples. I used Jonagold apples. They worked pretty good. Another tip I have is to stuff as many apples as you can in the pie. The less apples you use the more likely your filling as it cooks will become mushy and pretty a watery mushy mess. The apples do shrink.)
3\4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour. ( Again I did use an all-purpose gluten free flour.)
1\2 teaspoon cinnamon
1\8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Milk or Egg Yolks optional


 Directions
1. Prepare and roll out pastry for double-crust pie. Line a 9 inch pie plate with half of the dough. ( crust recipe above)

2. In a large bowl stir together sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add apple slices and gently toss them until coated.

3. Transfer apple mixture to the pastry-lined pie plate. Trim bottom pastry to edge of  pie plate. ( if not already done) With the rest of the pastry place over filling, and do as directed as in the above recipe for the crust.

4. If desired brush top of the pastry with milk or egg yolks for a more golden brown look. ( I used milk, but I think I would have been better off with the egg yolks. Egg yolks seem to work better than milk.) To prevent over-browning, cover pie edges with fowl. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes. Remove fowl, and put back in the oven for an additional 20 minutes or until the filing starts to bubble out of your slits. Cool on a wire rack.

If you want the filling to stay firm in the pie, and not fall out at least have the pie cool over night. If the pie falling apart doesn't bother you ,though, let it cool for a couple hours. It depends on when you want to serve the pie and what time you make it. All I have to say now is Enjoy.