Confession: as much as I love to bake apple pie, I don’t eat it. I’m not a fan of cooked fruit, except for my Aunt Liz’s skillet apples, which are kind of like apple pie filling. But when it comes to this traditional, all-American dessert, I always pass.
I’ve never made a crumb-topped pie before, but they’re a great solution if you don’t want to get fancy with your crust. This pie went into my office, and it was a big hit, especially around 2:30 p.m., when the post-lunch need for sugar kicked in.
Ingredients
For the crust
- 1 single pie crust, unbaked
For the filling
- 6 medium-sized apples, preferably a mix of green and red, peeled and thinly sliced
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- About 1 tablespoon honey
For the crumb topping
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/8 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- Dash of nutmeg
- Pinch of salt
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
Preparation
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Prepare pie crust; line a 9-inch pie plate with crust. I left my edge plain, but you could flute yours if you like.
Prepare the filling; in a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add sliced apples and toss to coat.
Pour filling into pie shell and drizzle with honey.
Prepare the crumb topping; combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Rub in the butter (or cut in with a pastry blender) until the mixture appears as small crumbs. Cover filling with crumb topping.
Place a pie guard (or aluminum foil) around the edge of your crust to prevent over-browning; bake for 20 minutes, then remove guard and reduce temperature to 375. Bake for another 40 minutes, until apples are tender.
Cool completely, or serve warm.
Below, the pie is being divided up for my coworkers (next to some expense forms).
amy bakes in the 'burgh 
I feel you just made a pretty big confession in the church of pie. As you may know, Bill loves pie, and I usually make him one for his birthday. He would be shocked, shocked to hear you don’t like apple pie. He would ex-communicate you 🙂
Your crumb topping looks divine. I put one on a blackberry cobbler and that was delicious.
I know! I always think of Bill when I make pies…but it’s true. The only fruit pies I’ll eat are lemon meringue and key lime, which hardly count as fruit pies.
And I say crumb topping is an excellent option for many baked goods, including cobbler – yum!