apple crumble pie
My favorite part of fruit crumbles is the crumble itself — the golden, crunchy yet so-soft-that-it-melts-in-your-mouth kind of topping. So you can imagine my excitement when I try fruit crumbles that come with both a crust and a crumble on top! It’s just heaven, the perfect match, everything I love in one same pan of goodness. That’s why I love these blueberry crumble bars so much; they’re delicious from top to bottom, concealing a sweet and zesty berry filling in between both layers. This apple crumble pie follows the same idea, with its cinnamon-infused apple filling hidden between a biscuit crust and a sweet topping. Ever since my family started baking this pie years ago we knew it was a winner, and it has become a favorite dessert in our household to serve warm topped with ice cream.
Let’s start with the crust. It’s made by grinding Digestive biscuits and blending them with butter until the mixture can be easily patted down on the bottom of a pan. Then comes the apple filling, made with thinly sliced green apples that are coated with lemon juice, granulated sugar, all-purpose flour, ground cinnamon and ground almonds. Then the whole is topped with a crumble, made with all-purpose flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon and butter.
It might seem like a lot of sugar and cinnamon, but it all balances out so well during the baking process. Every time I bake this crumble my house is infused with the most decadent smell, totally removing any other lingering cooking odors from my living room and replacing them with the sweetest scent. I did say that my favorite part is the crumble topping, but nothing beats the moment I finally get to dig in and serve myself a warm slice!
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- 400g Digestive cookies (or Graham crackers)
- 115g butter or margarine, softened and cut into pieces
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 115g butter or margarine, softened and cut into pieces
- 4 green apples, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground almonds
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F.
- Begin by making the crust. Grind up all the biscuits in a food processor and put the ground mixture in a bowl. Slowly add the butter and work with your hands to incorporate it into the ground biscuits. Press the mixture all over the bottom of a round 25cm pan or Pyrex and refrigerate.
- Make the topping next by combining all the ingredients in a big bowl, working the butter into the dry ingredients, crumbling the mixture between your fingers. Set aside.
- Finally, prepare the filling. In a small bowl, combine the apples with the lemon juice. Add the granulated sugar, all-purpose flour, ground cinnamon and ground almonds and mix to coat all the apple slices.
- Place the apple slices over the crust, mounting them slightly one on top of each other in a circular fashion until you've used them all up. Add the crumble mixture on top, patting it down to fully cover the apples.
- Bake the pie in the oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour, covering it with aluminium foil if the topping becomes golden too soon. Serve at room temperature or warm.