I really love apple pie.  Like really love it.  It is up there with Christmas, puppy breath, coffee, and Disneyland on my list of very favorite things in the entire world.

It is practically perfect in every way.

Dutch apple pie is one of my favorite variations.  I love the buttery, brown sugary crunchy topping mixed with the tart-but-sweet cinnamon apples.  Topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, there is truly nothing not to like.

This pie is a Thanksgiving staple around here, but I make it several times a year.

Since apple season is upon us, I had a bunch of Granny Smiths to use up today so I decided to make one for no reason at all, other than that I wanted one.  So did my daughter, it’s not like I ate the whole pie by myself.

We split it. 😉 

Enjoy!

Crust Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup well-chilled Crisco® All-Vegetable Shortening
• 3 to 6 tablespoons ice cold water

Filling Ingredients:

• 7 Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thin
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
• 1 heaping tablespoon ground cinnamon

Topping Ingredients:

• 1 cup All Purpose Flour
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375°.  Now, make your pie crust.

BLEND flour and salt in large bowl. Cut shortening into flour mixture using pastry blender or fork. Stir in just enough water with fork until dough holds together.  Test dough for proper moistness by squeezing a marble-sized ball of dough in your hand. If it holds together firmly, do not add any additional water. If the dough crumbles, add more water by the tablespoonful, until dough is moist enough to form a smooth ball when pressed together

SHAPE dough into a ball . Flatten ball into 1/2-inch thick round disk.

ROLL dough on a lightly floured surface from center outward into a circle 2-inches wider than pie plate on lightly floured surface for the bottom crust. Transfer dough to pie plate.  Using a pastry mat or a plastic cutting board is a very effective way to do this without breaking your pie crust.  Trim edges of dough leaving a 3/4-inch overhang. Fold edge under. Flute dough as desired.  At this point, I like to brush the whole thing with an egg wash (1 egg + 2 tablespoons water) but that is optional.  Set aside.

Filling is next.  Peel, core, and slice your apples.  Place them in a medium saucepan over low heat, along with butter, sugars, flour and cinnamon.  Cook for about 5 minutes until the apples are just softened and set aside.

Now make your crumble topping. Place all topping ingredients into a bowl, and with a pastry blender (or your clean hands) mix it together gently into a crumble.  Use a slotted spoon to move the apple filling into your pie crust shell, discarding most of the liquid.  Top the apple filling with the crumble topping.

Bake 40-50 minutes until the top of the crumble is just getting golden brown and the filling is bubbling.  Enjoy!