Easy Apple Crumble Pie Recipe

Apple crumble pie is a delicious variation on the traditional double crust apple pie. This fresh apple pie is topped with a wonderful streusel topping that melts in your mouth. Top with vanilla ice cream, and you have a dessert full of happiness. Comfort food at its best. Just like Mom made.

I love baking with apples. They are inexpensive, plentiful year round and comforting. What is more of a comfort food than a baked apple dessert? I have used apples in muffins, loaf cake and cookies. Such a versatile fruit.

This juicy apple crumble pie is no exception. A simple and easy homemade pie that everyone will enjoy.

How To Make The Crumble Topping

Crumble topping is essentially a streusel consisting of sugar, flour and butter.

This crumble topping is incredibly easy to put together.

1. Add the spices, flour and granulated sugar to a bowl. Mix well.
2. Cut the butter into large cubes for easier blending. Add the butter to the bowl.
3. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the granulated sugar, flour and spices.
4. Once the crumble is combined, pour over the apples.

You could also use a food processor to make the crumble topping. I like to use my mini food chopper to incorporate the butter into the crumble ingredients.

Be careful not to over work the crumble mixture.

You don’t need to soften the butter either. Butter straight from the refrigerator is perfect.

Now you could use brown sugar instead of granulated sugar. That would give it a slightly molasses flavor. The choice is yours.

In this recipe, I used granulated sugar and the crumble melted together beautifully on the pie.

If you want more crumble topping, you could double the topping ingredients but I didn’t here. I felt it was just sweet enough.

The Best Apples For Apple Pie

You want to look for baking apples.

Baking apples are able to hold their shape during cooking.

• Granny Smith – the traditional tart apple. My personal favorite variety for baking.
• Honeycrisp – both sweet and tart in one apple. A good snacking and baking apple.
• Gala – sweet and juicy also good for snacking and baking.
• Fuji – a favorite for eating but bakes well.

Depending on how sweet you want your pie to be is also a factor in choosing the right apple. Some varieties of apples are more tart than sweet.

Choose more than one type of apple to use in your pie to get a balanced flavor. For example, use Granny Smith with Gala. A little bit of tart and a little bit of sweet but ones that won’t turn to mush once baked. Mix it up for the best taste.

I only used Granny Smith in this apple crumble pie. The flavor was perfect. I encourage you to use your favorite baking apples. Or try some new varieties. And remember to mix it up for some adventure in eating!

I also use Granny Smith apples for my apple cinnamon muffins. If you have an abundance of apples, these recipes are a must try!

This list is just a few of the good baking apples. It barely scratches the surface of the variety available today.

I have only listed the ones I can find locally. Your area may be different. Look around your local market for suggestions.

How To Make This Recipe

Prepare The Apple Filling

You’ll need about two pounds of apples. A little more is fine. You want plenty of apples to fill your pie crust.

• Core, peel and thinly slice the apples into a medium size bowl.
• Stir lemon juice into apples to keep them from turning brown.
• Add half a cup of sugar to the apples. Toss the apples till they are coated. I like to use my hands to get all the sugar onto the apple slices.

Place the coated apple slices into the unbaked pie crust. Check out my post on how to make pie dough for tips and the best pie crust recipe.

Sprinkle crumble topping evenly over the apples in the pie.

Place the filled pie into the oven and bake for one hour or until crumble topping is browned.

TADA! The apple crumble pie is done. And delicious!