Cinnamon Apple Crumb Pie

My hubby recently got back in contact with a friend from our high school days.  Todd told him how much I love to cook and bake and that I started writing my own cooking blog.  His friend said that his wife, Amy, also loves to cook and co-wrote a cookbook with a friend of hers, Grace.  I ordered it right away and stayed up late reading it  cover to cover the day it arrived in the mail.   

It is called Keeping Up Cookbook, Written by:  Grace Ivory Rock and Amy Henriksen Foulger

Amy and Grace also have a Blog, and a Facebook page.  Show them some love!

This cookbook has over 250 recipes, a "collection of tried and true favorites" they have "tested and tweaked during the last decade".  There are appetizers, breakfasts, baked goods, soups, salads, side dishes, dinners, sweets, and cookies (my favorite). 

There are many recipes I have bookmarked to try and will be sharing a few of them with you.  The first recipe is this amazing Cinnamon Apple Crumb Pie!  It was seriously so good!  The Fall season can't get here soon enough for me, but I think that apple pie is perfect year round.  Baked apples and cinnamon are a favorite combination in our home, and I have an entire category devoted to it on my blog. 

Can you believe I made a homemade pie crust too, and it was great?  I used Matha Stewart's pie crust recipe, which makes two crusts, so I have an extra one waiting in the freezer.

Ingredients:

1 (9-inch) deep dish pie crust, chilled

Apple Filling:

2 1/2 lbs Granny Smith apples (5 large), peeled, cored, sliced 1/4 inch thick
2/3 cup sugar (I used 1/3 cup)
2-3 T flour
2 tsp cinnamon
2 T butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Place the pie crust in a 9-inch deep dish pie plate and refrigerate until ready to use.  Line a baking sheet with foil.

In a large bowl, stir together apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and melted butter.  Set aside.

Crumb Topping:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
6 T cold butter, cut into small pieces

You can either use a pastry cutter, fork, or your food processor to blend the crumb topping ingredients together.  Mix together the flour, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, and salt, then cut in the chilled butter (or pulse in food processor) until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Transfer apple filling to chilled pie crust and sprinkle with crumb topping.  Place on foil lined baking sheet.  Bake for 45 minutes, then cover loosely with foil and bake for another 30 minutes.  Apples should be fork tender.  Cool for 1 hour to allow it to set up.  Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.  Enjoy! 

Note:  Leftovers can be reheated in the oven to keep the topping and pie crust crispy.  It's also really good cold from the refrigerator.