Cinnamon Crumble Apple Pie

Yay for Autumn! One of the best things about fall is the bumper crops of apples. My food porn often involves apple pie, caramel apples, baked apples, apple slices with peanut butter--you get the idea: Ginny <3's apples.

My brother-in-law Chad and his girlfriend Sonja are visiting this week so I've been cooking up a storm for the guests. Also, Chad eats a lot. As he reminded me last night, I should have made a shopping list of what I thought I would need and then doubled it for him. Why the man is not 300 pounds is a complete mystery to me. Ryan can put it away too and is just over a buck fifty. Not fair.

Anyways, getting back to my original point. Apples are awesome, apple pie is even better and although I make a few modifications,this is one of the better recipes I've come across (on epicurious.com). I suck at pie dough but luckily Sonja makes a perfect crust. I include the recipe's pie dough here but you can sub in your favorite iteration of flaky pie crust. Traditionally, bakers use the granny smith which gets very soft when baked but I recommend that you use golden delicious apples. Apple pie connessieurs may be yelling "Blasphemy!" but golden delicious apples stay firmer and need less sugar and the resulting pie is more "appley" and less mushy. My version is below but you can view the original on epicurious.com here.

Crust

• 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/4 cup frozen solid vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 3 tablespoons (or more) ice water
• 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Filling

• 3 1/4 pounds Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Topping

• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
  
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

• Vanilla ice cream

For crust:
Mix flour, salt, and sugar in large bowl. Add butter and shortening; rub in with fingertips until coarse meal forms. Mix 3 tablespoons ice water and vinegar in small bowl to blend. Drizzle over flour mixture; stir with fork until moist clumps form, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic; refrigerate 30 minutes.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 400°F. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 12-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Trim overhang to 1/2 inch; turn edge under and crimp decoratively. Refrigerate while preparing filling and topping.

For filling:
Mix all ingredients in large bowl to coat apples.

For topping:
Blend first 5 ingredients in processor. Add chilled butter cubes; using on/off turns, cut in until mixture resembles wet sand.

Toss filling to redistribute juices; transfer to crust, mounding in center. Pack topping over and around apples. Bake pie on baking sheet until topping is golden, about 40 minutes (cover top with foil if browning too quickly). Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until apples in center are tender when pierced and filling is bubbling thickly at edges, about 45 minutes longer. Cool until warm, about 1 hour. Serve with ice cream.