Cinnamon Apple Pie with Crumb Topping

This recipe is probably one of the most mouth-watering, aromatic, and delicious American apple pie ever invented.  With its cinnamon flavor fused with the succulent taste of apples and the creamy pleasure of its filling, you could never resist such luxury.  The best part of this apple pie recipe is its double crust, both at the bottom and the topping. These two buttery and flaky pie crusts heighten the pie’s luxurious flavor, exquisitely sandwiching its sweet juicy filling. The crumb topping is spiced up with brown sugar, butter, flour, and the fragrant cinnamon which makes the topping crisp and perfectly-scented. It is absolutely delicious, right from its crumb topping, to the luscious filling, right until its buttery crust! Try this at home and you’ll be surprised at how delicious you can make this recipe!

Ingredients:

For crust

·         1 tablespoon white sugar

·         6 tablespoons butter (cold and cubed)

·         1 ¼ cups of all-purpose flour

·         ½ tablespoon salt

·         5 tablespoons ice water

For filling

·         2 tablespoons all purpose flour

·         5 medium Granny Smith or Jonagold apples

·         1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

·         ½ cup packed brown sugar

·         1 ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

·         ½ teaspoon ground allspice

For crumb topping

·         1 ¼ cups all purpose flour

·         ½ cup butter (melted and cooled)

·         1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

·         ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

·         ½ cup packed brown sugar

Directions:

1. First, we’re going to make the buttery crust. You can start by preparing a large mixing bowl and a whisk or egg beater. Toss in salt, all-purpose flour, and white sugar together, mix lightly.
2.  Add in your cold butter, this time use your hands in mixing the mixture. Rub the ingredients together until you have the consistency that of very fine bread crumbs. Make sure there aren’t any pieces larger than a pea.
3. Slowly pour ice water to your batter and press together with a fork, then you can switch with your hands/palms in pressing the batter until you can form a large ball.  If you now have a firm dough, you can now roll it in a plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
4. After chilling the dough for an hour or maybe more, start making your filling. Whisk together sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, all purpose flour, vanilla extract, and salt in another large mixing bowl. Combine until all ingredients are properly incorporated.  Leave mixture for about 10 minutes, then set aside for later use.
5. Prepare another large bowl, mix in the remaining flour, cinnamon, packed brown sugar, nutmeg, and salt. Then stir in melted butter over the mixture using a rubber spatula until you have moist crumbs.
6. Preheat your oven to 425° Fahrenheit.
7. Pull out your chilled dough and knead a little bit. Press the dough down to fit a 9-inch pie plate, do this gently and make sure your crust doesn’t crack or tear.
8. Pour your apple filling into the pie crust and evenly spread it all over the crust. Then get a handful of your crumb topping and squarely sprinkle over the apples, try to break the crumbs into smaller pieces as you sprinkle.
9. Put pie into your preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes. Then, decrease temperature to 375° Fahrenheit and bake once more for an extra 40 minutes, just until apples are tender and slightly boiling, and your crust is golden brown.
10. You can cover the top of the pie with aluminum foil to avoid darkening of the crumb topping.  Pull out freshly baked pie from the oven and cool on cooling rack for about 20-30 minutes.
11. Slice, serve with a scoop of ice cream and enjoy!