Few desserts make a room of people as happy as an apple pie served with either whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Though it is as crowd-pleasing a dish as I have found, there are several different camps about how folks prefer their pie tops. While I am firmly in the crumble-top camp for all my fruit pies, if you are a full top-crust person feel free to make a double batch of the crust outlined below. If you are a lattice-top person you can cut that second crust recipe by ⅓ and still have enough dough for woven strips. Either way, I recommend brushing the top crust with a thick sugar water to give your final product a nice crackle on the top (a method I learned from my mother-in-law when my husband and I were still dating in college). Likewise, there is the question of “to peel or not to peel.” If you hate the taste or sensation of some apple peel in your pie, well then peel your heart out. I personally nearly never peel my apples when the peels are in good shape, and I’ve never had any complaints as my friends dig into this sweet autumnal treat.

Lastly, feel free to adjust the sugar, spice, and lemon juice quantities depending on the specific flavor of the wild apples you are using. Add more sugar for very tart apples, a bit more lemon juice if the wild apples you find are naturally sweet, and more spice if the apples don’t have much flavor on their own.

Wild Apple Crumble Pie

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Ingredients

  

• Crust Ingredients
• 1¼ cups white flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons very cold butter
• ½ cup ice-cold water or cold vodka
• Crumble Topping Ingredients
• 1 cup white flour
• 8 tablespoons very cold butter
• ⅓ cup white sugar
• ⅓ cup brown sugar loosely packed
• Pinch of salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon (plus a bit more to dust on top of the pie before baking)
• Filling Ingredients
• 10-12 wild apples (or whatever the equivalent of 6 large store-bought apples might be) cored and sliced in ½-inch slices
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ½ cup brown sugar (or ⅓ cup maple syrup)
• ½ tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch salt
• Optional but recommended: ¼ teaspoon each of ground cardamom, ground nutmeg, ground allspice

Notes

*Note: Vodka keeps gluten from developing and makes for a flakier crust than water does if you have any on hand.

Preparation:

To make the crust, put the flour and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Cut the cold butter into pea-sized pieces and work them into the flour quickly using your fingertips until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add the ice water or cold vodka a tablespoon at a time, using a fork to mix it into the flour and butter after each addition. The dough is wet enough when it comes together in a shaggy mass, and shouldn’t be too sticky. If it becomes too sticky add a bit more flour. Press the dough together into a ball.

Heavily flour your counter or a piece of parchment and place the ball of dough in the center. Lightly flour the top of the dough and a rolling pin, and roll the dough into a large circle that will fit in your pie dish with enough to cover the edges. Transfer the pie crust into your pie dish. My trick for doing this easily is to lightly flour the top of the rolled out dough and fold the dough in half and in half once more, until it is the triangular shape of a slice of pizza. Carefully transfer the dough triangle to the pie dish so the point is in the center of the dish, then gently unfold it twice until it fills the dish completely. Press the dough into the dish and flute or fork the edges as you prefer. Cover the pie pan lightly and chill for at least 2 hours in the fridge.

To make the crumble topping, place all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Cut the cold butter into pea-sized pieces and once again work the butter in with your fingertips until the ingredients are evenly mixed throughout and the topping resembles small pebbles and sand. Cover the bowl and chill the topping in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Once you have chilled the crust and topping, make the filling by placing all filling ingredients in a large bowl, mixing to spread the sugar, lemon juice, and spices evenly throughout the apples.

When you are ready to bake your pie, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, placing a large metal baking pan on a middle rack in your oven so it heats up as the oven does. Pour the filling mixture in the pie crust, making sure to spread it evenly. Sprinkle the topping over the filling, mounding it a bit more in the center. Lightly dust the top with a bit of cinnamon.

Place the pie dish directly on the hot baking sheet in the oven (this helps the bottom get crispier) and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for an additional 35-50 minutes, checking frequently after 35 minutes, until the edge of the crust is golden brown and the juice bubbling out of the pie top begins to set like a gel around the edges of the pie. If you are not sure if the gel is setting, take a metal spoon and dip the back into the juices. If the juice begins to gel on the spoon the pie is ready. If the pie edges are getting too dark and the juice hasn’t yet gelled, place a thin ring of foil around the pie crust edges and continue baking. (Waiting for the gel to set is the key to being able to cut slices out of your pie that hold together better and aren’t too wet.)

Let the pie cool a bit, and serve while still warm alongside whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or both.