Apples, the quintessential fruit; the Bible says Eve tempted Adam with an apple.  Not surprising as a just picked, ripe, organic apple is a yummy treat. If you ever walk through an apple orchard about to be picked the delicious scent in the air will overwhelm you and cause your purchase of even more apples than you planned for.  A hot apple pie will delightfully scent your house for hours, acting like a magnet for children, friends and men of your acquaintance!

I generally put this pie together in a certain manner; make the crust dough; put it in fridge to chill while I peel, slice and cut up the apples. If I have time I throw together the crumbs too before rolling out the pie.  If you plan to pre-bake your crust that ten minutes is a good time for making the crumbs and preparing the apples too.

It goes without saying that this pie is great with a slice of vanilla ice cream.  Winter is still a good time for an apple pie but by spring the apples are iffy and I stop baking pies with them.  Be seasonal whenever possible when it comes to fruits and you will get the best flavor and taste in your fruit based desserts.

 

Apple Crumb Pie

Crust:

1 c plus 2 tbsp brown rice flour mix (at bottom of recipe)

2 tbsp sweet rice flour

1 Tbps. granulated sugar

½ tsp xanthan gum

¼ tsp salt

6 Tbps. cold butter cut into 6 chunks

1 lg egg

2 tsp fresh orange or lemon juice

Directions:

Spray a nine inch pie pan with cooking spray, dust with white rice flour. Set aside.

Mix dry ingredients in bowl of stand electric mixer.  Add butter and mix until crumbly and resembling coarse meal.  Add egg and juice.  Mix until it comes together into big chunks.  Shape into a ball with your hands. Put it on a crust sized piece of wax paper (14 x 14 inches more or less), flatten the crust ball some; put on top of it another piece of wax paper and chill it all in your fridge 15-20 minutes.

Roll out the flattened ball into a pie crust in a pie bag or between the two sheets of wax paper, try to get the thickness even, no thick middle! Peel off one side of paper and place in the pie pan, be sure to center it.  Remove other slice of wax paper.  Crimp edges all around.

Filling:

6-8 medium-large sized apples, I like a mixture of yellow delicious and at least one other cooking variety; red Rome, Jonathan, empire, Courtland, or any tart apple you like to bake with.

Peel apples, quarter, cut out core, slice into 1/3 inch thick slices. Mix in a large bowl with:

¼ cup brown sugar

3-5 tbsp. granulated sugar (3= tart, 5 if you like it sweet)

1 tbsp. minute tapioca, or cornstarch, or sweet rice flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

A good sprinkle of ground nutmeg

A small sprinkle of ground ginger

1 tbsp lemon juice

Heap in pie crust. 

Crumb topping

Put all four ingredients in the same mixing bowl you made the bottom crust in and mix well with mixer paddle until crumbs form.

¾ c brown rice flour mix

½ c sugar

½ tsp xanthan gum

1/3 c cold butter cut into six chunks.

Sprinkle the top of the pie with crumb mix; use as much as you like.  I like about 2/3 of the mixture.  Up to your personal taste…  Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 55-60 minutes until bubbly and the crust is light brown.  You can cover the pie loosely with aluminum foil for the first 30 minutes.  I have a bottom heat oven so my crust gets crisp but if you have issues with soggy bottom crusts; pre-bake your crust for 10 minutes; then fill and bake immediately.

Cool the pie at least 2 to 4 hours before serving at room temperature.

Brown Rice Flour Mix
2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch

1/3 c tapioca flour

Note: The crust and crumbs are from Annalise Roberts’ great cookbook: Gluten-Free Baking Classics. My filling is slightly different.