Isn’t it amazing how you can always tell when fall has arrived? Even before the leaves start changing color, you can smell it in the air, and suddenly all you want is fuzzy sweaters and hot apple cider. I love VA in the fall. Summers here tend to be too hot/humid, and the winters have gotten a little too cold for my liking lately, but fall and spring are always wonderful. The air smells a little nicer, the colors of the local plant life become more vibrant, and the weather is almost always perfectly mild and comfortable. It’s definitely my favorite time of year.
Temperatures around here have been slowly and steadily cooling off lately, but today was the first day that I really needed a sweater to counter the brisk air on my balcony. Fall has officially arrived! Which means…apple season! Apple cider, candy apples, apple cobblers…so many delicious fall treats to be excited about. Like this Cinnamon Apple Crunch pie, for example, which actually started out as a recipe for apple crumb bars. But then I decided to bake it in a pie dish and serve the pieces in wedges, so…you know…now it’s a pie. A juicy, cinnamon-y, apple-packed pie with a buttery shortbread crust and sweet, crunchy topping. Call it what you want, it’s absolutely delicious, and the perfect treat to help you jump into the fall season.
Cinnamon Apple Crunch Pie
Ingredients:
(Crust and Crumble Topping)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 sticks cold unsalted butter or margarine, cut into pieces
- 1 large egg
(Apple Pie Filling)
- 8 gala apples, peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp flour
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 375° F. Lightly grease a pie dish.
- In a medium bowl, combine sugar, baking powder and flour.
- Mix in the salt and lemon juice, and stir together with a fork.
- Cut in the butter pieces and egg with a pastry blender until the largest chunks are about pea-sized.
** The mixture should be crumbly without much loose flour. - Spread about half of the dough mixture in an even layer over the bottom of the prepared pan and press down firmly to form the bottom crust. Set aside.
- In another bowl, stir together sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon. Add apple pieces and flour and toss to coat.
- Spread apple mixture evenly over the crust.
- Crumble the remaining dough over the top of the apple filling, and gently press down.
- Bake for about 45 minutes or until the top is slightly golden brown.
- Cool completely before slicing.
- Serve warm plain or with drizzles of caramel sauce.
- Enjoy!
This looks so delicious. A different take on an apple pie. I am bookmarking it and will try in the next couple of months.
Thanks! Let me know if you like it 🙂
This pie really looks amazing!
Thank you! I’m really pleased with how it turned out. I may have to put crunchy sweet toppings on all my pies from now on!
This looks insanely good! I thought the Cooks Illustrated french apple cake I made a few weeks back was the best apple dessert I’ve ever tasted, but have a feeling this might top it!!
Hope you liked it!
How important is the lemon juice? I don’t have any but want to make this … would it turn out OK without it?
I personally find that having some citrus/sour flavor is good for offsetting and accenting the sweetness of the apples. When I don’t use lemon juice, my pies always turn out a little too sweet for my liking. However, I tend to use sweeter apples (like Gala), so that might be why I need more sour notes in my pie. I think if you use a tarter apple, skipping the lemon juice should be fine. Alternatively, you can try apple cider vinegar instead, if you have it. Good luck!
Thanks, I actually do have apple cider vinegar so maybe I will try that.
WOW, this looks so perfect! I love crumble toppings and buttery pie crusts and caramel sauce, and apples go with all of that so well. Your photos are beautiful too. 🙂
Wish I had this to eat for breakfast right now!
Thank you! I definitely ate more than my fair share of this for breakfast. Fruit in the morning is healthy, right?
Hi! I’m spanish people, iI’m not sure how much butter are 2sticks. , 250gr maybe?
Please, excuse my english.
Thanks a lot
2 sticks of butter is 1 cup or 8oz or approximately 226.8 grams. Hope that helps!
Hi. I am writing from Spain and I have some doubts: 1 cup, how many grams are? When you say: In a medium bowl, combine sugar, baking powder and flour.
Mix in the salt and lemon juice, and stir together with a fork.( thats mean I have to put salt, lemon into the bowl with sugar, baking powder and flour?
Cut in the butter pieces and egg with a pastry blender until the largest chunks are about pea-sized.( I have to put also inside to this bowl the butter and eggs? What is mean:Cut in the butter pieces and egg with a pastry blender until the largest chunks are about pea-sized? Sorry for my english. Greetings. Aleksandra
Hi Aleksandra! Thanks for your comment. My answers to your questions are as follows:
(1) 1 cup of unsifted flour = 125 grams.
(2) Put sugar, baking powder and flour into a bowl. Stir the ingredients so that they are all mixed together (e.g., you can’t see the separate ingredients anymore). Then, add salt and lemon juice to that same bowl and stir everything (with a fork, or whatever you want to use).
(3) After mixing all these dry ingredients + lemon juice, add your pieces of butter and egg to the bowl. Use a fork (or pastry cutter) to mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and break up the pieces of butter until the the largest piece is only the size of a pea (all you have to do is press down on the butter with your fork over and over again). At this point your entire bowl of ingredients should be well-mixed and feel sort of like damp/wet sand.
Hope this helps!