Homemade Apple Pie

We went to Carter's Mountain Orchard this weekend to pick apples. It has become a family tradition, and one that we all look forward to once summer ends. This year however, the formidable fall wind put a little damper on our picking festivities. It was beautiful on Saturday, not too hot, not too cold. It was sunny all day, but I didn't get to partake in this lovely day because I was baking in the test lab at school. That's right my classes are on Friday and Saturdays from now until eternity May. So since we couldn't go to the orchard on Saturday we planned to get up early on Sunday and head up there.

We all woke up and, to our dismay, realized that it was a little more chilly than we had originally thought it would be. The fact that there was no sign of the sun didn't help matters. But we weren't giving up. We headed out of city, stopped by a Crackle Barrel (it's a road trip thing), and made our way to Charlottesville. We drove up the mountain, parked our car, stepped out onto the grass, and our teeth immediately started chattering. It was at least 10 degrees colder on the mountain than it had been in the city. I was close to jumping back in the car and "picking" some apples from Kroger, but we had already come too far. So I bundled Jackson up and we headed into the orchard. We picked Fuji, Jonagold, and Golden Delicious. Granny Smith weren't ready to be picked by everyone, but they had a big barrel at there general store for people to take. I picked up some of those as well as a few Stamen for the pie.

When we got home, and I could finally feel my hands again, I got started on the pie. I used the pie crust recipe from Pioneer Woman, the crumble recipe from Fake Ginger, and the pie filling from Family Style Food. My dad loves a double crust apple pie, but I'm partial to a crumble topping and since I was the one making it I got to choose, yay CRUMBLE! When I cut into the pie, it seemed a little runny, but that could have been because I have no patience and cut into it too early. I may add a tablespoon more flour to the filling next time just to be on the safe side. Other than that, the pie was awesome! I still have two bags of applies left so look out for a couple more recipes!

Find the pie crust recipe here!

Apple Filling (adapted from Family Style Food)

3 lbs firm apples (4-6 apples), cored, peeled, and sliced

2 Tbsp all purpose flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

Crumble Topping (adapted from Fake Ginger)

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon

1 cup butter, cold

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Roll out half of your pie dough and place in a 9" pie pan. In a large bowl, combine all the filling ingredients. Pour the filling into the pie crust. 

2. For the crumble, combine all the ingredients except for the butter. Cut the butter into dry ingredients with a pastry cutter until the butter is pea size. Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the top of pie, making sure to cover all parts of the pie. 

3. Bake for 50-70 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the apple are tender. Let cool on a cooling rack. Serve with ice cream and enjoy!