Don't Rely On Pie: Apple Crumble

Pie, pie, pie. Friggin’ pie.

Pie is my undoing in the fall. It taunts me from the covers of Saveur, mocks me on Martha, and sits innocently, in a $4.99 kind of way, at every two-bit grocery store in this fine democratic nation.

Friggin’pie. Every since my stint working for Martha, when she let a room full of people know that “You should never, ever make a pie crust again,” – this from the woman who has the ability to motivate women to spackle their ceilings. I sigh: pie.

But every year, I attempt the thing, and every year I zero in on what I need to do differently. I need to work the dough more, or work it less. Do more frissage (schmearing in of the butter to the flour), use my hands, use my food processor, buy a marble slab to chill, for forty days and forty nights, so that I achieve the perfect temperature and my moody-as-a-teenager dough will work with me.

And I will continue to try, because I have a dream and that dream is that I am the type of woman who can make a kick ass pie. And, because when I fail at pie, I get to enjoy my favorite morning carb: breakfast pie. (The pie is a disaster. I cannot subject others to it! But yet, I cannot waste…)

Until I get it right, when I need an I-have-5-pounds-of-fresh-picked-apples-in-my-fridge dessert, I can count on crumble. Like pie, I get that hot mushy-cinnamon-appleness, and instead of a layer of crust, there’s a pecan and brown sugar crunch topping. Plus, it gives me a reason to buy a pint of perfection: Haagen Daazs Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.

Friggin’ pie.

Apple Crumble
Makes 6 to 8 servings

For the topping:
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small bits and chilled
1/2 cup pecans

For the fruit filling:
5 apples, combination of Rome and Golden delicious for firmness, macintosh for sauciness, peeled cored and thinly sliced
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon flour
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 375F. For the topping: In a food processor, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Pulse to combine.

2. Add the butter and pulse 6 to 8 times until mixture has pea-sized pieces of butter mixed in with the flour and oats. Add the pecans and pulse a few more times to coarsely chop the pecans and to mix them through the topping. Transfer the topping to a bowl and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon, lemon juice, and salt. Toss ingredients together. Transfer the filling into an 8 x 8-inch baking dish.

4. After the topping has chilled, loosely scatter it over the top of the fruit in the baking dish. Bake for until fruit is bubbly and top is golden, 35 to 45 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.