I often find it hard to believe some of the marvelous things that my DH manages to create in the torture chamber/hall of hell that is our kitchen. Obviously the room can’t be that bad, since we’ve had a 98% success rate with American recipes translated into danish ingredients and measurements (imagine wafer-thin, extra-crispy tollhouse chocolate chip cookies, product of a bit too little flour we think) and a 99% success rate with our own little inventions, and even the less than perfect entrees that don’t make these hallowed electronic pages were certainly edible by pretty much anyone’s standards. So why do I persist in my views? Because I think our kitchen has it in for me. Not a day goes by that something doesn’t go wrong when I cross the threshold. Like somehow it knows that it’s me walking into the room, versus the DH, and the appliances have a quick powwow with the utensils to determine which one is getting their pound of flesh or life’s blood out of me this time. It’s enough to give a girl a complex, I tell ya!

That having been said, the following recipe was made with no sacrifice of my delicate flesh or sanity, but by the magical hands of myself and the one, the only, the DH! *crowds cheer wildly and throw potholders* (Ok, by us and our bright and shiny new KitchenAid mixer, Berta, in fire engine red! [for the folks who remember fire engines in that color] I’m composing an ode to the lovely Berta now, which will get posted later) So on to the food!

Apple Pie with Crumble topping

Filling:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I generally use more, got a thing for cinnamon)
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (again a bit more, to taste, if you don’t like it, don’t use it)
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom (the DH’s favorite spice besides garlic, which just doesn’t work in apple pie in my estimation)
6 cups tart cooking apples (equivalent of 6 medium or so, peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/4 inch thick slices… most recently I ended up with like 15 apples, so we made a double batch and froze half for another pie in our future)

Combine all filling ingredients except apples in large bowl; add apples and toss lightly until everything is good and coated. Set the bowl aside and cover to let it ‘steep’ for a bit, while you make the crust. Makes it all nice and juicy that way. Besides, I always end up doing the apples first, then the crust, instead of being proactive and doing the crust first. I hate the drudge work.

Butter Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup cold butter
4-5 tablespoons cold water

(If you have a stand mixer, it makes crusts wonderfully. Just my 25 øre as a proud KitchenAid owner)
Combine flour and salt in large bowl; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in enough water just until flour is moistened. Mix thoroughly until you have a nice big ball, then divide dough in half. You can freeze one dough ball, together with your extra apple filling, and have a future pie all ready (how we dealt with the extra ball of dough). Roll out the dough on a lightly floured cutting board or counter. Grease the inside of your 9 inch pie dish (pie dish, tart pan, whatever the heck you’ve got that works, it’s all good), then fit the dough into the dish. Easiest to do if you fold the rolled dough into quarters, then unfold it and press it firmly into the bottom and sides of the pan. Trim the crust at the edge of the dish, then crimp or flute the edge if you want to add a bit of flair. For extra flair, brush the edge of the crust with a tablespoon of melted butter, then sprinkle some granulated sugar on top.

Crumble topping:
(You can do this after you get the pie crust in the dish, it takes 5 minutes tops, and can very easily be done in your stand mixer to save the squishiness between your fingers)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine
(extra) 1 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, or allspice (if you like. I do, so I did)

Combine flour, sugar and butter (and spice if you add it) in a bowl and mix until crumbly. (Could it get any easier? I think not!)

Putting it all together:
Take the wonderfully steeped apple filling and put it in the waiting pie dish, then sprinkle the crumble evenly over the top of the filling, making sure all apples are covered. Pop into a warm oven (400 degrees F, 200 degrees C) and bake for 45-55 minutes. Remove and let cool at least a bit, serve alone or with homemade vanilla ice cream, sharp cheddar cheese, or your favorite side dish for apple pie.

Enjoy!

😀

PS:  Whenever a recipe says ‘tart cooking apples’ I am really clueless. Yes, Granny Smiths are the quintessential pie apple, but would others work? We found out with our most recent baking, as we had a big bunch of Dansk-raised Discovery apples that we’d ordered from our greengrocer a couple of weeks back. They were a bit too tart for my taste, as well as too grainy in texture (I prefer Gala, Fuji or JonahGold apples for eating myself, love the crispness), but I didn’t want them to go to waste. So a few slices and dices later, and they became pie. I was a bit worried that they would be too soft, but the DH absolutely LOVED them because of that very fact. They were so wonderfully soft and gooey, I think he prefers them over the Granny Smiths, at least for baking. Just a tip, if you were curious like I was. They worked like a charm in the pie, perfect flavor, good texture, I highly recommend them as a fallback apple for pies.