Apple Streusel Pie


Recipe:

Ingredients

Crust

  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
  • ¼ tsp fine salt
  • 115g cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  • 4 to 5 tbsps ice water

Filling

  • 6-7 cups sliced apples (cored and sliced in ¼ inch slices, peeling optional)
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon

Streusel Topping

  • 1 cup flour
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup butter

 

Method

Crust:

  1. Combine the flour and salt for the crust in a large bowl, and stir briefly until the mixture is aerated.  Using a food processor or your fingers, mix the butter into the dry ingredients until there are no more large pieces – smaller than pea-sized pieces are ok.
  2. Drizzle in 4 tbsps of the ice water and mix just until the dough comes together.  Add the last tbsp. of ice water if necessary, but don’t overwork the dough or it will become tough.
  3.  Using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough out into a flat, even circle on a floured piece of wax or parchment paper, until you reach a diameter of approx. 11 inches.  Gently place the crust into an oiled 9-inch pie pan – you can pick up the wax paper and crust, flip over carefully and lay onto the plate.  Crimp the edges of the crust with you finger.  Keep the waxed paper on top and store in the fridge until you use it, or remove the paper and use it immediately.

Pie:

  1. Mix the cinnamon and sugar.  Toss the sliced apples in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
  2. Place the sugar-coated apples on your pie crust.  They should mound up above the edges of the pie pan (apples cook down some).
  3. Mix the streusel ingredients lightly until they come together in crumbly pea-sized pieces – you can use your fingers to mix.  Sprinkle the streusel topping over the apple mixture.
  4. Set the pie pan on a baking sheet to catch any drips as it cooks.  Bake in a 200⁰C oven for about 50 minutes.  Check periodically and cover topping with a layer of aluminum foil if it is browning too much.
  5. Let cool slightly before cutting.  Serve.

Note:  You can use an equal amount of coconut oil instead of butter.  Ensure the coconut oil is in a solid state (might need to refrigerate it before beginning).  Once the oil is combined into the crust dough, the dough should not be kept in the fridge before rolling it out, as it will become too hard to roll.