Apple Crumb Pie – Thanksgiving dessert

Apple Crumb Pie – juicy succulent apple in the middle with flaky crust on the bottom and a spicy-sweet buttery crumbly top – heaven in a plate.

Thanksgiving can’t happen without an apple pie! I have wanted to try making apple pie since I came to this country. However, I neither have formal pastry training nor any work experience. I studied computer science and work in Java. But I like anything challenging and I often challenge myself.

One such challenge was making pie. My husband and my food editor warned me about the difficulty of pie. Sheryl said that she made pie hundreds and hundreds of times – and even today, she finds it hard to make. So I knew what I was getting myself into.

Sheryl printed out the recipe, showed me multiple videos and tried to explain to me in many possible ways. However, until you do it yourself, you never learn. So I started my pie experiment on Sunday morning. Not to mention, it was not a perfect pie.

My mother felt terribly bad seeing me in tension, fear and what not. She sent my dad to a store to buy pie ingredients and made a pie at home without egg. She neither had a pie dish nor an oven to bake a pie. She used her convection microwave and baked a perfect pie (that too for the first time in her life).

I discussed the problems of my piecrust again with Sheryl and my mum. First, my dough was dry and Sheryl said I might be pressing it too hard when rolling. So, I tried again on Wednesday when my mother was instructing (read scolding) me over Skype. Finally, I was able to roll out a perfect piecrust. I felt like I was on top of Mount Everest.

I did not make a two crust pie as pretty much everyone does that, so I made apple crumb cake. The original recipe is from Sheryl Julian and you can find it here.

When I saw my apple crumb pie coming out of the oven – I started dancing in joy. You know that kind of feeling, right??

I did a couple of things wrong the first time – I used Irish butter, which has a much higher fat content than American butter. I made it with American butter the second day and it came out perfect. I think I needed to use a smaller amount while using European butter. The second mistake I did was adding apple cider vinegar to the apple slices. You really don’t need that for apples in Boston. By some reason, they are very watery this year (Sheryl also agrees with me about this).

Anyhow, this apple crumb pie is perfect for a first time pie maker! It has sweet crispy apple, hints of spices like nutmeg and cinnamon and a super flaky crust. It was so good; half of the pie was gone in an hour by my pie loving husband. This is not my last pie – trust me. I am about to bake a lot more pies until I become a pro. Sheryl says –“By the time you make your 10th pie you’ll be a pro”.

Before I go to my thanksgiving speech, I must thank the world’s best mother –in-law for sending me these gorgeous chocolates. She knows what I love.

So, on this thanksgiving, I thank my mom, who yells at me to bring the best out of me. Secondly, I thank Sheryl who is the most honest and best critique and she never gets tired of teaching. Thirdly, I thank my most patient and loving husband who gets yelled at for a bad pie, but still helps to make it happen. I am not sure I would be blogging without them.

The team of storyofcooks wishes all of you a very happy Thanksgiving! Without all of you, we won’t be anything. Now, let’s have some pie!

Some other pie recipes from other blogs:

1. Honey plum tarts
2. Elderflower strawberry galette with rosemary buttermilk crust
3. Bourbon rosemary apple crisp
4. Blueberry galette
5. Black pepper apple hand pies
6. Apple cranberry pie with orange
7. Cheeseless Pumpkin Cheesecake
8. Apple Pie 
9. Apple pie
10. Lavender honey peach buttermilk pie (custard pie)
11. Lemon blueberry tart with vanilla pastry cream
12. Rosewater poached plum pistachio crisp
13. Rose apple wreath pie
14. Skillet cherry ginger pie with bourbon
15. Strawberry blueberry basil pie
16. Whiskey peach blueberry pie with star anise crust
17. salty nocino walnut pie {gluten-free}
18. kabocha pumpkin buttermilk pie with a crème fraîche swirl {gluten-free}
19. rum-kissed banana butterscotch cream tart in a cocoa-buckwheat crust {gluten-free}
20. concord grape + walnut frangipane tart with a gluten-free rosemary crust
21. apricot custard pie with cardamom crumble crust {gluten-free}
22. rustic rhubarb, almond, and honey tart {gluten-free}
    
23. grapefruit custard pie {gluten-free}
24. {updated} flaky gluten-free all-butter pie dough (whole-grain + gum-free)
25. kinda raw marbled pumpkin tart (grain-free and vegan)
26. kabocha pumpkin buttermilk pie with a crème fraîche swirl {gluten-free}
27. pink pearl apple + calvados tarte tatin {gluten-free}
28. bourbon sorghum pecan pie {with a gluten-free sorghum crust}

Props in this post are from Leslie Freeman. She is a extremely talented artist and super easy to work with. She will custom make anything for you depends on your need. You can find her store here.

Wish all of you a nice and happy Thanksgiving!

Other Thanksgiving dishes and pictures are (Click the picture for more)