Cinnamon Apple Crumb Pie

I am sorry for being away for so long. Seven weeks ago today my brother-in-law Mark Forester died in Afghanistan, in combat trying to save a fellow teammate. Mark died a hero and he died for our freedoms. I have not felt much like blogging but after a gentle push from both my sister and my mom I am back and ready to bake my little heart out, and as my mom posted on my blog "Roz get back to cooking! It is good for the soul".

So with that said, it is fall once again and whenever I feel fall creeping up on me, I get so so so excited. I love colorful fall leaves, I love cool nights where I have to get my blanket out and curl up in it and I love what fall means.....it is the pre-party to Christmas. Along with fall comes this urge or need to bake an apple pie. It feels like it is not yet officially fall until I have baked a warm, gooey, cinnamony apple pie. Plus the smell that it sends through out our home is pretty much divine.

My parents live in a little town called Millville, in northern Utah, they have a gorgeous spread and on that beautiful spread they have over 80 apple trees. When fall rolls around each year the apples get ready to harvest which means apple picking, apple cider and lots and lots and lots of apple pies. Apples and fall go hand and hand. So the other night I was at the store and decided that I was going to make an apple pie. Thad didn't complain either and of course, true to form he was my little sampler. William Sonoma has a great Collection of cookbooks and I have their "William Sonoma Collection: Pie & Tart". In this cookbook I found an amazing recipe for a Cinnamon Apple Crumb Pie and I liked it because it was just a little different than your normal apple pie. The flavor of the pie, with the tart apples, cinnamon and crumb topping was a perfect combination and honestly it was the perfect taste of fall. So give this perfect apple pie a try....that rhymes.

To begin preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Get out a pie pan and grease it lightly, set aside.

For the crust, use your favorite pie crust recipe. I use my mother's secret family recipe (she is an amazing pie maker).

Pie Filling

7 large, tart apples

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

pinch of salt

For the pie filling slice the 7 large apples as thin as possible. Place apples in a medium size bowl. Then sprinkle the apples with the fresh lemon juice, set aside. Then in a small bowl combine the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt, mix well. Once combined, pour sugar mixture onto the apples. Toss gently, making sure the sugar mixture is evenly distributed on the apples. When apples and sugar mixture are combined, pour apple filling into a prepared a dough-lined pie pan. Set aside.

Crumb Topping

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter

For the yummy crumb topping, in a medium size bowl combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Then with a pastry blender cut the butter into the dry mixture until the butter is in little bead shaped balls. If this is made before had, place in refrigerator until needed.

Once pie filling is complete and in dough-lined pie pan, sprinkle the crumb topping on to pie, making sure it is distributed evenly. Then place in oven on middle rack for 50-60 minutes or until the crust is a nice light golden brown and pie mixture is bubbling.

When done, remove from oven and place on a cooling rack until it is completely cooled or at room temperature. I serve mine with a healthy scoop of vanilla ice cream or you can also do whip cream. Either way you can't go wrong, this is a classic recipe, that is for sure a comfort food that will get you ready for fall and winter.

Happy Fall!