The Best Apple Crumb Pie Ever

Take a bite into fall with the best apple crumb pie ever! Made with crisp fall mountain apples baked under crumbs of buttery, brown sugar, and cinnamon.

Do you know what fresh, crisp fall mountain apples bring???? APPLE CRUMB PIE.

But not just Apple Crumb Pie, THE BEST APPLE CRUMB PIE EVER!

This apple pie is like taking a bite into fall, made with deliciously crisp fall mountain apples, baked coated with brown sugar, and warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. This pie is crowned with a buttery, brown sugar and cinnamon crumb topping, making it an all-time favorite apple recipe.

I have made this apple crumb pie a lot, and I have always used “Golden Delicious” apples, as specified in the original recipe. Last weekend, I made this pie for the second time this season, but this time I changed the recipe up a bit by using a tart cooking apple called “Greening.” We found this variety of apples in a bin during our visit to Hartland Orchard. The sign described them as a tart cooking apple, similar to the “Granny Smith” apple. David and I both adore Granny Smith apples because of their tartness. I figured they would be perfect for the apple crumb pie.

I cannot begin to tell you the difference it made in the taste of this delicious apple crumb pie! Golden delicious apples are pretty sweet to start with. When making this apple crumb pie, you add more sugar to the apples, and in my opinion, it’s just a little too sweet. The tart Greening apples broke up some of the sweetness of the pie. The slight tartness made the taste of the apples pop instead of masking them in a sugary syrup.

It is quite amazing how the type of apple turned this apple crumb pie into the best apple crumb pie ever! 

Ingredients Needed To Make This Pie

• Pie Crust: there is a lot of filling in this apple pie, so you will need a deep dish pie crust. I normally use a 15-ounce store-bought pie crust from the refrigerated section that I form into a large pie dish. Using a prepared frozen pie crust saves a lot of time. If you do, make sure it’s a deep dish.

For The Crumb Topping:

The crumb topping offers more than just texture to this pie. Warm spices give this pie such a wonderful smell and taste like heaven!

• Butter: Use unsalted butter to control the amount of sodium in the pie.
• Sugar: Light brown sugar is recommended, but use dark brown if you have that on hand instead.
• Flour: all-purpose flour helps the topping keep its composure.
• Spices: this pie has a happy medley of ground Vietnamese cinnamon, ground cloves, and freshly grated nutmeg.
• Salt: Kosher salt offsets the sweetness and rounds out the flavor of the pie. If you don’t have kosher salt, use regular table salt.

For The Apple Pie Filling:

• Apples: Tart cooking apples* work the best to offset the sugar.
• Sugar: Packed light brown sugar accentuates the sweetness and combines with the apple’s natural sugar to help thicken the filling. If you don’t have light brown sugar, use dark brown if that is what you have.
• Flour: all-purpose flour helps to thicken the apple filling.
• Spices: Vietnamese ground cinnamon, ground cloves, and freshly grated nutmeg are also added to the pie filling.

Optional Toppings

This apple crumb pie is awesome just how it comes out of the oven, but adding toppings can knock this recipe out of the park!

• Powdered Sugar
• Sweetened Whipped Cream
• Vanilla Ice cream
• Caramel Sauce – Check out this easy recipe!

How To Make The Best Apple Crumb Pie Ever

Arrange a rack in the oven’s lowest slot, preheat it to 375 degrees F, and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Dice the butter for the crumb topping into small pieces with a knife; place the diced butter back into the refrigerator to chill until needed.

Prepare the pie crust:

Fit the pie crust into a deep 9-inch pie plate and crimp edges. Refrigerate the pie shell until you are ready to add the filling.

Prepare the Crumb Topping**:

Combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, cloves, and nutmeg in a medium bowl. Use a whisk to ensure there are no lumps. Add the chilled butter to the flour/spice mixture. Using your fingertips, pinch the butter into the flour/spice mixture until crumbs form. It will take a minute or two. When the mixture looks like moist beach sand, you are done combining. Refrigerate until needed.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to keep the butter for the crumb topping as cold as possible. I made this in August, on one of those upper 90-degree days. The kitchen was hot, and I rushed to get the pie in the oven before our friends arrived. I overworked the crumb topping, which looked more like sandy-coated cat turds than crumbs. Regardless of how it looked, it still tasted good.

Prepare the Apple Filling:

In a very large bowl, toss apples, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg together. Ensure all of the apple slices are coated with the sugar mixture.

My hands were the best tool for the job. The apple slices do not stick together when the brown sugar mixture is on both sides of each slice.

Assemble and Bake the Apple Crumb Pie:

Remove the prepared pie crust from the refrigerator. Spoon the filling into the crust, forming a mound towards the center. Remove the crumb topping from the refrigerator. Toss to loosen it up. Top the apple filling with the crumb topping. Place the pie on top of the foil-lined baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F. Bake for an additional 30 minutes or until the fruit is tender. If the crust edges get too brown, tent the pie with aluminum foil. This may be needed during the last 15 minutes of baking.

Serving:

Let the pie cool for at least 1 hour before slicing.

When cool, dust with powdered sugar and serve with fresh whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or drizzle with homemade caramel sauce (optional).

Storage:

Store at room temperature for three days. Refrigerated the pie will last up to 5 days.

Tips For Making Apple Crumb Pie:

* This pie is best with a tart cooking apple. Greening, Granny Smith, Jonathan, Jonagold, Honeycrisp, or McIntosh are the types of apples that work best for making this pie, but use golden delicious if desired.

**When making the crumb mixture, it is important not to get the butter too warm by overworking it. Keep the butter chilled as much as possible, and only use your fingertips when mixing it into the sugar and spices. You can use a fork, pastry cutter, or pulse in a food processor, but I found that my fingertips are perfect for getting the job done and with less mess! You want the texture of the crumb mixture to resemble moist beach sand. Refrigerate until needed.  

FAQs

So what are you waiting for? Go pick some apples and try this recipe!! You will not be sorry; it’s the best apple crumb pie ever!

Other Apple Desserts

• CARAMEL APPLE STRUDEL WITH VANILLA GLAZE
• DAVID’S APPLE CRISP
• APPLESAUCE MUFFINS WITH CINNAMON CRUMB TOPPING