Mom’s Apple Crumb Pie
My mom has been making this apple crumb pie since I was in high school. Unimpressed by the grocery store cakes and unfamiliar with talented bakers, I was not big on birthday cake, so this was often the dessert I asked for instead.
I recently asked her where the recipe came from, thinking maybe it had been passed down from someone in our family. Nope. She thinks she probably found it in a magazine.
Her explanation made me laugh: “Looks like I chose it ‘cause it’s easy. Then it worked out and tasted good.”
This is the apple pie I remember my mom making and the one I still want every fall.
She needed an apple pie recipe because we had an apple tree in our yard in Pennsylvania. It sat on the side of a hill, in the middle of our vegetable garden. I still remember the sprawling squash plants and plentiful pumpkin vines growing, winding beneath that tree.
The apples were tart, fine to eat by themselves, but fantastic in a pie. In late August, the first apples would be ready to pick and we’d soon have more apples than we had neighbors to share them with. So she would bake this pie, and it would be our delicious dessert. I’d sometimes sneak a slice for breakfast. She taught me to make this pie and it was one of the first recipes I learned to make.
This recipe is simple: tart apples, cinnamon and a buttery crumb topping baked in a regular pie crust. Make your own pie crust if you’d like, but the refrigerated kind from the grocery store works just fine. There are no complicated steps, and the ingredient list is quite short.
Here in Palm Beach, fall usually arrives on the calendar long before it arrives in the weather. I make the pie anyway.
Mom’s Apple Crumb Pie
Makes: One 9-inch pie
Bake: 400°F for 40–50 minutes
Ingredients
4 large tart apples
1 9-inch pie crust
1 cup sugar, divided
1 teaspoon cinnamon (Ceylon is my favorite now)
¾ cup sifted flour
⅓ cup butter
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Core the apples, cut each into eighths and arrange them in the pie crust. My mom always left the skin on, but peel them if you prefer.
Mix ½ cup of the sugar with the cinnamon and sprinkle it over the apples.
Combine the remaining ½ cup sugar with the flour. Cut in the butter until crumbly, then sprinkle the mixture over the apples.
Bake for 40–50 minutes, until the apples are tender and the top is golden.
Serve it warm, and feel free to add vanilla ice cream.
One little note
The original recipe simply calls for “4 large tart apples,” which is one of the things I love about an old recipe. No dissertation on apple varieties. I usually reach for tart green apples and carry on. But really, any apples will work.
This simple recipe has become a staple in my family. My mom made it because it was easy and it tasted good, so she made it again and again. Decades later, I still love making this pie. Enjoy!
