Dutch Apple Crumb Pie

Before you start

Swapping the top crust for streusel changes how an apple pie behaves. A crumb topping lets steam escape freely, so the filling reduces as it bakes and the apples can go in raw. The topping also browns much faster than pastry, so the bake is about protecting it while the fruit underneath catches up.

The streusel here is made with melted butter, which gives clumpy, crunchy pieces rather than sandy dust. Squeeze it into large and small clusters and chill it while you assemble the pie. Cold clumps hold their shape in the oven; warm ones melt into a greasy sheet. Expect to tent the pie with foil partway through, and judge doneness by pushing a skewer through a gap in the crumbs into the apples, not by the color on top.

Ingredients

• Crust170 g (1⅓ cups) all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp fine salt
• 85 g (6 tbsp) unsalted butter — cold, cubed
• 30 g (2½ tbsp) vegetable shortening — chilled
• 60–75 ml (4–5 tbsp) ice water
• Streusel125 g (1 cup) all-purpose flour
• 80 g (⅓ cup packed) light brown sugar
• 40 g (3 tbsp) granulated sugar
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp fine salt
• 100 g (7 tbsp) unsalted butter — melted and slightly cooled
• Filling1.2 kg (about 6 medium) apples — Granny Smith, Jonagold or Honeycrisp; peeled and sliced 5 mm thick
• 90 g (scant ½ cup) granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp (8 g) cornstarch
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• pinch fine salt

Method

1. Rub the butter and shortening into the flour and salt until the pieces range from small peas to coarse meal. Drizzle in 60 ml ice water, toss, and squeeze; add up to 15 ml more if needed. Flatten into a disk, wrap, and chill for 1 hour.
2. For the streusel, stir the flour, both sugars, cinnamon and salt together. Pour in the melted butter and mix with a fork until damp. Squeeze handfuls to form clumps from pea size to about 2 cm, then refrigerate the bowl.
3. Roll the dough into a 30 cm (12 in) round and fit it into the pie plate. Trim to a 1.5 cm overhang, tuck the edge under, and flute it high so it can contain the mounded fruit. Refrigerate while you prepare the apples.
4. Heat the oven to 200°C (400°F) with a rack in the lower third and a rimmed baking sheet on it. Toss the apples with the sugar, flour, cornstarch, lemon juice, cinnamon and salt right before filling; if they sit, they weep.
5. Pack the apples into the crust, pressing down so they lie flat with as few air pockets as possible. Mound them slightly higher in the center. Scatter the cold streusel evenly over the top, covering the fruit to the edge.
6. Bake on the hot sheet for 20 minutes. Lower the oven to 180°C (350°F), lay a loose sheet of foil over the pie, and bake 40 to 50 minutes more.
7. The pie is done when a skewer slides through the apples with no resistance and juices bubble thickly around the edges. Remove the foil for the last 5 minutes if the streusel looks pale.
8. Cool on a rack for about 3 hours before slicing so the juices thicken and the crumbs firm up again.

Tips for success

• Leave a few larger streusel clumps; they toast into crunchy nuggets and make the top look generous.
• A deep-dish plate matters here because raw apples are bulky. In a shallow plate, use 1 kg of apples instead.
• Tent with foil as soon as the crumbs turn light golden. Brown sugar goes from toasted to bitter quickly.

Substitutions

Shortening in the crust

Use all butter (115 g total). The crust tastes richer but is a little less tender and shrinks slightly more.

Streusel flour

Replace 40 g of the flour with old-fashioned rolled oats for a chewier, more rustic topping.

Apples

Up to a third of the apples can be firm pears. Pears release more juice, so add another 1 tbsp cornstarch.

Variations

Pecan crumb

Add 50 g chopped pecans to the streusel and cut the flour to 100 g.

Raisin and rum

Soak 60 g raisins in 2 tbsp dark rum for 30 minutes and fold them, with the rum, into the apples.

Troubleshooting

Streusel melted into a flat, greasy layer

It was warm when it went on, or the butter was hot when mixed. Let melted butter cool first and chill the clumps for at least 15 minutes.

Topping browned but apples were still crunchy

Tent sooner and keep baking. Slicing the apples thinner, about 5 mm, also helps them soften in the same time the crumbs take to bake.

Soggy layer under the streusel

The filling sat and released juice before baking. Toss the apples right before they go in, and make sure the pie bubbles at the edges before you pull it.

Storage

Store loosely covered at room temperature for 1 day, then refrigerate for up to 3 more days. The streusel softens in the fridge; a 10-minute rewarm at 175°C (350°F) restores most of its crunch. Freeze baked slices, well wrapped, for up to 2 months.

Safety notes

Raw flour in the dough and streusel is not safe to taste before baking. Contains wheat and milk.