As American As Baseball And Apple Pie

Except I don't much care for baseball.

We had some friends over for dinner a few weeks ago and I wanted to try making a Dutch apple pie - a first for me. I've made a pretty yummy caramel apple pie before, but never tackled the other take on this iconic dessert. This is our 18th recipe of the year and can be found here.

The Recipe

Dutch Apple Pie

1 Pie Crust

5-1/2 Cups Apples (Peeled, Cored, and Sliced)

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar

1/4 Cup Brown Sugar

3 Tablespoons Flour

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg

For the Topping:

3/4 Cup Flour

1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar

1/4 Cup Brown Sugar

1/3 Cup Butter (at Room Temperature)

Fit the pie crust into a pie plate. Combine the apples, lemon juice, white and brown sugars, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Place this mixture into the pie crust and then prepare the topping. Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl and then cut in the butter with a fork or pastry blender until coarsely crumbled. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the pie and then bake in a 375 degree oven until the apples are tender and the crust is golden (about 50 minutes).

The Results

I thought this yielded a good result without a lot of work. I cheated a little and used a store-bought crust (refrigerated Pillsbury pie crust), but it still turned out well. Homemade crust would have been much tastier, but a lot more labor intensive. (If you're going to make a crust, then I recommend the crust Alton Brown makes for a pear pie - it's wonderful. There are lots of other good recipes too, so just search until you find one you like.) I also used a mixture of apples - half sweet and half tart. If I were to make a Dutch apple pie again I think I would use all tart apples... Leslie thought it was a little too sweet.

This recipe was good, but I'm sure there are better ones out there. I'll have to ask my grandmother for her recipe sometime... I seem to remember her making an amazing Dutch apple pie (but, then again, Grandma-food is always the best). In the meantime I think I'll stick to a more traditional apple pie. Or just a different kind of pie in general. I'm really quite partial to blueberry, so maybe that will be next up for dessert. Or pumpkin or pecan... we are getting into that time of the year, after all.

What's your favorite pie? Classy folk will let me know in the comments below...

Thanks for reading!