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An apple pie with a butter crumb top instead of a second crust. Not especially Dutch — the name in American usage probably comes from Deutsch, the Pennsylvania German communities whose streusel-topped fruit pies it resembles — and it is easier than a double-crust pie in every respect that matters.
The crumb also solves a real problem: it lets steam out freely, so the filling concentrates rather than steaming itself soft.
What makes it work
- Open topping means an open pie. Water escapes through the crumb, so the
filling can carry less starch and still set — 20 g of cornstarch rather than
- Melted butter crumb, squeezed into clumps. The same technique as crumb cake: melted rather than rubbed, and broken into hazelnut-sized pieces so they stay distinct.
- The crumb goes on cold, over the fruit, and is never pressed down.
- Tent with foil after 30 minutes. The topping browns long before the apples are cooked; the foil is what lets you bake it the full hour.
- Same apple rules as apple pie — a mix of firm and soft, macerated first.
Ingredients
One 23 cm pie. Serves 8.
- 1 disc all-butter pie crust, for the base
- 1.2 kg apples, peeled and sliced 8 mm — see apple
- 150 g granulated sugar
- 20 g cornstarch
- 8 g ground cinnamon
- 4 g fine salt
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
Crumb topping:
Method
Line the tin with the crust, crimp the edge, and chill.
Toss the apples with the sugar, salt, cinnamon and lemon juice and leave one hour. Drain, reduce the juices to a syrup, and return them with the cornstarch.
Make the crumb: whisk the dry ingredients, pour in the melted butter, stir to a shaggy dough, and leave it to firm for ten minutes. Squeeze into clumps.
Heat the oven to 200 °C / 400 °F with a heavy tray on the bottom rack.
Fill the shell with the apples and scatter the crumb thickly over, without pressing.
Bake on the hot tray 20 minutes at 200 °C, then 190 °C / 375 °F for 40–45 minutes, tenting with foil once the topping is brown.
Cool three hours.
Notes
- A caramel drizzle over the cooled pie is the standard American bakery finish and is entirely optional.
- The same topping works on peach pie, cherry pie, blueberry pie and rhubarb.
- Keeps three days. Re-crisp the topping at 160 °C for ten minutes.
Elsewhere on the site
Method and theory: Pie and tart recipes · pies and tarts · apple
Nearby: apple pie · apple crisp · crumb cake