Dutch Apple Crumble Pie Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 homemade single pie crust (1 sheet of pie dough)
• For the apple filling: ¼ tsp lemon zest
• juice from half a lemon (2 tbsp, no more)
• 5 lbs apples (before peeling and coring)
• ½ cup brown sugar, packed
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp kosher salt
• 1½ tsp cinnamon
• ¾ tsp nutmeg
• ½ tsp cardamom (optional)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• For the sugar crumble: 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• ¾ cup brown sugar, packed
• ½ tsp kosher salt (use a little less if using table salt)
• ¾ cup butter, melted (1½ sticks)

Steps

1. Choose your apples: you need 5 pounds (~11 large apples). Use a mix for best flavor — Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, and Golden Delicious work well.
2. Make the filling: zest ¼ tsp lemon peel into a 12-inch high-sided skillet (heat off). Add juice from half a lemon (~2 tbsp). Don't use much more — just enough to wake up the apples and keep them from browning.
3. Peel and slice apples into ⅛-inch pieces. Peel and slice one apple at a time, adding each to the pan with the lemon juice and stirring occasionally to coat. This keeps them from browning.
4. Once all apples are in the pan, set it over medium heat. Add ½ cup packed brown sugar, ½ cup granulated sugar, ⅓ cup flour, ½ tsp kosher salt, 1½ tsp cinnamon, ¾ tsp nutmeg, and ½ tsp cardamom (optional). Stir gently so you don't break the apples.
5. Once moistened with no patches of flour or cinnamon, cover and cook 20 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes and replacing the lid each time. Cook until apples are fork-tender but still hold their shape — they will not soften more in the oven. Taste and adjust time to your preferred doneness. If apples stick, add 1 tbsp water (plus more as needed); use sparingly.
6. Remove from heat and stir in 1 tsp vanilla.
7. Transfer the filling (including all the caramel sauce) to a half sheet pan or any pan with a lip. Spread to the edges. Cool completely in the fridge or freezer (~30 min in freezer, or a couple hours at room temperature in the pan).
8. Roll out pie dough and place in a 9-inch pie dish. Fold edges underneath and crimp with your fingers and thumbs. Chill the crust in the fridge or freezer ~30 minutes.
9. While the crust and filling chill, place a baking sheet or pizza stone on the center oven rack and preheat to 425°F for at least 20–30 minutes.
10. Make the sugar crumble: in a medium bowl, whisk 1½ cups flour, ⅓ cup white sugar, ¾ cup packed brown sugar, and ½ tsp kosher salt. Melt ¾ cup butter (1½ sticks) and pour over the dry ingredients; stir gently until you have a wet sandy mixture with some large clumps. Chill in the fridge until assembly.
11. When the filling is completely cooled and the pie shell is mostly frozen, scrape all the chilled filling into the pie shell — every last bit of the gooey filling.
12. Break the crumble into smaller bite-size pieces with your hands or a fork. Top the pie with about 1–2 cups crumble (not all of it). Return the remaining crumble to the fridge.
13. Bake: place the chilled pie on the hot baking sheet in the oven. Bake 15 minutes at 425°F until the crust edge is turning light brown.
14. Meanwhile, make a foil shield: fold a square of foil the size of your pie in half twice, cut out the center, and open — or use a pie shield.
15. After 15 minutes at 425°F, reduce heat to 350°F without removing the pie. Bake 10 more minutes at 350°F.
16. Remove the pie from the oven and quickly shut the oven door. Sprinkle the remaining chilled crumble over the top, breaking up large pieces. Place the foil shield on the crust edges (center exposed). Confirm oven is at 350°F.
17. Return the pie to the hot baking sheet and bake at 350°F for 25–35 more minutes (55–65 minutes total in the oven). Done when crust edges are brown and crumble is light golden brown in the center. For more color, remove the foil shield and bake another 5–10 minutes.
18. Cool on a wire rack at least 4 hours before slicing — cutting early makes the filling too liquid and the crumble soggy.
19. Once completely cool, slice and serve with vanilla ice cream and salted caramel sauce if desired.
20. Store on the counter up to 2 days, covered with plastic wrap or foil; then refrigerate.
21. Notes: cooled apple filling can be frozen in a ziplock bag up to 3 months for pies, cobblers, or apple crisp.
22. Freezing Method 1: freeze crust, filling, and topping separately in freezer bags. Thaw in fridge, then assemble and bake per instructions.
23. Freezing Method 2: assemble pie through the first crumble layer. Wrap pie (pan and all) in two layers each of plastic wrap and foil; freeze topping separately. Store upright 1–3 months. To bake: unwrap, preheat oven to 425°F with pizza stone or cookie sheet on center rack, then follow baking steps from adding the second crumble layer; add 15–20 min bake time and cover top with foil if browning too fast.
24. Freezing Method 3: freeze fully baked pie after cooling 8 hours, wrapped well. To reheat: unwrap, preheat to 350°F with cookie sheet or pizza stone on center rack, bake ~30 min until warmed through; cover with foil if crust or crumble browns too much.