Thursday, November 19, 2009

Make-Ahead Crumb Top Apple Pie

I can hardly believe that Thanksgiving is next week! We'll be hitting the road and heading up to Oregon to visit with my husband's family. It should be a fun (and LOUD) time with the whole gang together. I think that there will be 17 of us there. We're looking forward to the family time (but not the drive time).



Since it is a Thanksgiving themed Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life As Mom today, I thought that I'd share a super yummy Crumb Top Apple Pie recipe that is perfect for making ahead and freezing! I'm sure that everyone has their own version, but this is the one that I turn to. I got it a few years ago at a local Mothers of Preschoolers meeting right before Thanksgiving. As part of our "creative activities" portion of the morning, we made Apple Pies that we could bake that day or FREEZE for later use. What a brilliant idea! Make the pie ahead of time...and freeze it until you need it. If Apple Pie is on your menu this Thanksgiving, why not make it this weekend and freeze it to save a little hassle next week?!


Crumb Top Apple Pie

Pie Ingredients:
1 prepared pie shell (homemade or store-bought frozen shell)
2 pounds baking apples (Granny Smiths), about 5 cups peeled and sliced
2/3 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Crumb Topping Ingredients:
2/3 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed firm
1/4 cup butter

Directions: Mix sugar, 2 Tbsp. flour, and cinnamon. Peel, core, and slice apples, then layer into pie shell. Sprinkle with the sugar/flour/cinnamon mixture, alternating it with apple layers. Prepare the crumb topping by mixing the 2/3 cup flour and brown sugar, then mixing the butter into it with a pastry blender, until the butter is in pea-sized pieces or smaller. Sprinkle the topping onto the pie.

If you are going to bake your pie immediately, place it on a cookie sheet, and bake at 400 degrees for 40-45 minutes, until juice is thick and bubbly.

If you want to freeze your pie to bake later, place it in a large ziploc bag, suck as much air as possible OUT of the bag and freeze. To bake a frozen pie, do not thaw before baking. Place on cookie sheet and bake at 400 until juice is thick and bubbly, about 1 hour, 15 minutes. Cover edges with foil after 45 minutes baking to prevent burned edges.

3 comments:

Erika said...

Thanks for the idea, Janel! I remember making this in MOPS and it was oh-so-good! As of now, my apple pie is in the oven and Noah is especially excited to eat it up! Have a terrific Thanksgiving in OR. We're headed down to Carmel next week.

Anonymous said...

Made this tonight with a gluten free crust and wow simple and delicious. Definitely making this again.

Unknown said...

Super EXCITED to make this pie. My first pie attempt ever...I''ll let you know how it goes. Oh and by the way I'm entering a pie contest tonight. Cross your fingers.
- First time pie guy-