Yes folks, that’s an apple pie/apple crumble hybrid. Apple Crumpie! Better than Apple Pumble yes?
Each Christmas I am generally asked to make dessert due to A) being a fairly ordinary cook and B) being a reasonable baker. In saying that, I did successfully cook a turducken with a bunch of Tanzanians in 2013 and I don’t think I can do better than that for Christmas.
Tanzanians. That’s my sis in law on the right.
I make cheesecake every year, because…cheesecake. 3 years ago I made one of those fancy ice-cream cakes that are in the foodie magazines; all layered sorbet and triple chocolate ice-cream and crushed biscuits etc, until dad, brother and various relatives made their unhappiness known by various utterances of “what the F— kind of ice-cream cake is this?!” Never again, people. The miners are traditionalists around here.
Which is how I came to the decision to make apple pie this year. Traditionalists love apple pie right? Right. Truth be told, I was advised to buy an apple pie because actually making apple pie is pretty tedious and frozen apple pies are fairly nice.
I wouldn’t be a very good DIY-er if I bought a frozen pie now, would I?
Obviously, I decided to make my own. Here’s where things get challenging:
* I’ve never made any kind of dessert pie (with emphasis on no DIY pie crust. Ever.)
* I don’t like apple pie. At all.
Soooo not only was I breaking the golden rule of NEVER TRYING AN UNTESTED RECIPE FOR AN OCCASION, I also couldn’t taste test, or even eyeball something to see if it looked right, because I hate it and never ever eat it. There’s no way this could wrong…
With an irrational amount of self-confidence I started asking everyone I know about their tried-and-true recipes and most said “pffft, just buy one”, or “make apple crumble, it’s way easier”. Not helpful guys. My bricks and mortar boss came through with her recipe, and I decided to go ahead with that one.
I used a recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction for Salted Caramel Apple Pie
Sadly, mine did not look like this. Sorry Sally.
As per most apple pie instructions, I started with making the crust and letting it chill in the fridge while I made the filling.
My cottage-y kitchen screams homemade apple pie. Check out those tiles!
The mixing part of the pie crust-making was mostly stress free, it all came together as per the instructions. I rolled it into a ball and popped it in the fridge. So far, so good!
Foodie pictures shouldn’t have crumbs hey?
Preparing the apples, while tedious, is probably the only step that I wasn’t heart palpitations about. You have to peel and core 5 apples: Sally suggested using 2 different types of apple for a more complex flavour so I went with 3 Pink Lady and 2 Granny Smith. I cut those babies into thin slices and set aside. I feel like I’m underestimating this part: it took AGES. Even with the mum-essential Ikea apple corer and cutter, forever.
You then make the salted caramel sauce as per Sally’s instructions. I’ve never made caramel before and it was so easy and so so so so good. Sally rocks.
And then, it was time for the dreaded pie crust. I wish I could say it went smoothly, but it didn’t. My first attempt to roll it was disastrous, and it didn’t get a whole lot better. There was a lot of patching of the crust as per the boss-lady’s instructions:
More crumbs. Crap blogger.
But there was a pie crust in my pie dish so I’m claiming it a win. I then mixed the apple filling with what I’m told are apple pie essentials: flour, nutmeg, cloves, lemon zest, cinnamon and sugar. It looks like heaps of apple filling, so you have to be quite strategic in getting those slices right in there so it all fits. Then take that salted caramel you made earlier and drizzle around half over the apple filling for extra appley goodness.
Appley goodness
Now if I was Sally, I would now make an amazing lattice pie top and brush it with egg for golden shiny-ness. Clearly, I am not Sally. The boss suggested grating the remaining pastry as a quick and easy pie top – and imagining the grated pastry made me think of apple crumble, which everyone suggested I make in the first place.
SOLD! Best of both worlds in my kitchen. Apple pie crust and filling, apple crumble pie top. And so the Apple Crumpie was born.
Apple Crumpie. The battler’s apple pie.
Bake that sucker for just over an hour and enjoy! You should have caramel sauce left over to serve the pie with. Did I forget to take the caramel sauce to Christmas lunch? Absolutely.
Here she is at Christmas lunch (a little blackened due to over-re-heating due to talking too much and forgetting about it) with cheesecake, pudding and custard. Icecream is hiding somewhere.
Word is that it was a winner, and the caramel was a nice touch. It’s entirely possible that people were being polite, but no one left any in their bowls so I’m calling it good.
Did you make anything special this Christmas? If it will pass the miner palate test, I wanna hear about it!
Jenelle x
Things That Shine 