apple custard crumb pie

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Hope you guys had a happy and tasty Thanksgiving. This is one of the pies we baked for the event. My mom got this recipe from a friend of hers a while back and it makes for a unique addition to the lineup. It features slices of apples baked inside a sour cream custard center and topped with a crispy, nutty crumb topping.

The filling gets placed into a par-baked pie crust. I tried the pie crust from How To Eat A Cupcake. It's similar to others I've made, only it has a bit of baking powder. I found this gave the baked crust a slightly denser feel, though still flaky. I also noticed that as I baked this crust it kept the nicely crimped edging more than usual. However, I still need work figuring out my pie crust issues, namely that the bottom refuses to crisp. It's as if the filling seeps into the crust and prevents it from crisping. I meant to brush the bottoms with beaten egg whites, but oh well.

My mom also cooked the apple slices in a sugar syrup so that the apples would cook a bit and not be as firm in the filling. You could saute yours until the apples started to feel tender if you wanted. The apples were then drained and mixed with the filling.

The pie gets baked until the custard can be poked with a knife and comes out clean. Then...

Topped with the crumb topping, including whole pecans, then returned to the oven to crisp and become golden brown.

Recipe after jump

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apple custard crumb pie
Recipe by my mom's friend

Ingredients -

1 9-inch deep dish pie crust, par-baked
8 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/8 - 1/4 inch slices (if you're cooking the apple partway first, slice them 1/4 inch thick)
1 2/3 cup sour cream
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 large egg, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

Topping -

1 cup nuts, whole or coarsely chopped
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

Directions -

1. Preheat oven to 400°F and place the pie plate on a large rimmed baking sheet. In a large bowl mix together the sour cream, sugar, flour, egg, vanilla, and salt; stir in the apples and stir to coat. Pour into pie shell and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°F and bake for 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.


2. While the pie bakes, prepare the topping. Mix the nuts (if coarsely chopped) with flour, both sugars, cinnamon and salt. Stir in the butter and continue mixing until mixture comes together. If nuts were left whole, stir them in now.


3. When pie is ready, remove from oven. Top with coating, dolloping from a spoon. Bake for 15 minutes or until the topping is crisp and golden. Let cool at room temperature before serving.

apple doughnut muffins

From what I can gather, doughnut muffins are supposed to be a much simpler way to get a doughnut, somewhat of a cross between an actual muffin and a cake doughnut. Even if it's nothing like a doughnut at all, it's still very tasty in its own way

There are two methods to make doughnut muffins, one being creaming butter with sugar to create a really tender crumb, then there's the standard muffin method of dry ingredients mixed with wet ingredients. When I found this recipe online, which originated from Joy of Cooking, I decided to use it a) because I was lazy and it used the wet-dry method, b) it had yogurt and I figured it would enhance the taste, plus the variation of the original method used confectioners' sugar as the topping and it made the muffins all the more tastier.

Most recipes call for rolling the baked muffins in butter and shaking it in cinnamon-sugar, but that seemed unnecessarily messy so I used a pastry brush to coat the muffin tops, then dipped the tops in confectioners' sugar with some apple pie spice. Not only did I use less butter (I only melted 1/4 cup to begin with), but it made it easier to eat.

My other change was to replace the vanilla extract with lemon extract, add a bit of freshly grated nutmeg, and a grated Granny Smith apple. The apple seemed to break down and mix with the batter so it wasn't detectable at all, but the flavor was really great.

Were these almost like the cousin of a cake doughnut? In a way, it was. The crumb, while light and melty, wasn't quite as spongy but tighter. The tenderness was incredible, and I enjoyed the flavor more with the few minor changes I made.

Recipe after jump

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apple doughnut muffins
Recipe modified by me, from here

Makes 12

ingredients ~

2 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
Gratings of fresh nutmeg
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and grated
2 large eggs
1 cup plain yogurt
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tsp lemon extract
Topping:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
½ tsp apple pie spice, or cinnamon and nutmeg

directions ~

1. Position oven rack in the middle position and preheat oven to 400-degrees F. Line a standard muffin pan with paper cups. (I just thoroughly greased the cups; I forgot to try the Cook's Illustrated method of only greasing the muffin cup bottoms.)


2. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together grated apple, eggs, yogurt, sugar, oil, and lemon extract. Add flour mixture and mix with light strokes until the dry ingredients are just moistened. Don't overmix; batters should not be smooth.


3. Divide batter among the muffin cups and bake until a toothpick inserted in one or two of the muffins come out clean, 15-20 minutes.


4. While the muffins are baking, melt the butter butter and place in a bowl just large enough to hold a muffin. Combine confectioners' sugar and apple pie spice in a small, shallow bowl. As soon as the muffing are done, brush the tops with butter and dip in sugar mixture. Set on a rack to cool.