Apple Pie with a Gingerbread Crumble

Years ago - say, twenty five years! - my typical Friday night was to bake an apple pie with one of my best friends and, then, settle in for a night of watching romantic comedies. Yeah, we were real party animals. It's no wonder that the cool kids didn't invite us out for things such as rolling pumpkins down city streets! But we could recite every line from The Princess Bride and When Harry Met Sally.

I have no idea what recipe we used to use. This is what I used tonight.


Crust
2 C flour
1/2 C organic powdered sugar
3/4 C butter
4 T heavy whipping cream

Use a pastry cutter to cut the flour and powdered sugar into the butter, forming pea-sized chunks. Add the whipping cream until the dough comes together into a ball. Roll the dough out between two pieces of parchment paper - to fit your pan with at least 1" overhang. Press the dough gently into the pan and trim the crust to the top of your dish. Flute the edges and reserve the dough for the topping. Place the crust in the freezer until the filling is ready.

Filling
2 lbs apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
1/2 C organic granulated sugar
1 t ground ginger
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1 t ground cinnamon
2 T butter

Stir the apples with the sugar and spices and scoop them into the chilled crust. Dot the apples with butter. Preheat the oven to 415 degrees.

Topping
leftover ninjabread dough
leftover crust dough (above)
1/4 C organic brown sugar

Use a pastry cutter to create pea-sized chunks with the topping ingredients. Top the pie with the gingerbread topping. Place strips of foil around the edges of the pie.

Bake for 45 minutes with the foil on. Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes. Let cool slightly, but serve warm.