Apple pie making...how to add the crumble crust on top of the mound of raw apples?

Question

We made two apple pies for Thanksgiving. Both recipes called for adding a mixture on top of your apples to create a crumbly top crust for the pie.

Mixture one involved butter, flour, and sugar. (I cut the dry ingredients into the butter) Mixture two involved melted butter, crushed graham crackers, crushed walnuts, and sugar

There was about 2 cups of each mixture.

Mixture one was stickier and had larger chunks due to the solid butter that we were working with. It was easier to add to the top of the mound of apples.

However, we found that it was almost impossible to pour mixture two on top of one of the pies. We couldn't contain all of that on top of the mound of apples. We essentially just mixed most of it into the apples and then poured the remaining on top for the crust.

Are there any suggestions for making crumple crust for apple pies? I guess one idea could be to add the crumble crust after the apples has reduced down a bit during baking.

Answer 1

According to the crumb recipe on the Epicurious Website, the crumb mixture should be the texture of wet sand and then packed down on the mound of filling:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Blend first 5 ingredients in processor. Add chilled butter cubes; using on/off turns, cut in until mixture resembles wet sand.

(After mounding the filling in the crust, pack topping over and around apples. Bake pie on baking sheet in pre-heated 400-degree oven, until topping is golden, about 40 minutes (cover top with foil if browning too quickly). Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until apples in center are tender when pierced and filling is bubbling thickly at edges, about 45 minutes longer. Cool until warm, about 1 hour. Serve with ice cream.