I have tried a few recipes for apple pie and found this simple, no-top crust pie recipe that I found at allrecipes.com and made some adjustment as seen below is my favorite. I find that too often, the flavors of covered apple pie are lost and overwhelmed by the crust.
For the Crust
You can choose between the easy pat-in-the-pan recipe (as in original recipe),
or the flaky pastry dough or Pâte Brisée like I did below. This dough makes a light, flaky crust that shatters at the touch of a fork.
For one 9-inch (or two 4-inch mini pies), you’ll need
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon white sugar or 1 teaspoon powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening, or 1/4 cup shortening and 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter
1/3 cup cup plus 1 tablespoon ice water
After you put the dough in the fridge, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Then assemble the filling.
For the Filling
You’ll need
6 Golden Delicious (Gala, or Fuji) apples
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
2 Tablespoon cornstarch
3 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ground ground cinnamon
Mix together sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice and cornstarch. Sprinkle over apples and toss to coat. Cook in a saucepan over medium heat until tender. Meanwhile, roll out the dough that you previously put in the fridge and transfer it to the pie pan. Then put the filling in the unbaked pie crust.
For the Toppings:
You’ll need
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
A few dashes of cinnamon
Using a pastry cutter, mix together the flour, sugar and butter until evenly distributed and crumbly in texture. Sprinkle over the filling topped with dashes of cinnamon.
Put pie in the oven on a cookie sheet to catch the juices that may spill over. Bake 45 minutes or until pie crust is golden brown.
Let cool on rack for at least 15 minutes. Slice and serve warm by itself or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.