Cooking for Zo

Taste Level: VGR

This delicious pie was adapted by Zo from Nick Maglieri's Recipe.  It is one of if not the best Apple pies I have ever had.  Enjoy!

Ingrdients:
Crust
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 to 5 tablespoons ice water

Apple filling
6-7 apples, mix of Gala, Golden Delicious, and granny smith, peeled, cored, and sliced
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar

Sour Cream Custard
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sour cream

Crumb Topping
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour(spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup maple sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
One 9 1/2 or 10-inch pie pan

Crust
For the crust, whisk together flour, butter, and salt in a bowl with your fingertips or pulse in a food processor just until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with some roughly pea-size butter lumps. Drizzle 3 tablespoons ice water evenly over mixture and gently stir with a fork (or pulse) until incorporated. Squeeze a small handful: If it doesn’t hold together, add more ice water, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, stirring (or pulsing) until incorporated, then test again. (Do not overwork mixture or pastry will be tough.) Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 4 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather dough together, with a pastry scraper if you have one, and press into a ball, then flatten into a 5-inch disk. Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.

When you are ready to make the pie, set a rack in the lowest level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Roll out the dough and arrange it in a 9-inch pie pan or press the dough into a 9-inch pie pan and set aside, unbaked.

Filling
For the filling, place the apples in a sauté pan with the butter and sugar. Cook over high heat, stirring and tossing, until about half the apples have dissolved, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer the apples to a bowl to cool.

Sour Cream Custard
For the sour cream custard, whisk together the flour and sugar in a bowl, then whisk in the eggs, vanilla, and sour cream in order.

Crumb topping
To make the crumb topping, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Pour in the melted butter and stir until the mixture forms a crumbly mass.

Pie
Stir the cooled apples into the sour-cream custard filling and pour into the dough-lined pan. Sprinkle the crumb topping over the filling.

Bake the pie until the dough is baked through, the filling is set, and the crumbs are a deep golden color, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool the pie on a rack.

Make sure the pie is completely cooled or the flavors will be obscured by the heat.
Storage: Keep the pie loosely covered with plastic wrap at a cool room temperature on the day it is baked. Wrap and refrigerate leftovers and bring them to room temperature before serving again.