Baking Weather and Browned Butter Apple Pie

I'm so happy to welcome back Fall, mainly because everyone knows Fall is Baking Season.  To me it is not a coincidence that this time of year is when we harvest apples.  Time for apple pie.


A few years ago I went on a mission to find the very best apple pie recipe out there.  As with brownies, there are a million recipes (hence, The Brownie Project) and I needed only the very best.  Unless you're Mari or my grandmother Alice, pies aren't easy to make, so why waste time making one that's anything less than off the charts amazing?


Mari makes amazing pie crust... mine, not so much.  So please don't judge me for using a refrigerated crust.  Someday I'll hone my crust making skills, but for now, I have two children under the age of four.


I asked the internet to find me an easy to make, amazing apple pie.  My search turned up something intriguing - Browned Butter Apple Pie.  Adding butter to apple pie sounded like a great idea to me, and I liked that it called for just one crust.  This enables one package of two crusts to become two pies, which by my calculations is always better than one pie.


My friend Audrey had some of this pie when I made for one of our weekly Girls Nights, and confessed to me six months later she couldn't stop thinking about it.  Oh, Audge.

Pretty good lookin' stuff, right?


Here's what you're going to need.  It's a Pillsbury recipe, so that's probably why it calls for their pie crust.  I'm so in love with the end result I don't even mind the self-promotion.

Let's make some pie.


1/4 cup butter 
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
5 cups sliced peeled organic Granny Smith apples (5 medium)


Crust
1 Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust


Streusel
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup firm butter

Heat oven to 400°F Place cookie sheet in oven to heat. In 1-quart saucepan, cook 1/4 cup butter over medium heat, stirring constantly, until melted and lightly browned. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.

In large bowl, beat 1/2 cup granulated sugar and the egg with wire whisk until light and fluffy. Beat in 2 tablespoons flour and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in cooled butter. Gently stir in apples. Pour into crust-lined pan.

In medium bowl, stir together all streusel ingredients except butter. With pastry blender or fork, cut in 1/4 cup butter until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over apples. Place pie on cookie sheet in oven.

Bake 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F and cover edge of crust with strips of foil or pie crust shield (I use Grandma Alice's.  Functional and full of good-pie-making-mojo) to prevent excessive browning. Bake 40 to 50 minutes longer or until apples are tender and crust is golden brown. Cool 2 hours.




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