Brown Sugar Apple Pie with Sourdough Crust

It's apple season! Hip, hip, hurray! My boys adore apple picking. When we lived in Orange County we went apple picking every year. We have some dear friends living up in Oak Glen on a property full of gorgeous apple trees. They would let us come up and pick all we wanted. We'd come down the mountain with our trunk packed full of apples. The days and weeks that followed saw apple pies, a batch or two of apple butter, apple breads, apple cakes, applesauce, and apple cider - most of which got frozen to be eaten and shared throughout the holiday season. I was always in a race against myself to use up every last apple. I always won, of course. Such great memories.

We still try to go apple picking each year, but now that we have to pay for our picking we limit ourselves to a few pies worth of apples. Which brings me to my favorite apple pie.

My tender, crisp, flaky, and sweet Brown Sugar Apple Pie with Sourdough Crust.

This Brown Sugar Apple Pie is the one I always make - my very favorite version of apple pie.

Make a batch of my sourdough pastry, line a few pie pans, and freeze them to be ready for pie season.

I like to use sourdough pastry for the bottom of my pie. It's so very buttery and flaky - my very favorite pie crust. When I'm in a pinch (or not up to making homemade pastry), I use Marie Calendar's deep dish frozen pie crust. Have I mentioned that I have an easy way to make almost every dish I do? Some days just call for easy.




For the apple filling, I always opt for half Granny Smith and half Golden Delicious apples. I'm in love with the flavor and texture this combo brings to my pie.




I pile them high and deep after I've tossed them with sugar, flour, spices, and lemon juice.

A perfectly tender and crisp brown sugar short crust tops my Brown Sugar Apple Pie.

I top my pie with a brown sugar short crust. This topping is crunchy and sugary, mingles perfectly with those gorgeous tender apples, and melts in your mouth. It's reminiscent of a tender brown sugar shortbread cookie. I got the recipe for this topping from a vintage southern cookbook years ago - one of those compilations of loved recipes put together by a ladies' club. I love those kinds of cookbooks. You can usually find them at second hand stores.

This Brown Sugar Apple Pie is my very favorite version of apple pie.

My pies always bake up a little monstrous. It's all the butter. I make no apologies. 😉

Making this pie goes fairly quickly if your bottom pastry is ready to go. I like to make a batch of sourdough pastry, line a few pie tins, and freeze them to pull out whenever I have a hanker'n for pie.

If we've been apple picking, I like to put down four pies right away and freeze them for the holidays. This pie freezes so well. See my freezing instructions below.

Brown Sugar Apple Pie
(Makes one deep dish pie)

INGREDIENTS
1 unbaked deep dish single pie crust (I used sourdough pastry)
3 cups peeled and sliced granny smith apples (about 3 medium)
3 cups peeled and sliced golden delicious apples (about 3 medium)
2 Tbsp flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

For the topping:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (1 stick)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup flour
a hefty pinch of salt

DIRECTIONS
1. Make sure your bottom crust is prepped and waiting for you in the freezer.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
3. In a large bowl, toss apple slices with the 2 Tbsp flour, the granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon juice. Set aside.
4. Using a stand or hand mixer, beat 1/2 cup softened butter with the brown sugar and salt for 30 seconds.
5. Add the cup of flour and beat until mixture resembles cookie dough.
6. Place your pastry lined pie pan on top of a large baking sheet to catch any drips.
7. Load apples into pastry leaving behind any juices in the bowl.
8. Press brown sugar mixture evenly over apples trying to seal them up as best you can. You don't have to be exact.
9. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.

TO FREEZE YOUR PIE: Add an additional Tbsp of flour to your apple mixture before you assemble your pie. Wrap your assembled raw pie very well in foil. Then, wrap the pie very well in plastic wrap. Then, wrap again in foil.

TO BAKE YOUR FROZEN PIE: Unwrap pie, place on a baking sheet, and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake another 50 to 60 minutes. Cover pie with foil if it browns too quickly.