Crunch top apple pie

I love pie.

Mostly, however, pies at our house are either made by the DH, or they are made in a "pre-fab" crust.

This one was made by me, crust and all, and it was actually edible!

So in honor of my making a good pie crust, I decided to share the recipe with you all (and yes, you too can make this pie crust!)


Crust Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 tsp salt
2 tbls sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tbls very cold water

Filling:
2 cups cooked apples

Topping:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup old fashioned oatmeal
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup butter

How to:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• In an ungreased glass pie pan, stir together the dry crust ingredients (I used a fork).
• Add the oil and water to the dry ingredients and continue mixing with the fork until there are no dry spots.
• Using your fingers, press the mixture into the edges and bottom of the pie plate, make sure there are no holes, and that the top edge rises above the pan.
• Use the fork to prick holes over the bottom of the crust (this is called "docking")
• Put the crust into the oven and bake for 5 to 8 minutes (blind baking), just until the crust firms up so any liquids in the filling have less chance of making the bottom crust soggy.
• Remove the pan from the oven and spread cooked apples evenly in the crust.
• Using a pastry cutter or two case knives, cut together the topping ingredients until they look like coarse meal. Spread topping over the top of the apples.
• Bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, until topping is bubbly and the bottom crust is done.
• Cool and eat.

I'm thinking you could use canned pie cherries in this instead and substitute almonds for the pecans. It would also be good with peaches (home canned?) and this topping.

Enjoy!