Apple-Raspberry Pie with Almond Crumble Topping

 

This pie has been my favorite pie since I found it two years ago. I grew up with pies at every holiday, and my mom's Apple pie has become famous in our family. I'm all for traditional apple pie, but this is a nice twist on the classic. The filling of this pie is mostly apples, with some raspberries mixed in. The raspberries not only add flavor, but color. After all the juices combine and cook down in the oven, the filling takes on a pink color from the raspberries, even though it is still mostly apple. The real specialty, though, is the addition of almond paste in the filling - the prominent almond flavor combined with the apples, raspberries, and the nutty crumble topping really pushes this one to the top!

For the pie in the pictures, I used the extra pie dough I had after trimming the crust to cut out mini leaves and pumpkins to fancify the edges of the pie. I glued each leaf to the crust with a little egg wash to help them adhere, and I brushed the whole border with egg wash after they were all in place to help the shapes brown nicely in the oven. I think it came out great! If you don't have a small cookie cutter, you could always cut leaf shapes out by hand.

RECIPE: Apple-Raspberry Pie with Almond Crumble Topping

from Betty Crocker Fall Baking 2007

serve warm with vanilla ice cream, cold for breakfast, or any meal in between!

INGREDIENTS:
Crust:
Pastry for single pie crust.
Or, make from scratch:
1-1/4 all purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1/3 cup vegetable shortening, chilled
1/4 cup ice water

Filling:
3 cups thinly sliced, peeled cooking apples (about 3 medium apples)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups fresh or frozen (thawed & drained) raspberries
1/2 cup cubed or crumbled pure almond paste (not marzipan) from 7-8 oz package
(find in baking section, near nuts and chocolate)

Crumble Topping:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sliced almonds

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350F.

Crust:
Combine flour and salt in large bowl. Add butter and cut into the flour until texture is coarse and crumbly (use hands or two forks). Add shortening until dough is crumbly again. Add ice water and mix just until water is incorporated. The dough will be a little sticky, so dust hands and work surface with flour. Remove dough from bowl and form into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and form dough into a flatter disk. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Chill for a few days in the fridge, or freeze for several months.

On a lightly floured surface, roll pie dough from the center to the edge into a 12-inch circle. Transfer the dough to your pie plate (either roll pastry around rolling pin, or gently fold the circle into quarters to lift into dish then gently unfold back into a circle). Do not stretch the crust to fit! Gently lift and place back down. Trim the pastry to 1 inch beyond the edge of the plate. Fold under extra pastry and crimp edge as you desire.

Filling:

In a large bowl, stir together apples, sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Spoon into crust lined pie plate. Sprinkle with raspberries. Sprinkle almond paste evenly over the filling. This is where the flavor punch comes from!

Crumble Topping:
In a medium bowl, mix flour and suguar. Cut in butter (using your fingers, or a fork) until particles are about the size of small peas. Stir in almonds. Sprinkle evely over almond paste.

Bake 1 hour (or an hour and 15 minutes), covering edge of curst with foil after about 30 minutes, until apples are tender in the center and the topping is golden brown. Serve warm or cool.