Brown sugar apple pie with almond crumb topping

Brown sugar apple pie with almond crumb topping

Homemade or store-bought pastry for a single-crust pie

4 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

¾ cup packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Almond crumb topping

½ cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons flour

¼ cup melted butter

1 teaspoon almond extract

⅓ cup sliced almonds

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9-inch glass pie plate.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough into a circle large enough to fit pie plate, dusting work surface and dough as necessary to keep the dough from sticking (or roll between 2 pieces of waxed or parchment paper).

Press dough into prepared pie plate, crimping edge. Place pie plate in freezer or refrigerator for 15-20 minutes to chill while you prepare the filling.

In a large bowl, gently combine apples, brown sugar, flour, lemon zest, lemon juice and cinnamon, making sure apples are well coated.

Transfer filling to prepared bottom crust, gently pressing apples into pastry with your hand. Place pie plate on baking sheet and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.

For the topping: In a medium bowl, combine sugar, flour, melted butter and almond extract. With your fingers, work mixture to a medium-fine crumb. Stir in almonds.

Remove pie from oven, reduce temperature to 350 degrees and sprinkle crumb topping over apples. Return pie to oven and continue baking for 25-30 minutes more or until the crumb topping is nicely browned, apples are tender and juices are bubbling.

If pie starts to get too brown before it's finished baking, cover loosely with a piece of tented foil. Let cool on a wire rack for 1 hour before serving.

Serves eight.

"The Complete Book of Pies: 200 Recipes From Sweet to Savory" by Julie Hasson (2008 Robert Rose, $24.95)