In the great Pie vs. Cake debate, I am Team Pie all the way. A slice of pie with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream is like the dessert equivalent of climbing into your warm bed after a long ass day. It’s the ultimate comfort food: Nothing soothes your heart chambers quite like pie does, especially in the fall and winter time. If you disagree with me, you’re just wrong.
Best of all, apple pie is a year-long classic. Fourth of July? Apple Pie. Thanksgiving? Apple pie. Christmas? Apple pie. Easter? Apple pie. Just got dumped? Apple pie. But if you’re going to go with an apple pie, you’ve gotta make it a Dutch Apple Pie.
Not sure how a Dutch Apple Pie differs from a regular apple pie? It’s all about the crust.
A regular apple pie has a crust made with pie dough. It can be lattice, a single crust that blankets the apple filling, or even a pretty design (check out our genius pie crust hacks here!), but it’s made with the same buttery, flakey pie dough used for the bottom. A Dutch Apple Pie has a streusel topping that tastes like a crushed-up, no-raisin oatmeal cookie.
It’s how I prefer to make apple pie, and I’ve got a streusel topping recipe I keep going back to, again and again. It has oats (very important — you want that extra crunchy, granola-ness) and cinnamon (I love cinnamon, but if you don’t, it’s not essential I guess), which gives it a very autumnal taste and feel.
Recipe below!
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
3/4 cup quick oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 Tsp. salt
1 stick unsalted butter, really cold (stick it in the freezer for 5 minutes)
1/4 Tsp. cinnamon
Instructions:
1. Melt your stick of butter.
2. While it’s in the microwave — or your sauce pan if ya fancy — mix your flour, oats, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon together in a medium-sized bowl.
3. Take the melted butter and slowly mix it in with your hands. Mix until you’ve got a buttery, crumbly texture. You’ll sprinkle this over your apple pie once it’s ready for the oven.
And that’s it! Easy as apple pie. If you’re crushing on my sweet red pie dish, you can get your own below!
Buy it here.
