Here is the recipe for the best apple pie I’ve ever made/eaten. The key to this recipe is to bake the crust and apple filling for about 40 minutes, then add the crumble topping and bake for another 50 minutes. Doing this gives the apples time to soften and caramelize.

I made two of them when I had a day off towards the beginning of the summer, and after dinner we invited some of the women over for a spontaneous dessert. It was a good time.

Cinnamon Apple Pie with Crumb Topping

8 servings

Crust

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

½ cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch cubes

¼ cup (or more) ice water

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Filling

1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar

3 tablespoons flour

2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel

1 ¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 ¾ pounds apples (about 6 medium), prepared and thinly sliced

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Crumb Topping

1 cup flour

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

½ cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch cubes

Whipped Cream or Ice Cream

For Crust: Blend flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in processor. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix ¼ cup ice water and vinegar in small bowl; add to processor and pulse until moist clumps form, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if mixture is dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and chill at least 1 hour.

Roll out dough on floured work surface to 13-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch diameter deep dish glass pie dish. Fold edges under and crimp, forming crust sides ¼ inch above rim of pie dish. Freeze crust 20 minutes.

For Filling: Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375 degrees. Mix brown sugar, flour, lemon peel, and cinnamon in large bowl. Add apple slices and vanilla; toss until well coated. Transfer filling to unbaked crust, mounding filling slightly in center. Bake pie until apple begin to soften, about 40 minutes.

For Crumb Topping: Whisk flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in small bowl. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture begins clump together.

Sprinkle topping evenly over hot pie. Continue to bake pie until apples are tender and topping is browned and crisp, tenting pie with sheet of foil if browning too quickly; about 50 minutes. Cool pie on rack at least 2 hours.