Happy National Pie Day! [Shredded Dutch Apple Pie]

Happy National Pie Day Sweeties! This is definitely my type of holiday, and I chose to celebrate it with a classic pie that is the first to come to mind when you think of pie. Apple pie, what else!? Only I decided to add a twist and made a Dutch Apple Pie. But there's something else that makes this apple pie stand out from the rest. Can you see it?

 That's right, the apples in this filling aren't sliced, they're shredded. Thus packing the delicious apple cinnamon flavor into every nook and fold of the crust. A lot of the shredded apple pies I've seen on the interwebs had the apple mixed in with a type of batter. So I decided to keep it as simple as I could. So enjoy the recipe and I really recommend that you try this one ( well I recommend all the recipes I post, but especially this one) [Also it's getting a little repetitive posting the crust recipe over and over, I'll make a post dedicated to pie crust in the near future and just insert a link to it to make things simpler. But for now just look at previous posts if you need the recipe for a crust.]

Ingredients

1 Pie crust

4-5 large apples, shredded

1-2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar

1/8 cup all purpose flour

2 tbsp cinnamon (I like to be generous with the cinnamon)

1 tbsp corn starch

pinch of salt

Topping

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup butter, room temperature

Directions

Get your apples ready, I like to use whatever types I have on hand but if you prefer a certain apple then use that. Remove the bruises and halve each apple. Remove the stem, core, and the calyx (the fuzzy thing on the bottom where the flower dries up, yeah I had to Google that) and set them aside. You're going to want to use a shredder with pretty large "shredder holes" (technical, I know) since you're not looking to get apple sauce, but nicely shredded apple pieces that will hold together as they bake. 

Peel each apple half right before you shred it to ensure that it doesn't turn brown too early. Once you're done shredding that one, peel the next half, shred and repeat. Tossing the shreds in lemon juice will also help with preventing the browning. No worries if it happens anyways though, it shouldn't change the flavor. Once you're done with all the apple halves, mix together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and corn starch. Mix it into the apple shreds and pour everything into the prepared pie crust. 

For the Dutch topping, mix together the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Incorporate the room temperature butter with a mixer/food processor or with a fork until the mixture becomes crumbly. 

Sprinkle it on top of the apple mixture and pop into a preheated 350℉ oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the topping becomes golden and crunchy and the crust looks cooked throughout.

Set on a rack to cool, you don't have to wait until it's fully cold to eat, the apple shreds are dense enough to hold together if you want to cut yourself a warm slice. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and you've celebrated National Pie Day (or any day for that matter) in the best way possible.

Thanks for reading Sweeties! Until next week.

-Bruni