Homegrown-Homemade Apple Pear Crumble Pie

I would say that pie making is one of my specialties, and one of my biggest prides in cooking. it's one of the things on how I really got into cooking and baking in general. We've had fruit trees growing in my backyard since we've lived here. One of the earliest pies I ever made was lemon meringue made from homegrown lemons. We also had lots of apples, so my mom use to do all the peeling and coring for me, while I did everything else for the pie. Me making this pie was based on necessity, which is using the backyard apples and pears which comes into season at the same time.

Pie Filling

5 cups mostly apple with some pear peeled and thinly sliced
juice from 1/2 a lemon
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
2 tablespoons flour

Crust - good for 9 inch pie

1 stick butter -very cold

1 and 1/4 cups flour

dash salt

3-4 tablespoons water

Pie Topping - crumble

1/2 stick chilled butter

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup oatmeal

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp allspice

Start preparing the filling first. it can take time to peel and slice that much fruit. squeeze over the top the juice of a 1/2 lemon. toss. add in the rest of the seasonings and flour, and toss until evenly coated. Set aside.

Create the dough: cut the very cold butter into sections and drop in a food processor. Add in the flour, salt. Pulse until the dough looks coarse and the butter is well broken up. It shouldn't take that long, maybe about 6-8 pulses. It coarse dough should look about the size of little peas. Add in the water 1 tablespoon at a time and pulse each time. Remove the lid and check the dough. make sure the dough holds together when you pinch it. If it doesn't, add another tablespoon of water, and pulse again. Gather the dough into a ball and press together. Flatten the dough a little on a clean floured surface. Take your rolling pin and coat it with flour. I like to take about a tablespoon of flour and put it in my palm, then run the rolling pin up and down my palm to distribute. Then sprinkle disk of dough withe the extra flourand use the edges of the pie plate to measure. I say I like an extra inch all the way around the plate. if you have a scraper scrape to lift off the surface. Now roll the dough carefully onto the pin, then carefully roll the dough onto the pie plate. Press up against the plate and fill any holes. Flute the edges. Take 4 strips of foil, about two inches wide each. carefully fold them together to make a ring around the pie. Then get a little more foil and place in the middle so the topping doesnt brown too quickly. Bake in a 375 oven for about 40 minutes. Take off the foil. Bake for another 10 minutes. allow to cool. Serve with vanilla ice cream.