Chef notes
No need to be fussy with this easy pie. No crimping, no lattice work — heck, you don't even need a pie dish! Homemade pie crust is a cinch and oh so satisfying to make, but there is no shame in using a store-bought crust if you want to be even more unfussy.
Ingredients
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling the dough
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces
- 1/3 cup ice water
- 1/3 cup almonds, toasted and ground
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 5 apples, cut into 1/8-inch slices
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Preparation
For the pastry:
In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Pulse just to combine. Add the butter and water, and pulse again until the dough resembles a fluffy cottage cheese. Turn the dough onto a floured surface. With your hands, shape it until it just comes to other as a ball. You don't want to overwork the dough or your pastry will become tough.
Roll the dough into a 14-inch round, transfer to a baking sheet and refrigerate for 30 minutes. The pastry can be made up to 3 days in advance, wrapped tightly with plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator.
For the filling:
1.Preheat oven to 400 F.
2.In a small bowl, combine the almonds, 3 tablespoons of sugar and the flour. Remove the chilled pastry from the refrigerator and spread the nut mixture over the center of the dough, leaving a 2-inch border around the edge. Maintaining the border, lay the apple slices in concentric circles, starting from the outside and working your way to the middle. Fold the border of dough over to cover part of the fruit. Dot the fruit with butter and sprinkle the entire pie with the remaining one tablespoon of sugar.
3.Bake until the fruit is bubbly and the crust is golden brown, about 20 minutes.
