Recipe: Crumb Topped Fruit Pie

This pie is so easy . It is great warm or cold, topped with whipped cream or ice cream. You can make it out of any fruit, but my favorite is apple.

For apple pie filling your need:

6 cups of peeled, cored and thinly sliced apples,

1/2/ to 3/4 cup sugar,

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

cinnamon or other preferred spices to taste

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour.

In a large mixing bowl stir all dry ingredients together. Add the fruit and toss till the fruit is coated. Place in pie crust (I just use a deep dish, frozen crust) place a few dollops of butter or margarine ( I only use real butter) here and there on top of the filling. Top with crumb topping.

Crumb topping:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons butter

salt to taste

cinnamon and nutmeg to taste.

Combine flour and brown sugar. cut in butter till mixture resembles coarse crumbs; sprinkle over filling. Cover edge with foil. Bake at 350 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake 20-25 minutes more or till top is golden and fruit is tender.

After the pie cools some you can knock it up a notch by drizzling powdered sugar icing over the top. The ingredients are so easy:

1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

milk or orange juice, about 2 teaspoons.

Mix the sugar, vanilla and mix in milk or juice 1 teaspoon at a time, adding a little more if necessary, till you get a drizzling consistency.

Drizzle across the pie. Serves 8. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to go to all the work to make 1 pie! I always double the recipe.

My oven is temperamental. I tend to leave the foil on for the full cooking time to prevent the crust from being over browned. This is a great fall dessert