Apple Pie Variation
Sour cream apple walnut pie is a delicious dessert variation of the traditional apple pie with sour cream and a walnut streusel topping. The tanginess of the sour cream is balanced with the sweet flavor of the apples. The typical brown sugar, butter, and flour streusel topping is enhanced with skinless chopped walnuts. I’m bumping up the apple custard filling using several different types of apples and boiled apple cider. As a result, the apple flavor holds up to the other ingredients.
How Many Apples Does It Take to Make a Pie?
I like a robust apple pie. Figure 6-7 apples or 10 cups/1.2kg of sliced apples per pie. Peeling and coring this many apples can be a chore. A solution is an old-fashioned apple, peeler, and corer. This machine peels, slices, and cores the apple all at the same time.
It is served as a capper to any meal or an irresistible slice with your morning coffee.
Prepare a large mixing bowl with fresh lemon juice. The lemon juice will aid in keeping the apple slices from oxidizing.
Toss the apple slices with the lemon juice.
Add the sour cream, sugar, flour, egg, boiled apple cider, vanilla, allspice, and salt for the custard.
Using a whisk (not pictured), combine the ingredients thoroughly.
Add the apples to the custard mixture. Using a rubber spatula, combine the ingredients and reserve.
Add the ingredients for the streusel topping and pulse until you reach crumb consistency.
The prepared walnut streusel topping.
You can use store-bought pie shells if you wish or, as I have, make your pie crust. (See the recipe in this blog)
Prepare the pie pan with the pie crust. Be careful to press out any bubbles in the dough gently.
Add the apple/custard to the pie shell. Brush the edge of the pie shell with milk or whisked egg to aid the crust browning. Add the pie to a preheated (350°F -175°C) oven and bake for 1 hour.
Add the walnut streusel topping after the pie has baked for 1 hour. Bake the pie for 25-30 minutes.
There’s nothing like the smell of freshly baked pie.
Delicious served with fine Calvados, coffee, or tea.
Sour Cream Apple Walnut Pie
Equipment
- rubber spatula
- cutting board
- paring knife or boning knife
- measuring cups and spoons
- stand mixer or large mixing bowl and wire whisk
- multiple mixing bowls
- pie pan
Ingredients
Pie Crust
- 2 9" crust, pie store-bought (Homemade, see Pie Crust Recipe in this blog.)
Apple Filling
- 1¼ cups sour cream
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¼ cup flour, all-purpose
- ¼ tsp salt, kosher
- 1 whole egg, slightly beaten
- ⅛ cup cider, boiled
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp allspice, ground
- 8 whole apples, Granny Smith, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
- 2 whole apples, Cortland, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
- 2 whole apples, Cosmic Crisp, or Honeycrisp, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
- ⅛ cup lemon, juice
Walnut Streusel Topping
- ¾ cup walnuts, skinless, roughly chopped Hazelnuts work great as a substitute
- ¼ cup flour, all-purpose
- ⅓ cup sugar, granulated
- ⅓ cup sugar, brown
- 1 tsp cinnamon, Vietnamese, ground
- ½ cup butter, unsalted and softened
- ⅛ tsp salt
Instructions
Prep & First Bake
- Preheat the oven to (350°F or 175°C)
- Peel, core, slice the apples, toss with a little lemon juice to keep them from oxidizing. Reserve
- Add the sour cream, sugar, flour, egg, boiled apple cider, allspice, vanilla extract, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer or large mixing bowl. Whisk the ingredients on low until thoroughly incorporated. To this, add the sliced apples. Incorporate the apples by hand using a rubber spatula. Reserve
- Put the sour cream and apple mixture into unbaked pie shells. Place on the center rack in the preheated oven and bake for 1 hour. After 1 hour, the pie will be ready to be topped with streusel.
Prepare Topping
- While the pies are baking, prepare the walnut streusel topping. Add the ingredients of the streusel to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse the food processor until you've reached the desired consistency.
- (Alternatively, add the softened butter to a large mixing bowl with the flour, sugar, brown sugar, lightly chopped walnuts, cinnamon, and salt. Work the ingredient together using your hands. Knead the ingredients with your fingers until you reach a large crumb consistency.
- When the pie, with the filling, is taken out of the oven, move it to a safe work surface for hot temperatures. A wooden cutting board works great. Add the streusel topping to the pie, return to the oven, and bake for 25-30 minutes. The pie should be golden brown and very fragrant.
- Remove the pie from the oven and set it on a wire cooling rack and allow it to cool off to almost room temperature before attempting to cut.
- Refrigerate any leftover pie and gently reheat for best results to serve leftovers.