Blackberry Butterscotch Apple Pie
Crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon sugar
½ cup Crisco
¼ cup unsalted butter
1 small egg or half of a large egg
1 ½ teaspoons raw apple cider vinegar
3-4 tablespoons ice cold brandy
Combine flour, salt and sugar in a food processor and pulse to mix. Add in cold butter and Crisco and pulse until just combined (do not over mix!!) Add in beaten egg, vinegar and brandy and pulse to combine. Form into 1 disc and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Blackberry Brandy Butterscotch Sauce:
2 oz. unsalted butter
¾ cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon corn syrup
¼ cup heavy whipping cream
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons blackberry brandy
~5 fresh or frozen blackberries
Combine sugar, blackberry brandy, corn syrup & fresh blackberries together in a small sauce pan and heat over medium heat until bubbles start to appear. Add in butter and stir until melted and combined. Add in heavy whipping cream, vanilla and salt and simmer over low heat to thicken. Remove from heat and strain to remove blackberry seeds. Set aside to cool.
Filing:
5-6 gravenstein apples
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
2 tablespoons tapioca flour
Peel, core and thinly slice apples. Mix with cinnamon, cardamom and tapioca flour. Add in cooled blackberry brandy butterscotch sauce and combine thoroughly.
Hazelnut Crumble Topping:
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup raw sugar
¾ cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter (chilled and cut into small pieces)
¾ teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups chopped hazelnuts
Measure the brown & raw sugar, flour, oats and salt into a bowl. Drop in the butter and rub together with your fingertips until well combined and the mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in the hazelnuts.
Roll out pie dough and place in pie dish. Fill with apple mixture and top with hazelnut crumble. Bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour or until apples are tender. If needed, tent the pie with tin foil half way through cooking time to prevent crumble topping from burning.
Enjoy!
