When I was in Dublin, Ireland there was one place I wanted to go. Ok like two. I wanted to see the world renown Guinness Brewery and Queen of Tarts. When we made it to the latter the line was outside the door. The place was full of satisfied customers and I wanted to be one of them! They sold several different pastries, but like Owen says “You don’t go to a pie shop and order a cake.” So we ordered a berry tart. It was perfect. It had a good flaky crust, an awesome crumble topping and a flawless sweet fruity center. It was love at first bite and immediately I said “this is just like mom’s apple pie.” (Except the obvious fruit difference).

As organic as possible:

5 large or 7 medium Granny Smith apples

1 cup Sugar

1/2 cup Brown sugar

2 tsp Cinnamon

3 Tbsp Flour

1/4 tsp Salt

1 pie crust (I like Martha Stewart paté brisée)

Crumble Topping:

1 cup Sugar

1 cup Flour

1 stick cold salted Butter, cut into cubes

Preheat the oven to 375°. Put the unbaked pie crust in a pie dish and pinch the edges. Set aside. Peel and cut apples into fork full size pieces. Toss apples in sugar and cinnamon and let sit. In the mean time make crumble topping.

To make crumble topping; whisk together sugar and flour, add butter cubes. You must use two butter knives and cross-cut butter into flour/sugar mixture until butter is in pea size pieces. (Do not over cut, because pockets of butter are essential.) Set aside.

Side note: I did not follow the rules this time, and used a pastry cutter, and my pieces were not light and fluffy and my top crumble (pictured) was more of a solid piece and not my mother’s usual look or texture. So don’t be a renegade like me; follow the instructions for a perfect pie.

Back to the pie: Add flour and salt to apple mixture, gently toss. Pour filling into prepared pie dish. Now lovingly spoon crumble topping over apples, making sure all are covered and butter pieces are evenly distributed. Once you run out of visible butter pieces you can leave behind the extra flour (maybe a 1/2 to whole tablespoon full). Bake for 50 minutes to an hour, until golden brown.