This recipe celebrates the best of the season with locally-grown apples and pears, baked together under a blanket of buttery cinnamon crumble and tucked into a tender sour cream crust. The crust’s subtle tang keeps it soft and flaky, the perfect contrast to the caramelized fruit filling. A drizzle of cider reduction ties it all together. It’s rich, syrupy, and full of that deep apple-pear flavor that makes baking with regional produce so special.

Ingredients

Pie Crust:

• 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour 
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp granulated sugar 
• 8 Tbsp (½ cup) unsalted butter, cubed and frozen
• ¼ cup + 2 Tbsp sour cream 
• 1 egg + 1 tsp milk or water for egg wash

Filling:

• 3 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
• 2-3 pears, peeled, cored and sliced
• 1 cup granulated sugar 
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp cinnamon 
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 2 tsp vanilla 
• 2 tbsp flour
• Cider reduction

Cider Reduction

• 1 cup apple cider

Crumb Topping

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• ½ cup packed light brown sugar
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold and cubed
• ½ tsp cinnamon

Instructions

For the Crust:

• Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse for a few seconds to just combine the flour and fat. 
• Add the sour cream and pulse again until the dough comes together. Shape the dough into a disk. Wrap the disk and place in the refrigerator for an hour or overnight.

For the Crumb Topping:

• Add the flour, cinnamon and brown sugar to a small bowl and mix. Add the cubed butter. Use your fingers to mash the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles wet sand. Make sure all of the butter is incorporated. Place into the refrigerator until ready to use. 

For the Cider Reduction:

• Add the cider to a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring the cider to a boil and cook until it reduces to about ⅓ cup. Set aside to cool.

For the Filling:

• In a bowl, add the sliced apples, pears, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. Mix until combined. Add the cider reduction and mix again. Add the flour and stir. Set aside. 

Assembly:

• On a lightly-floured work surface, roll the dough disk slightly larger than the 9-inch-deep dish that will be used. Place the crust into the pie dish. Cut off the excess dough and set aside. Crimp the edges of the dough around the pie dish.
• Add the filling to the pie dough. Sprinkle on the crumb topping so that it covers the fruit.
• Make an egg wash by combining the egg and milk or water. With a pastry brush, brush the egg wash on the perimeter of the dough.
• To decorate the crust, roll out the excess dough and use leaf cutters to make shapes. Place the cutouts on the dough on the perimeter, then add egg wash to the leaves. 
• Place the pie in the refrigerator for 30 minutes and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. When the oven reaches temperature, remove the pie from fridge.
• Bake for about one hour or until browned all over. If the edges begin to brown too much, tent it with foil. Cool on a wire rack. 

To Serve

• Use a large serving spoon to scoop out portions of the crumble. Top with vanilla ice cream — ideally from a regional dairy — and caramel sauce if desired.

Monique Polanco is a Hudson Valley social worker, cookbook author, and food photographer with a master’s from Fordham University. She writes a food blog, Peaches 2 Peaches, and her work has been featured in Feedfeed, Bake From Scratch, and Kitchn.