Southern Crumble Apple Pie

I've made a few recipes lately that are hands-down the best of that category I've ever tasted.  This is one.  It's an apple pie that is just a little more hassle, but results in a finished product that satisfies all of my sweet, salty, crunchy, rich, spiced and fruity cravings all in one serving.  Try very hard not to count the sticks of butter in the ingredient list, because it was truly the best apple pie I've ever tasted.  Also, don't be intimidated by the long instructions.  If you have a food processor and an apple peeler/corer/slicer, it comes together pretty quickly.  Adapted from Rebecca Rather's "Pastry Queen" cookbook.

Pie Crust
2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tab. sugar
2/3 c. (11 Tab.) chilled butter
4-5 Tab. ice water

Crumble Topping
1/2 c. pecans
1/3 c. granulated sugar
3 Tab. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 c. flour
1/3 c. (5 1/3 Tab.) chilled butter

Pie Filling
5-6 med-size tart apples
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter
3 Tab. cinnamon
1 c. sugar
3/4 c. blended up (or food processed) canned peaches with a splash of apple cider vinegar (my sub for Rebecca's alcoholic beverage)
1/2 c. heavy whipping cream

Pie Crust
Preheat oven to 425*.  Using food processor with metal blade, combine flour, salt and sugar.  Process until evenly mixed.  Cut chilled butter into small cubes and pulse until crumbly, with pea sized bits.  Add ice water 1 Tab. at a time pulsing after each addition until dough just starts to come together in a ball.  Gently mold into a disc shape and wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Crumble Topping
Preheat oven to 350*.  Bake pecans in a single layer on baking sheet 7 min or until just starting to toast.  Let cool.

In food processor with metal blade, process both sugars, cinnamon, salt and flour about 1 minute.  Cut butter into small cubes and add.  Pulse until mixture is crumbly with clumps.  Add pecans and pulse just a couple of times to chop and combine.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

Pie
Roll out cold pie crust to size.  Line 9" deep dish pie plate with pie dough and press into place.  Finish or crimp outside edges.

Filling
Preheat oven to 375*.  Peel, core, and slice apples into 1/4" slices.  Melt butter in large skilled over medium-high heat.  When butter starts to foam, add apples and saute 5-8 min.  In small bowl, stir together cinnamon and sugar.  Sprinkle on apples and stir to combine.  Simmer apples over medium-low heat about 1 min. longer.  Remove apples from skillet with slotted spoon, leaving as much of butter/cinnamon/sugar in the skillet as possible.  Transfer apples to baking sheet and arrange in single layer (piling will over-cook them).  Pour blended peaches and cream into butter mixture in skillet and simmer over medium heat 5-10 minutes - or until mixture is as thick as pourable caramel.  Return apples to skillet.

Pour apple filling into unbaked pie crust and sprinkle crumble topping evenly over apples.  Place baking sheet on lower rack of oven to catch drips.  Bake 50 minutes or until filling is bubbling and topping is brown.  It may be necessary to lay a piece of foil over pie last 20 minutes if it starts to look too brown on top.  Serve pie warm or room temp with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.