Smoked Apple Crumble
Some time ago I smoked some apple pie filling that was left over from stuffing a pork tenderloin. It turned out to be so delicious as a condiment that my step-daughter suggested that I should make a smoked apple pie. So I did.
I smoked two cans of apple pie filling and filled two deep dish frozen pie shells—one for me and one for the s.d. They were really good and we both enjoyed them; Miss Linda, not so much. Unfortunately, there was so much filling in the pies that when I sliced one and dished it up, it looked like I had served it up with a large spoon. It was anything but pretty. LOL. So I didn’t bother taking any pictures or writing up a post on it.
Now I wasn’t about to be defeated by an apple pie, so I just changed tactics and decided to make a Smoked Apple Crumble.
I’ve never made a crumble before, but I had saved a recipe by Chef Jimmy J for one. Here’s JJ’s recipe (ingredients only, as he made everything in a slow cooker):
Apple and Ginger Crumble
½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
½ cup flour
¼ cup rolled oats (NOT instant)
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground nutmeg
1/3 cup butter (approx.)
I filled two rows of my AMNPS with orange pellets (I much prefer the flavor imparted by orange compared to apple pellets) and got it smoking nicely. While waiting for the pellets, I preheated the MES 30 to 100 degrees simply to improve air flow.
The can of apple pie filling was divided into 2 pie pans for maximum smoke coverage and put into the MES, and left there to cold smoke for 3 ½ hours.
While the apple filling was smoking, I made the crumble topping. Now JJ hadn’t said just how big his slow cooker was and I was going to use a 9” deep dish pie shell, so I really had no idea if his recipe would make too much or too little crumble topping. Since both Miss Linda and I love the crumble on top of the pie as much as the pie itself, I decided to simply double the recipe and put it on thicker than normal.
After 3 ½ hours in the smoker, I pulled the two dishes of pie filling and brought them into the kitchen. I thoroughly stirred it all together to get an even smoke flavor throughout, and filled the genuine store bought frozen pie crust—my pastry is ALWAYS a fail.
I spread the crumble mixture real thick over the filling, but still had way too much. Well, I thought, why not just bake the excess crumble by itself as a treat to munch on. So I just spread it out in a pie plate.
Both the pie and the extra crumble went into the 350 degree oven to bake.
When I took them out of the oven, the pie looked great but the crumble alone appeared to be doing an excellent imitation of charcoal. Apparently a plate of crumble bakes a whole lot faster that it does when topping a pie. Well, no tasty munchies today.
I was taking Miss Linda and the s.d. out for Mother’s Day dinner that night, so taste-testing the pie would have to wait ‘til the next day. Remembering my serving fiasco with the last pie, I put the Apple Crumble in the fridge in hopes that it would plate better, and it did. Here it is, served up with French Vanilla Ice Cream.
The results were spectacular. I LOVED it!!!!! It had just the right amount of smoke flavor and aroma, and the crumble topping was delicious. Thanks JJ!! The only changes I would make to the crumble recipe would be to double the amount of ginger and increase the brown sugar by 25%.
Thanks for looking.
Gary
