It may take you longer to mull over this recipe than to make this delicious pie! If you already have the ingredients, why not start now? Fantastic for holiday or spring dinners.

Lightning Classic Apple Crumb-topped pie

If you cook the crusts while you cook the crumbs and then the apples, you can have 2 whole apple crumb-topped pies in 20 or 30 minutes: 15 minutes for the pie crust in the oven while you take 10 to 12 minutes each for the crumbs and the apple slices on the stovetop. Good classic crumb-topped apple pies are less than half an hour away!

2 pre-made or pre-bought uncooked pie crusts in metal pans, bought from the store in pairs of 2 in one package, nestled together; frozen is fine, check package directions about required pre-thawing (assuming crusts are pre-thawed for this recipe.) You may also use pre-made chilled (but not frozen) uncooked dough in 2 nested metal pie pans. Completely pre-made and also pre-cooked store-bought crusts need only be warmed for 6 or 7 minutes before adding cooked filling and cooked topping.

2 cans apple pie filling, of a very good kind and quality that you like, with light syrup, 14 to 16 ounces (usually more is better), or if you wish, 1 can excellent apple pie filling plus another filling like custard or chocolate cream for the other crust (if you have a crowd, who will eat all the pie, more apple is great: it’s a very popular pie.)

Crumb topping (for two pies, double the recipe below.)

The big, secret trick here is precooking your two pie crusts, in metal pans, while they are still stacked together. Make sure there is no paper or plastic in-between the pie crusts.

Set the oven at 350 degrees and bake the two stacked pie crusts until slightly browned, for pre-cooking only, about 10 minutes; or until fully golden brown, for a fully pre-cooked filling or a cool, uncooked filling, about 15 minutes. Rely on your eyes for the correct browned color, rather than the exact times estimated here, as the cooking time, as always, can vary by a few minutes. This stacked cooking is a great trick if you are also cooking a roast, or a roast chicken, because you save so much oven space. The top pie pan also keeps the bottom pie crust lying flat in position. Make sure to lightly prick both pie crusts with a fork, especially the top one, before cooking. The bottom pie crust will brown less and may require a few extra moments cooking on its own afterwards, to become the most delicious color and texture. Your eyes will tell you.

While pie crusts are baking for their 10 to 15 minutes, make the crumb topping (follow the recipe below), pour out the crumbs onto a plate, and then make the apple topping in the still-hot cast iron pan. Cut the apple pieces smaller with the spatula as they cook and press them down firmly, as this makes the apples sweeter, firmly pressing as one does with a panini. Cook the apples over a low heat, until the apple edges start to turn the smallest bit golden. Stop cooking right away and pour the hot apples into the baked crust. Pour the cooked crumbs on top. Either serve or bake 10 minutes more in the 350 degrees oven to further soften the apples and marry the flavors a little more.

May serve this ”˜home finished’ pie with whipped cream, ice cream, or chunks of cheddar cheese. It is lovely ”˜plain’ and it feels quite fancy with its crumb topping. Kids may find it amusing to have apple sauce with their apple pie slices, but make sure they actually like dipping their bites in the apple sauce before pouring it over their apple pie slices or the pie may get too mushy, although the cooked crumbs do hold their shape and taste well. Apple sauce ”˜puddles’ on the side may help.

Crumb topping for one pie

(Double this recipe for 2 pies.)

The big, secret trick here (we have all these big secret tricks with these pies, don’t we?) is that making crumb topping in a large cast iron pan is very fast and it looks and tastes great and holds its shape wonderfully well.

3 tablespoons to half a stick of butter, chopped if cold or torn if warm into large pea sizes

3⁄4 cup to 1 cup brown sugar

3⁄4 cup to 1 cup white flour

Toss ingredients together in a large bowl. Smear the butter with your fingers or the back of a spoon so it starts to make little tiny balls or crumbs with the flour and sugar. Make sure you have a bunch of crumbs. Add a little more sugar if crumbs need to be sweeter or more flour if they need to be thicker.

Heat a large cast iron pan over low heat. Toss a few pieces of butter in (from the crumb mixture) and let the butter melt on the surface of the pan. Push the butter around with your spatula to coat the bottom of the pan. Pour the rest of the crumbs in. Let the butter melt as you frequently stir and press the crumbs together. The crumbs will cook quickly, make sure you keep the heat low, and they will roll themselves into crumbs nicely. Stop as soon as the butter is all melted and the crumbs all crumbed up, and immediately pour the crumbs out of the pan: you want them a little crunchy but not too hard. They will wait nicely on a plate until needed.

Cooking the crumbs smells divine and people may wander in and want to know what you are cooking. The apple pie slices follow in the same pan and smell wonderful too. You will have people anxious for pie! Fortunately, the further time for apple pie cooking before eating is either a short 10 minutes, or literally no time at all! All you need to do is pour the cooked apples in the cooked crust and sprinkle the cooked crumbs on top.

— Mel Baker is an experienced chef, caterer and cafe manager. She resides in York County and has published “The Noisy Oven” since 2006. Email her a [email protected].