Apple Raspberry Pie (Crostata)
This incredible Raspberry Apple pie has an almond sesame crust, a sesame lattice top, and a juicy ruby filling. It's a delicious way to use your summer berries, and it works great with frozen raspberries!
Servings 8 servings
Ingredients
For the dough:
- ¾ cup whole almonds
- ½ cup sesame seeds
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter cold and cut into pieces
- 2 large eggs
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
For the filling:
- 1 pound Granny Smith apples about 5, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
- ½ pound raspberries fresh or frozen
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 2 tablespoons flour
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest packed
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
For the dough:
- Lightly toast ¾ cup whole almonds and ½ cup sesame seeds, being careful not to burn them. Let them cool. You can use them raw, but toasting develops a great flavor.
- Food processor: put both in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade, and add 1 tablespoon of the sugar. Process until medium ground.
- Add the rest of the sugar, 2 cups all-purpose flour, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon and ¼ teaspoon salt and process until well blended.
- Scatter cold, diced 1 cup unsalted butter on top and process until it looks like coarse sand.
- Mix 2 large eggs in a bowl with ½ teaspoon vanilla and add to the flour mixture.
- Process until it starts to come together, about 10 to 15 seconds. Don’t let it turn into a ball.
- By hand: follow the same process as with the food processor, but mix ingredients in a bowl. Integrate the butter with your hands or a dough cutter.
- For both ways: transfer the shaggy mass onto a lightly floured counter.
- Gather into a ball touching the dough as little as possible. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour or more.
To assemble:
- When the filling is cooling, take the dough from the refrigerator and divide it into two uneven pieces (⅔ and ⅓). Keep the smaller piece refrigerated and covered while you roll the other one.
- Roll the large piece to about ¼ of an inch with a lightly floured rolling pin, using additional flour to prevent sticking.
- Transfer it to a 9-inch (24cm) pie plate with a removable bottom. It is best to make it fit in the pan without stretching it, removing excess dough. As this dough is very crumbly, you may need to patch it or do it in parts.
- Add the filling and spread to cover the whole pan.
- Roll the small piece of dough on a lightly floured surface and cut strips with a pizza cutter.
- Make a lattice top crust over the filling, adding strips one way and then the other. Press where the strips meet the bottom dough to adhere.
- Freeze the assembled pie for 10-15 minutes (or refrigerate for 30 minutes if you have no other option).
- Preheat oven to 350ºF (180°C).
- Take the pie from the freezer, sprinkle 2 tablespoons light brown sugar on top of the lattice, and bake for about 40 minutes, or until golden and the filling is bubbly.
- Let cool completely on wire rack. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream if you want to. Refrigerate leftovers, covered.
For the filling:
- In a large saucepan, put 1 pound Granny Smith apples, ½ cup light brown sugar, ¼ cup white sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, ½ teaspoon lemon zest, 1 tablespoon butter and cook over low heat until butter melts and fruit begins to release their juices, about 5 minutes. Add ½ pound raspberries and stir lightly. Remove from the heat as soon as it bubbles again.
- If not using immediately, keep refrigerated, covered, for a few days.
Notes
The dough is much more rustic than a regular sweet pie dough. That means it will break more (image above) and you'll need to handle it differently because of that. I find it easier to line the pan in parts, which is no issue really since pie dough can be patched up easily.
As with all doughs, keep it cold until the moment you need to roll it. And then refrigerate the lined pan, or better yet, freeze it. It's easier and faster.
Lattice: I recommend you roll it on a wooden board, cut the strips and take it back to the fridge for a few minutes for it to harden and lift up easily. That way you'll end up with less broken strips. But they can easily be patched together. Look at my lattice and see how it is patched up. And then feel like you can't make a more rustic or irregular lattice, haha!
The amounts in the recipe can be varied: more apples and fewer berries for example. Consider the liquid in them, especially if the raspberries are frozen.
