Streusel Von Topping

Pecan & pumpkin pies go topless, apple & peach pies are usually baked - covered with sheet of pastry over them and many berry pies go half and half - topped with a lattice of pastry. Some of this has to do with tradition, how to best manage the cooking process (steam v. drying out the ingredients) and surprisingly a little of this has to do with the preference of the pie maker.

There is another, little talked about way to top pies and that is with streusel. The word comes from the German Streuen, or scattered about, which is about the same as the English strewn, to scatter untidily over a surface. Traditionally, it is a mixture of fat, flour, sugar and spices, streusel serves 3 functions:

1) Adds Flavor
2) Absorbs excess moisture
3) Insulates/protects baked good from the dry heat of the oven

Streusel is much beloved in the Saucykitchen, which like Saucyman, (the person, not the blog) is pretty situational – making adjustments for the individual situation as opposed to working on a universal truth. It is a topping that lends itself to pie, bread pudding, cookies and the less common broiled bananas (& Vanilla Ice Cream) is good. Better, an ingredient that is adaptable enough to use a little extra cinnamon for apples or is flexible enough that a handful of toasted almonds can enhance a peach pie.

Because there isn’t a set recipe for streusel, what you are strewing is more important than where you strewing. A variety of things can be subbed in and out – cardamom, almond extract, almonds, Amaretto, hazelnuts, Frangelico, walnuts, maple syrup, bourbon, scotch whisky depending on what you are working with and what you wish to accomplish but the following is the baseline recipe – It is enough for one 9 inch pie. Multiplying by 1.5 will yield enough to cover a small bread pudding.

½ Cup Brown Sugar
¼ C. Sugar, sugar
1 stick – 4 oz butter, cut into 8 pieces
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ t salt
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
½ C. flour + 1 Tablespoon
½ C. breadcrumbs

Add together in a food processor and pulse until the ingredients are roughly mixed together. Top a pie.