How To Make Apple Pie From Scratch
To make the best apple pie, youve got to start with a top-rated recipe, like this apple pie recipe from Maggie Greene, a reader in Granite Falls, Washington. Heres what youll need to make this pie.
What You Need for Homemade Pie Crust
Youll need a good foundation for this pie. We recommend our Test Kitchens favorite butter pie pastry.
- 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cold butter, cubed
- 1/3 to 2/3 cup ice water
Ingredients for the Apple Pie Filling
- 1/2 cup sugar
Don’t Miss Out On This Fall Classic Learn How To Make Apple Pie From Scratch And Enjoy The Flavors Of Autumn
Theres no fall treat more iconic than the apple pie. Who doesnt love going to their local apple picking farm, getting crisp apples and combining them with warming cinnamon and buttery pastry? Because this fall dessert is so beloved, its one home bakers should try to master. If baking pies is intimidating to you, have no fearwell walk you through how to make the perfect apple pie step by step.
Fill And Seal The Pie
Taste of Home
Next, add your apple mix to the pie dish. Dot with butter. Then lay your top crust over the apples. From here, trim the edges of the crustleave an inch or so of excess around the perimeter.
Then pinch and seal the crust. There are lots of methods for finishing off the edges of your crust, and we have the best tips for how to make decorative pie crusts. If youre a beginner, you can just pinch the crust closed.
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What Are The Best Apples To Use For Pies
Try to find a firm apple to use in this recipe. I like a mix between sweet and sour apples. You can use Granny Smith, Jonathan, Jonagold, Winesap, Golden Delicious, Honey Crisp, Gala, or Rome Beauty. I used a mix between Golden Delicious and some kind of tart firm apples from our trees for this pie, and it was great. Its very forgiving, so experiment!
- Granny Smith Tart, green, flavorful, and perfect for apple pie
- Jonathan red on yellow, bright flavor, and juicy
- Golden Delicious Softer, sweet, and yellow in color
- Gala light red, crispy, and mildly sweet
The Best Apples For Apple Pie
Apple pie is the perfect vessel for using up whatever random variety of apples you got from the market or while apple picking. In fact, a combination of sweet and tart apples makes for a more balanced pie filling. Granny Smith and Jonagold are ideal tart apples for baking, while Pink Lady, Gala, and Honey Crisp are sweet. All of these varieties also keep their shape as they bake.
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How To Make An Apple Pie From Scratch:
More Baking Tips For Apple Pie
- Use a trusted pie crust recipe. We always use this homemade pie crust recipe for our pies.
- Prepare the apple pie filling first and set it aside for 1 hour, allowing the apples to release their juices then mix the apples and the juices with a thickener like cornstarch or tapioca starch.
- Bake at 400 degrees F for approximately 75 minutes, turning a few times for even browning. The long bake time makes sure that the filling thickens inside the pie.
- If your crust starts to brown too quickly or looks to be turning too dark, mold a large piece of foil over a bowl thats been placed upside down to make a foil dome. Place the foil dome over the pie for the remaining bake time. This will slow the browning.
- Let apple pie cool before cutting into it. For the best results, the filling should be room temperature or cold before slicing. Cooling the pie gives the liquid inside a chance to thicken even more, which means it wont spill out into a pool when you cut into the pie.
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Make The Apple Pie Filling
Before you even start making your filling, youll want to make sure youve got great apples to work with. Everyone has their personal preference as far as apple varietalssome prefer tart, others sweetbut just be sure to use a firm, crisp apple that will hold up to baking. Check out these tips for finding the best apples for apple pie and how to keep apples from browning.
With your choice of apples ready, wash peel and slice your apples. You can do this all by hand or use an apple-peeler-corer-slicer or even an apple spiralizerheres how to use it.
With the apples prepped, toss them in a bowl with the lemon juice. In another dish, mix together sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Then add the sugar mixture to the apples and toss to coat. Thats all for the filling!
Tips From The Betty Crocker Kitchens
- tip 1 Serve pie warm or room temperature with fresh whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream on top.
- tip 2 Pie will keep frozen, wrapped in plastic wrap and foil, up to 4 months.
- tip 3 Feel free to swap in a refrigerated rolled pie pastry for the bottom crust if scratch pastry making isnt your thing. We recommend Pillsbury brand.
- tip 4 Choose crisp and tartly-sweet applesconsider Empire, Granny Smith, Honey Crisp, Braeburn, Cortlandas they hold their shape and arent too juicy.
- tip 5 What makes a Dutch pie? The streusel topping, a nearly irresistible, crunchy sweet mixture of sugar, butter, flour, and nuts, probably comes from other Germanic-styles of baking. Its a simpler finish for not only a pie but for coffee cakes, muffins, and bar cookies. Feel free to add a small spoonful of ground spicecinnamon or an apple pie spice blend.
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The Perfect Pie Crust
A great apple pie starts with an amazing pie crust. We love to use either this all-butter pie crust or our sourdough pie crust. Each of these pie crust use butter and just a little bit of vinegar to produce a tender, flaky pie crust that just can’t be beat!
The crust can be made a few days in advance and kept in the fridge or frozen until ready to assemble your apple pie.
If you decide to use a store-bought crust, make sure to follow the directions on the packaging to determine when to take the crust out of the fridge in order to handle it more easily.
More Easy Apple Recipes
Simple Apple Tart How to make a stunning apple tart with a buttery crust, thinly sliced apples, and toasted almonds.
Apple Pie Cupcakes A fun and easy apple pie cupcake recipe made with cinnamon roll dough, spiced apples and a crumble topping. How can it go wrong?
Dutch Baby Pancakes with Apples How to make the best tall, fluffy Dutch baby pancakes with tender apples. The perfect breakfast or dessert!
Easy Apple Crisp This apple crisp recipe with oats has sweet tender apples and a crisp and crunchy topping made with flour, oats, brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon.
Baked Cinnamon Apples These cinnamon baked apples are easy enough for tonight, but double as the perfect dessert for friends and family .
Creamy Apple Salad with Celery and Fennel We love this fresh and easy apple salad recipe made with crisp apples, celery, fennel, and an easy creamy dressing.
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Serving Homemade Apple Pie
If youre an apple pie purist, this pie is incredible to enjoy on its own, just slightly warm. Its also a prime candidate for the à la mode treatment. I love French Vanilla or Vanilla Bean ice cream.
A dollop of bourbon-spiked whipped cream is also a good choice. You could also drizzle the pie with a bit of my Apple Cider Caramel for a decadent finishing touch.
No matter how its served, this apple pie is sure to be a sweet ending to any holiday meal!
Complete dessert with a wine pairing! Hugh Preece, Sommelier and Italian Wine Ambassador Vinitaly Academy, suggests enjoying:
G.D. Vajra Moscato dAsti DOCG, Piedmont, Italy
Beautiful soft color with green reflections, Aromatics of yellow and exotic fruits, herbs, and spice, Delicate and persistent bubbles on the palate, baked melon, lime sorbet and biscuit, well-balanced, flexible Moscato. Creamy and lightly mouthwatering finish.
Apple Pie Filling Recipe
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Apple Pie Filling is the perfect way to cook up your apples. These tender sweet-tart apples take just minutes to prep and taste so much better than the canned version!
They can be used in pies or tarts or in any recipe that calls for a can of apple pie filling! We scoop them on ice cream or yogurt or even add them to Overnight Refrigerator Oatmeal! Any variety of apple will work perfectly in this recipe!
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How To Bake An Apple Pie From Scratch
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Though a store-bought apple pie can give you some of the sweet, rich flavor you’re craving, nothing beats an apple pie that you make at home from scratch. Not only is making an apple pie not as hard as it sounds, but making it yourself will help you cut costs and to make a pie that is as fresh as possible. It is also more healthy. All you have to do is make the crust, fill it with diced apples and a variety of spices and then layer extra sections of the crust over the filling to make the top of the pie. If you follow these instructions, you’ll see that making an apple pie that’s as good as your grandmother’s is as easy as pie.
What Are The Ingredients For Apple Pie
There are a couple of key ingredients for our homemade apple pie.
- Saigon Cinnamon. Youll want to look for a cinnamon that is labeled Saigon cinnamon. This cinnamon has a higher essential oil content and has a stronger flavor than most cinnamons. Youll pay just a little more for this cinnamon, but the difference it makes in baked goods is worth it!
- Freshly Grated Nutmeg. Yes, you can buy nutmeg already ground, but if youre looking to add a unique flavor to your pies, try freshly grated nutmeg. You buy nutmeg nuts and a small grater. Simply grate the nut on the grater and watch that freshly grated nutmeg fall into your apple mixture. Its so, so good!
- Lemon Juice. Dont worry. You wont taste the lemon in this pie. You can actually leave the lemon out if youd like, but we feel it helps add to the fresh flavor of the pie.
- Flour. Flour thickens up the filling slightly so your pie is not runny.
- Sugar. We normally use white sugar, but we have made it with brown sugar too!
- Butter. Before putting the top pie crust on, we dot the top of our pie with butter. Butter adds flavor and richness to fruit desserts.
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Need A Crust Recipe To Make Your Apple Pie I Got You Covered
I wrote a huge post all about pie crust! This basic apple pie recipe is a staple in our house and I hope you love it. You can find this recipe plus SEVEN other pie recipes in one post if you are looking around for something that looks perfect for your Thanksgiving table.
Theres something magical about pulling a pie made from scratch out of the oven. It seems to take you back to a time when life was simpler and homemade pie was standard fare in American kitchens.
Plan to take an afternoon to bake and you just might love how grounding the whole process is for you. And youll have a beautiful pie to enjoy after dinner or to share with friends, and thats a pretty great reward, too.
How To Make The Easiest Apple Pie
Really good apple pie can and should be easy to make. After all, part of the appeal of apple pie is its simplicity: Warmly spiced apples are baked until tender in a crisp, buttery crust. Thats it. These days, however, apple pie recipes can read more like flight instructions. And while dedicating an entire weekend to baking can be fun, sometimes you just want something quick and fail-proof.
This is that apple pie. It doesnt involve special ingredients. We encourage you, in fact, to use a store-bought crust. The filling is just five ingredients, most of which are probably in your kitchen. But there are a couple of smart moves that without adding much extra time will result in a pie that youre also really excited to eat. So think of it as the smartest easiest apple pie recipe, and as warm, yummy, and perfectly sliceable as they come.
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Roll Out The Pie Crust
Taste of Home
The next step is to pull your pie pastry from the fridge and place it on a floured surface. Then start rolling, working from the middle of the disk to the edges. Turn the round every so often to ensure you maintain the circular shape. Youre aiming for pastry thats about an eighth-inch thick.
Once its large enough to fit into your plate with some excess , drape the crust over your rolling pin and place in your pie dish. Here are some of the other essential pie baking tools every home baker should have.
Repeat the process for the top crust .
How To Make Apple Pie
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