How To Make An Apple Pie
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Apple pie is a classic that’s welcome any time of the year. For a flaky crust that melts in your mouth, mix an all-butter crust and cut your favorite apples into wedges. Then, combine the apples with spices and brown sugar, roll out the dough, and lay it in the bottom of your pie plate. Spoon the spiced apples into the pie shell and lay the rest of the pastry dough over the fruit. To give your pie a beautiful golden crust, brush an egg wash across the pastry before baking it.
How Long To Bake Apple Pie
To bake, place the pie on a baking sheet in a 375°F oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until the top starts to lightly brown, then lower the temp to 350°F and bake anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour or more longer.
The way you know that the apple pie is done is that the juices are noticeably bubbling. If you have an instant read thermometer, you can insert it into the center of the pie. A reading of 200°F is done.
At any point during the baking the top of the pie begins to brown too much, just tent it with aluminum foil. I usually tent the pie about halfway through the baking with foil.
Let the pie cool for an hour before cutting into it, and serve it plain or with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream!
Ingredients For Apple Pie
This is just a quick overview of the simple ingredients that youll need for a classic apple pie recipe. As always, specific measurements and complete cooking instructions are included in the printable recipe box at the bottom of the post.
- Pie crust: your favorite pie crust will work, so feel free to make it from scratch if you like. My mom always uses a box of refrigerated Pillsbury pie crusts, so thats what Ive shown here.
- Apples: sweet-and-tart Granny Smith apples work best for the filling.
- Sugar: to sweeten the filling.
- All-purpose flour: to thicken the filling.
- Lemon juice: a bright, acidic touch. It balances the sweetness of the fruit and enhances the apples natural flavors.
- Cinnamon, nutmeg and salt: spices that season the filling.
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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.
Wash And Peel The Fresh Apples
Give your apples a good wash and then peel them. The best way to peel the apples is with a vegetable peeler.
To start, cut the top off the apple, it will make it easier to peel by allowing the vegetable peeler to grab the skin more easily. Then take your vegetable peeler and move around the apple to remove the skin.
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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.
Dont 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.
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To Create A Standard Top Crust
There are so many ways to attach a top crust for a pie. First, roll out the second ball of dough until 1/8-inch thick. Next, select which type of design you would like to use to create the border where the bottom and top crusts join. You can make a large scalloped design, rope crust crimp, an angled crust crimp, or use a fork to crimp the edge. Any way you choose to attach your top crust, just make sure to create vents by cutting the top bit of dough a few times with a pairing knife. Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 425 F for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cover the edges with aluminum foil so they don’t burn. Return to oven and bake for an additional 25 to 30 minutes. Once finished baking, remove from the oven and allow the pie to cool for 15 to 20 minutes. Pair with a scoop of ice cream and enjoy!
Our Favorite Tools To Make Pie:
You dont need fancy equipment to make a pie. If you dont have a food processor, you can use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour until it forms pea-sized crumbles, then add 6-8 Tbsp ice-cold water, folding it in with a spatula between each addition. Its easy as pie! Here are our favorite pie-making tools to make the job easier:
- Melon Baller to core apples
- Pie Plate . If its shallow, place a sheet of foil under to catch drips.
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How To Store And Freeze Apple Pie
Apple pie will easily last a couple of days, lightly covered with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, on your counter at room temperature.
After a couple days, you can keep the pie chilled for a few more days in the fridge. If you want, warm the pie in a 350°F oven for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
- To freeze the unbaked pie, wrap the assembled pie in plastic wrap, with as much air pressed out as possible. Then wrap the pie in a layer of foil this will help keep the plastic wrap in place. Freeze for up to a month. When ready to bake, remove it from the freezer, unwrap, and place it into the oven. Bake as directed, adding on about 15 minutes to the baking time, or until the top is golden and the filling is bubbling.
- To freeze a baked pie, wrap and freeze the pie as above. When ready to serve, unwrap and let the pie thaw at room temperature. Warm it up in a 350°F oven for about 15 minutes to crisp up the top and warm the filling.
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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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
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Do You Cook Apples Before Baking For Apple Pie Filling
You can make an apple pie two different ways. One involves cooking up an apple pie filling and for this you must cook the apples first. The second kind, however, starts with raw apples. The heat that bakes the pie bakes the apples. The two methods yield slightly different kinds of pie.
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How Do You Store Apple Pie Moonshine
Apple pie cooked from scratch When storing moonshine, make sure to store it in the refrigerator. The freezer is ideal for storing items for a longer period of time. Although moonshine should not be frozen in the freezer, the reduced temperature will help to preserve the combination for a longer period of time. If you want the best results, fill the jar almost completely with liquid, cover it with a tight-fitting lid, and store it in the refrigerator until youre ready to serve or consume it.
Roll Out The Dough And Fill The Pie
Roll out your bottom pie crust on a well floured surface and drape it over your 9-inch pie plate. Try to work quickly so that the dough doesnt get warm or too soft. Fill the pie with the apples. The apples will be stacked high, thats ok!
Pour the cooked liquid over the apples so that all the apples get coated evenly. The liquid will seep down on its own. Theres no need to mix the apples or touch them once youve poured the liquid over them.
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What Can I Use If I Dont Have Cornstarch
You can simply use Arrowroot powder, Potato starch, Cassava root starch, all-purpose flour. Also, you can use wheat flour, rice flour, or even gram flour to the dish. Cornstarch basically makes the mixture thicker. Use any of the above-mentioned ingredients to give it the exact same texture and consistency.
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Deep Dish Apple Pie Recipe
This deep dish apple pie recipe features layers upon layers of sweet spiced apples nestled in a buttery flaky pie crust. Top with vanilla ice cream for the ultimate homestyle dessert.
Apple pie is my favorite pie on the planet. Ive been making this deep dish apple pie recipe for years and easily consider it to be the best apple pie on the planet. That is, of course, if were not counting salted caramel apple pie. The recipes are pretty similar, but the other includes salted caramel. Im ALL about that!
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Tips For Deep Dishing
Each bite of this pie is stacked with sweet spiced apples. Theres clearly no shortage of apple slices, so if youre crazy for apple pie, this is a must in your baking future. Top it with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of salted caramel because you and I dont mess around when it comes to dessert.
Let The Pie Cool Fully And Serve
Let the pie cool for 4 full hours. Yes, 4. Anything less than this and you run the risk of having a leaky filling. Use a metal cooling rack and let the pie cool at room temperature.
When you slice the pie, some juices will run out, but there shouldnt be a pool of liquid. Use a sharp knife so that the crust and the apples cut cleanly and remain in tact.
Serve this delicious, classic apple pie with a few scoops of vanilla ice cream. Scarf it down at your earliest opportunity. Believe me, if there are other people around, it wont last long!
Dont forget to snap a few photos to show the world that you created this beauty! ! Doesnt she almost look too pretty to eat?
Did you enjoy this classic apple pie recipe? Check out a few others:
- Prep Time:1 hour and 15 minutes
- Cook Time:1 hour and 15 minutes
- Total Time:2 hours and 30 minutes plus 4 hours of cooling time
- Yield:8 slices 1x
- 10 apples I recommend Cortland , or Granny Smith
- 1 cup of brown sugar
- 1 cup of granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- cup of all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon of allspice
- 2 tablespoons of cubed butter
Other ingredients
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How Do You Make Apple Pie Filling
Soft apples are a must for us in apple pie. Because of this, we like to soften our apples first in a saucepan on the stovetop. Combine the apples, flour , sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice. Cook these over medium low heat until the apples start to soften which will be about 10-15 minutes. Stir the apples often so that the sugar doesnt burn on the bottom of the pan. This will create a nice, syrupy apple mixture that you can pour into your pie shell.
*A note on the sugar. You can try lowering the sugar if youd like. Weve gone down to ½ a cup of sugar at different times. Its really a matter of tasteand even what apples you choose. If your apples are more tart, then you might want the full ¾ cup sugar. If they are sweeter apples, try lowering the sugar.*