Apple pie with soft cinnamon spiced apples and flaky crust making this fall and holiday season full of warmth and joy as we gather around the table. Enjoy this apple pie recipe with ice cream, eggnog, caramel syrup and whipped cream!
Tips For Easy Pie Making
Buy An Apple Peeler
For the last couple years I have been making apple pie by peeling my apples by hand. I have enjoyed the slow peeling process and romanticized it a little so it never felt like a chore but a treat. This week I decided splurge and buy a $20 apple peeler, slicer and corer. Oh my word I was done so fast I didn’t know what to do with myself!
If you want to save time and energy this holiday season, especially if you make everything from scratch for Thanksgiving and Christmas I highly recommend buying a peeler. Its well worth it. Here’s the one I ordered.
Make Your Crust The Day Before
The day before I want to make my pies I also make the crust. The crust turn our flakier and tender if the sit in the refrigerator for a least an hour before baking. You want the butter to stay as cold as possible when making your crust and storing it in the refrigerator for a day or 2 before baking with it helps tremendously. You can keep your crust in the refrigerator for up to 10 days if needed or you can freeze for 6 months.
Cook Your Filling Ahead of Time
My trick for not burning my crust while getting perfectly soft apples with thick syrup filling every time is to cook my apple pie filling ahead of time. This allows my to take the pie out of the oven as soon as the crust is done without having to guess if my filling is done.
When you cook, make sure you cook to the exact texture you want your apples to be with your apple pie. The apples will not get softer when you bake it. Once cooked and cooled something happens to the apples and they don’t ‘cook’ any more after the first cook. So Don’t under cook your apples or they will be crunchy in your apple pie.
Ingredients for Apple Pie Filling
Apples
Granny Smith Apples are the favorite for apple pies. They are firm in texture and cook to a tender soft apple while still keeping its form. They are more sour than a Fuji or Gala apples which adds a extra layer of flavor to our sweet apple pie.
Sugar
This recipe calls for both brown sugar and white sugar. Sugar is our sweetener of choice but honey, maple syrup or Monk Fruit sweetener is also a great alternatives. If you use the honey or maple syrup just be sure to cook for a long time at a medium to low temperature when you cook your filling on the stove top. Honey and maple syrup burn easier. They also have more liquid in them than cane sugar so you also might want to add another tablespoon of flour or cornstarch.
Cinnamon, All-Spice, Nutmeg & Salt
Our spices include cinnamon, nutmeg, and all-spice. These spices add so much flavor and you can easily adjust the amounts and create a whole new flavor. If you favor one flavor over the other you can experiment by adding a extra 1/4 teaspoon to the spice you want to stand out. Reduce another spice you want to be more subtle then the others.
I also really like freshly ground nutmeg. This is optional but if you have never tried grating your own nutmeg from whole cloves you are missing out. I love the taste of nutmeg and fresh nutmeg does not disappoint.
Vanilla Powder/Extract
You can use vanilla powder or vanilla extract. The vanilla is optional but I like the subtle background flavor it gives to my apple pies.
Flour/Cornstarch
The flour or cornstarch is what thickens the syrup of our filling. The sugar also makes it syrupy but because there is so much juice from the apples the flour or cornstarch thickens it up perfectly.
You can use either flour or cornstarch. I typically use flour because its quick and usually our already but If I’m making a gluten free apple pie I use cornstarch. Some people think the flour gives it a funny taste so they prefer the cornstarch but I have found that with apple pie I never taste the flour taste that you get in other pies like Raspberry Pie.
Lemon Juice & Lemon Zest
The lemon flavor is not strong but adds a balances the sweet and tangy flavors with the granny smith apples and the sweet sugar along with the warm spices.
How To Make Apple Pie
Step 1: Make a Crust
Like I mentioned before, I always makes my crust the day or two before. You can make the crust the same day but be sure to let it refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
I personally really like the gingerbread pie crust recipe with the apple pie but a classic pie crust works great too. I also have a gluten free pie crust recipe.
Step 2: Peel Apples
Peel, core and slice about 5lbs or 8 large apples for your apple pie. Again, I highly recommend getting an apple peeler to save so much time!
Step 3: Mix Pie Filling Ingredients
In a large pot combine the apples, sugar, lemon juice and zest, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, all-spice, salt and vanilla powder all together.
Step 4: Cook Filling on Stove Top
Cook the filling in a large pot covered with a lid for 30-60 minutes. Cooking the apples before baking insures an even bake between the apples and the crust. Get perfectly soft apples with thick syrup filling every time is to cook my apple pie filling ahead of time. This allows my to take the pie out of the oven as soon as the crust is done without having to guess if my filling is done. Do Not Under Cook The Apples.
Step 5: Let the Apples Cool
Cool the apples completely before adding them to your pie crust. If you’ve read my 5 tips on a perfect crust you will understand why. The butter in the crust needs to stay cool until its in the oven. You don’t want it to melt until its time for it to create the flaky air bubbles in the crust. So do not put warm apple pie filling in the crust or you might melt the butter too soon and the butter will absorb the flour and you will get a dense crust.
I have often made the filling the day before and let it sit in the fridge overnight before baking on Thanksgiving day.
Step 6: Bake Pie
Now its time to bake your apple pie. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 325. We want the crust to get hot so that the butter can melt quickly and the steam can do its job in making a flaky crust, then we reduce the temperature so that we don’t burn the tops of the crust.
Step 7: Let Pie Cool and Enjoy
One the pie crust is completely cook your pie is done! Let cool on counter or refrigerator for at least 4 hours before cutting into. Enjoy with some ice cream, eggnog, whipped cream or caramel syrup!
Apple Pie Filling
Ingredients
- 5 lbs (8 Large) Granny Smith Apples
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup flour or cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon all-spice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Make pie crust dough (Gingerbread Crust, Classic Pie Crust) and refrigerate.
- Peel, core and slice 8 large apples.
- In a large pot mix together all filling ingredients, apples, lemon juice, lemon zest, brown sugar, white sugar, flour, salt, vanilla powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and all-spice.
- On the stove, heat your apple filling mixture on medium high for about 40 minutes or until the apples are soft and syrup is thick.
- Cool your filling down completely. I often will refrigerate it over night and assemble and bake the pie in the morning but 1 hour is typically enough time.
- Assemble pie crust and pour the pie filling in. Add the top crust and bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees and 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
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