The Best Apple Pie
Boost your apple pie with a buttery crust, pre-cooked apples and an incredible filling with cider, cinnamon and lemon juice. —Nick Iverson, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Ingredients
- 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1-1/4 cups cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 1/3 cup cold water
- FILLING:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 5 pounds medium Honeycrisp apples, peeled and sliced 1/4-in. thick
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- 1/2 cup apple cider
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
- Coarse sugar
Reviews
I didn't make this recipe but just from reading it I can tell it would be very wet. Great Aunt Sammie taught everyone to put flour in the pie. This is when you cook the apples in the pie so if you want to cook the apples on the stove top then add the flour when you have cooked it down, kind of like gravy. You could even add more steps to an otherwise simple recipe by making a rue and then add that to the cooking down process. I think I'll just stick with Aunt Sammie's recipe.
I really, really wanted to love this pie...but.... I LOVE apples and apple everything, but I found there was just to much apple in this recipe... I like a better crust/apple ratio. Secondly, I've never made an apple pie that had allspice in it... I could tell it was in there and I didn't care for it... Although I cooked the apples down, once the pie was made and I cut into it, there was a good 1/2 inch of juice in the bottom of the pie, making the bottom crust soggy. Visually, it was a beautiful pie... Sadly, I won't make again...
I made this today following the instructions as close as possible. It came out really to be a very beautiful and delicious pie. I'd like to make it again.
This pie was really only average.. What I liked: cooking the apples eliminated the "dead space" you sometimes get between the top crust and the apples. Also really liked the all butter crust. It was easy to work with, and rolled out like a dream. Full disclosure I rubbed the butter into the flour by hand. I hate the texture of food processor pie crust. What I didn't like: this is a very wet pie. the bottom crust was soggy and unappealing. The apples were firm and held their shape beautifully, but it wasn't sweet enough, and didn't have enough spice. This was very labor intensive for an average product
First of all, this is a time consuming recipe, but worth it. Since I didn't have apple cider, I had to sub orange juice. I was afraid that there would be too much *liquid* so I thickened the liquid and I'm so glad I did. Even with that, it was still a tad juicy when I cut it later. Since my family loves the taste of cinnamon with apples, I upped the amount. Instead of brushing the top crust with egg and cream, I topped it with cinnamon sugar. Family loved it that way. For fun, I tried the braided crust.