APPLE PIE!!! This has been my tried and true FAVORITE pie recipe for a few years now! And I’m so excited to finally be sharing it today!
I love pretty much all pie flavors, from fruit pies to cream pies and everything in between. But apple pie has long held the #1 spot in my heart. Especially when I started making it more consistently a few years ago. Which led me to figuring out the best apple pie recipe ever!
There’s a secret ingredient in this pie that I believe really takes the flavor to next level!
The secret to the best ever apple pie!
Apple Butter! Yes that’s right! Adding apple butter to the pie enhances the overall apple flavor, making it deeper and richer and even more irresistible.
Apple butter is essentially a highly concentrated and slightly thicker form of apple sauce. To make apple butter you will cook down a large bunch of apples over a long period of time, enhancing their natural sweetness and flavor. I have an entire post dedicated to the process of how to make your own apple butter in a slow cooker. You might be surprised by how simple and easy it is to make.
Apple varieties for pie making:
Probably the biggest factor in making a successful apple pie is of course, the apples themselves. There are hundreds of varieties available today, but not all of them are well suited to be used in pie baking. Food52 has an article listing out some of the best apple types for pies. But there’s definitely some trial and error to find what works best for you.
What we want to avoid is using apples that turn into a soggy mush during baking. They’ll produce too much liquid and lose their structural integrity, causing a soggy bottomed pie with not much hold.
Granny Smith apples have long been a popular option. They are available year round, have a firm texture and a tart taste. In my experience, I prefer to mix Granny Smith apples with another, sweeter variety, to provide a nice balance of flavors. I find an all Granny Smith pie to be too tart for my liking.
Another type that I’ve had success with, and is also a pretty common variety, is Honeycrisp. Like the name suggests, this apple has a sweet flavor with a very crisp texture. It holds up well when baking and can stand alone in a pie by itself. This is the variety I used in the pie pictured in this post!
It can be fun to experiment with different varieties to find your favorite. Fall is the perfect time of year for this since it’s peak apple season. It’s also how I discovered my favorite type of apples, the Winesap. Sadly, this is not a very common variety these days and therefore not easily available. But when I get my hands on them, I go all out on pie making!!
Lastly, we’ll need a good pie crust to encase all that apple goodness! If you haven’t checked it out yet, go over to my post on how to make a homemade all-butter pie dough.
The look of the top crust is very flexible here. You can cover the whole pie for a traditional look or go for a more intricate lattice design. Let your creativity take over!
Be sure to send me a photo or tag me in all of your pie creations this season!
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Favorite Apple Pie
- Prep Time: 1 hour (includes chilling)
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 1 9″ pie 1x
Description
The perfect apple pie, packed with thinly sliced apples, fall spices, and bursting with a deep apple flavor thanks to the special addition of apple butter!
Ingredients
- 1 double pie crust (homemade or store-bought)
- 3 lbs baking apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced (such as Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, Granny Smith, or a combo of two varieties)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp dark brown sugar
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
-
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- Pinch of ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp table salt
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 heaping tbsp apple butter (homemade or store-bought)
- 1 egg, beaten for egg wash
- Additional granulated sugar or turbinado sugar, for topping
Instructions
- Prepare a double pie crust dough according to recipe directions.
- In a large bowl, toss together sliced apples, sugars, cornstarch, spices, salt and lemon juice. Then fold in the apple butter. Allow the filling mixture to rest in the fridge while you roll out the dough.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out one disk of the dough into a 12″ circle, about 1/4″ thick. Gently transfer the dough to a 9 inch pie plate and use your hands to evenly pat dough into the pan. Allow excess dough to hang over the edges. Trim excess dough so there is about a 1/2 inch overhang.
- Fill the pie dough with the apple mixture, packing the apples in tightly but discarding any excess liquids from the fruit. (I find it best to use my hands to layer the apple slices into the pie.)
- Roll out the second disk of dough, same as the first piece, to a 12″ circle, about 1/4″ thick. Place the rolled out dough on top of the filled pie and trim the excess around the edges. Fold the top layer of dough under the bottom layer and crimp the edges to seal the pie. Cut a few slits in the dough to allow steam to release during baking, such as cutting an “X” mark right in the center. (Alternatively, you can cut strips of dough to create a lattice pattern for the top of the pie.)
- Refrigerate the pie for 30 minutes while the oven heats up.
- Preheat oven to 400°F and place a rack in the lower third of the oven. Brush the top and edges of the chilled pie with the beaten egg wash. Sprinkle the pie with granulated or turbinando sugar.
- Place the pie on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes on the lower third rack of the oven. Lower the oven temperature to 350°F, move the pie to the middle oven rack, and continue baking for 45 min to 1 hour, until the pie is golden brown and juices are bubbling. (If the top of the pie is browning too much, place a pie shield or tin foil over the pie to help reduce additional browning.)
- Let the pie cool for several hours on a wire rack. Allow to rest in the fridge for a few more hours or overnight before cutting. This gives the filling time to set up and hold together more firmly.
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