I have never been a big pie baker. I always seem to have trouble with pastry. One time it’s too dry and crumbly and the next time it’s too wet and sticky. But when Fall apples are piled high and priced low at the market, it’s too tempting to pass up and so I roll up my sleeves and give it a go.
Pastry challenges aside, this is my favourite apple pie filling recipe, found on All Recipes many years ago and quickly became my “go to” recipe. The butter and sugar mixture that is poured over the apples, forms a wonderful caramel-like sauce for the apples, but isn’t overly sweet. The sauce is nice and thick, so it’s not a runny pie (it’s still warm in the picture but it sets up nicely as it cools). This pie is lovely served with a slice of aged cheddar!
As you can see, I cut some leaf shapes out of my top pie crust, which serves as both decoration and venting for the pie. I think they’re sort of like oak leaf shapes, which is fitting, since the oak leaves are the only leaves still on the trees around here (still pretty but I do miss those other leaves!).
Recipe: Classic Two Crust Apple Pie
Summary: Use your favourite double-crust pastry recipe for this pie. I prefer this pie with Courtland apples but any firm, tart apple will do. You can use small cookie cutters to cut shapes out of the top crust, which looks pretty and also serves to vent the pie.
Ingredients
- 1 recipe pastry for a 9-inch double crust pie
- Filling:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar for my pie)
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 4-5 large Courtland, Granny Smith or similar apples, peeled, cored and sliced
- 1 egg for glaze, separated, retaining yolk and white separately
- Optional: Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling over crust before baking
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Stir in the flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
- Meanwhile, place the bottom crust in your pie plate. Brush the bottom of the crust with egg white (helps to prevent the bottom from getting soggy). Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Pour the sugar and butter liquid over the apples. (If cutting shapes out of top crust, do that while crust is rolled flat, reserving the cut-out pieces.) Cover with top crust. If you’ve cut out shapes, place cut-out pieces next to holes. If not, cut 2 or 3 slits in the top crust with a sharp knife for vents. Brush the top of the crust with the reserved egg yolk that has been lightly beaten with a teaspoon of water. If desired, sprinkle with a bit of turbinado sugar. Place pie on a baking sheet or “oven saver” pie ring to catch any overflow.
- Bake 50 – 55 minutes in the preheated oven, until apples are soft when a sharp knife is inserted. You may want to check near the end of the cooking time and cover the pie with aluminum foil to prevent it from browning too much.
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 hour 10 min
Number of servings (yield): 8
Pastry has never been my strong suit. It hasn’t stopped me from loving pies though! Your apple pie looks delicious- I love your cut outs!
Thanks Betty. I love (to eat) pies and I wish I was better at making them. My Mom makes the most wonderful pie pastry but I guess I didn’t get the pastry gene.