Making the Perfect Apple Pie

Today I am sharing my Apple Pie recipe and secrets to help you make the perfect apple pie for your Thanksgiving dessert table. While there are hundreds of great Apple Pie recipes in the world, this recipe is tried and true. I created this recipe for the bakery I owned and it was one of our most popular pie recipes. For over ten years our Apple Pie appeared on the bakery Thanksgiving menu and graced thousands of holiday tables. We offered a seasonal, rotating menu but that did not stop people from requesting this pie all year long. However, it’s not really a recipe that creates a memorable pie, as much as it is the ingredients and the techniques you use.

Most people will think that making the crust is the hardest part of this recipe. However, I think it’s peeling the apples! In fact, our pastry team despised the long hours peeling dozens of boxes of apples every holiday!

There are several secrets to making the perfect apple pie. First and foremost, use good apples. Afterall, the apples are the star of the show. A mix of sweet and tart apples is key. I prefer Granny Smith and Gala apples because it’s what we used in the bakery. Honeycrisp apples are a great choice in place of the Gala apples. We did not use them at the bakery due to the price of Honeycrisp apples, but their sweetness is unmatched. You always want to balance that sweetness with the tartness of a Granny Smith apple to really round out the flavors. Further, be sure to cut all the apples the same. While I always slice my apples, it won’t matter if you decide to cut them in chunks. They just all need to be the same so they bake equally.

Next, the pastry crust needs to be spectacular. Bad crust is my pet peeve. I abhor highly processed crusts made from poor ingredients like soybean oil. Soybean is a Round-up ready GMO crop. This means that it is heavily sprayed with glyphosate.

While there are many people that swear by a Crisco crust, I have learned that Crisco contains harmful ingredients. The ingredient list includes soybean oil, fully Hydrogenated Palm Oil, Palm Oil, Mono and Diglycerides, and TBHQ. TBHQ is a petroleum derived butane used as a food additive. Death has occurred with ingestion as little as 5 grams. A single gram can cause nausea and vomiting. Thus, while I grew up with Crisco as a staple in our kitchen, and I used to use it in my baking all the time, I have learned about healthier substitutions. Just because I always used it does not mean I have to continue to do so. It’s what intentional eating is all about. There is a healthier substitution for every baking ingredient.

There is nothing better than a butter crust. You can leave the shortening out of this crust and use an all butter crust if you like. However, I do like to add a tiny bit of lard or organic shortening to make the pie crust flaky. Do not substitute coconut oil, it will do nothing but cause your crust to melt right off your pie! Butter is flavor, shortening or lard adds flakiness. A flavorless crust is one which uses only oil or shortening.

Your pie crust needs time to relax after you make it. It can be made days ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator, or even the freezer. When working with it, you want it to be chilled. The reason you must work with cold dough is because warm butter will simply melt in the hot oven, but cold butter will poof and bring wonderful rise to your dough.

The next secret is to mix the sugar/spice mixture into the apples and let it marinate for at least thirty minutes. I like to mix it together while I roll out my crust. Since your crust needs to be cold, it will be a little difficult to roll and take some time to shape. During this time your apples will sit long enough to accumulate the necessary juices. These juices help to ensure that your pie will not be too dry. Just be sure to add those juices to the pie when you put the filling into the crust.

Finally, many people fail at simply baking an apple pie long enough for the juices to thicken. You want to bake the pie until the crust is golden and the juices begin bubbling around the edges and run over the pie crust. Always bake the pie on a cookie sheet for this reason and line the cookie sheet with parchment paper to prevent a clean up mess. Those juices harden like concrete! A hot pie smells amazing and you will be tempted to eat it straight away! Just remember that your pie needs to sit so the juices distribute and thicken further. Allow a good amount of time for this to happen.

I hope these tips help you create the perfect Apple Pie this holiday season! If you use my recipe, snap a pic and send it to me!