A Simple Apple Pie Recipe For Home Bakers In a Rush to Impress the World

Apple pies, replete with tradition and culinary heritage, are a great starting point for young bakers. However, in order to make this classic, one must remember to get their basics just right. With our recipe, you could rest easy as you bake the most perfect apple pie ever.

Among desserts, pies are an American classic. And among pies, the humble apple pie wears the crown. It’s the most popular and beloved of pies. It’s also the initiator for several young home bakers, as it’s an easy, straightforward dessert to make. It’s a dish filled with nostalgia and warmth, and manages to touch hearts around the world. The iconic dish is known for its flaky golden-brown crust and sweet, cinnamon-spiced apple filling.

However, it’s more than just a dessert. It’s a symbol of American culture and tradition, a national culinary treasure, as exemplified by the phrase “as American as apple pie”. At family gatherings or community events, or even special occasions like Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July dinners, the freshly baked apple pie is sure to be found. The recipes are often passed down among families for generations, and every step—from peeling and slicing of the apples, to rolling out the perfect crust—is an opportunity to connect with one’s culinary heritage.

If you don’t have access to such a recipe, here’s one that you can bookmark for the future and pass down to your kids!

Ingredients

For the pie crust:

• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more to dust
• ½ tbsp granulated sugar
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 2 sticks cold unsalted butter
• 7 tbsp ice water

For the filling:

• 7 cups thinly sliced apples, peeled, cored
• 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
• 8 tbsp unsalted butter
• 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup water
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg

Instructions

• Mix together the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl.
• Add the diced butter to create coarse crumbs, making sure the mixture remains dry and powdery.
• Add about 6-7 tablespoons of iced water and mix it all together to create a coarse ball.
• Divide the dough ball into two parts and flatten both parts into disks. Cover them in plastic and refrigerate them for at least an hour.
• Start preheating the oven while you make the filling.
• Melt butter over medium heat in a small saucepan and add the flour, whisking constantly. Add the water and sugar and bring to a boil, whisking continuously. Put aside to cool.
• Peel the apples, remove their cores and thinly slice them, making sure you devote enough time to the entire process. Add the cinnamon and toss the slices till the powder has coated evenly on them. Pour the previously made butter and sugar sauce evenly over the apple slices.
• Sprinkle your work surface with flour and roll out one of the pie crusts in a circle. Gently wrap it around your rolling pin so you can transfer it to the pie plate. Place it on, being mindful of the edges of the crust.
• Add the apple mixture into the pie-lined plate in a design of your choice.
• Roll out the second crust and cut it into a shape of your choice—this could be strips to create lines or a weave; simple circles, diagonals and other shapes, or whatever else your imagination can conjure. Arrange the strips or whatever shapes you have on top as a covering for the pie.
• Beat the egg, add some water and brush the top of the pie with the egg wash.
• Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat and continue baking for roughly 45 minutes or until the filling is bubbling.
• Let it cool in room temperature for an hour before serving

The apple pie, a deeply emotional dish, is traditionally served with a scoop of icecream and often as an accompaniment to the after-dinner coffee.

Of course, the apple pie is a dessert that one can easily play around with. Its simplicity allows for great diversity, and people often include additional ingredients like caramel, pecans, or even cheddar cheese, amplifying its taste and texture. The apples can be placed in a variety of ways too—from a simple line of slices laid out parallel to each other, to adapting a center-to-rim approach, and even placing the slices in a curved manner to make them look like roses.

In a nutshell, apple pies are what you serve when you want to celebrate with your closest ones in an intimate gathering, and while baking the perfect one may take a few trials, that effort, I assure you, will really be worth it.