The scent of apple pie baking in the oven is like no other. It is my family’s favorite. Even if I were to bake a million and one fabulous cakes, and then ask them what they would like me to bake next, the answer would always be apple pie. I usually bake pies starting in the autumn through winter, but that’s not to say I’ve never baked them in the summer, because I have, lots of times. I’ve tried commercially baked apple pies, and they are good, but truly, nothing compares to homemade. Not only do you fill your house with that wonderful aroma and get everyone excited they can hardly wait for the pie to cool down, but you create wonderful memories for your kids, and they will always associate pie with home, as clichéd as that may sound, it is true. Blueberry pie and cherry pie are also favorites in my household, but apple pie will always be number one.
Furthermore, you don’t need anything fancy to bake a pie. You need only a few basic ingredients, which more than likely you already have in your pantry. So I’m including this step-by-step tutorial in case it’s helpful.
A mere six ingredients are all that’s needed for the apple pie filling.
I like to slice and dice the peeled apples as thinly as possible.
Add to the apples one cup dark brown sugar, two tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Mix well.
After mixing, your apple pie filling will look like this. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and chill it in the refrigerator while you make your pie dough.
Here you have the ingredients for a basic pie crust that will yield two baked pie shells or one filled double-crust pie. Counting the water, all you need are five ingredients to bake a pie crust. For the shortening, there is a brand at Whole Foods called Spectrum that’s not partially hydrogenated and this is what I always use.
Now mix ¾ teaspoon salt with 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour. Cut ½ cup shortening and 2 tablespoons butter into the flour mixture. You can use either a food processor or mix by hand with a pastry blender as shown above.
After 2 or 3 minutes of mixing, the mixture will look like this. You want to evenly distribute the shortening and butter all throughout the flour, until the particles are about the size of small peas. These particles form the flakes once the crust is baked.
Add water a tablespoon at a time. If using a food processor, pulse for just about 2 seconds after each addition. If mixing by hand, toss the mixture with a fork. The picture above shows the mixture starting to bind and adhere together after adding water.
Here you see the pastry almost getting to the stage where it can form a nice ball. Just a few more tablespoons of water should do it.
After adding all the water, the pie pastry has finally come together to form a ball. I find that on some days, depending on the weather, I need to add a tablespoon or two more to get the mixture to completely bind together. If more water is needed, add it a tablespoon at a time. Note that too much water can result in a tough crust.
Wrap the pie dough tightly in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for at least 15 minutes. If making ahead of time, store the wrapped pie pastry in an airtight container, and then refrigerate.
When ready to use, slice the dough in two equal halves with a sharp knife.
After dividing the dough you now have two equal size dough balls that will form the bottom and a literal upper crust.
Liberally flour the counter top and rolling pin to prevent sticking. Flatten one of the dough balls into a disc to start rolling.
I was so eager to try out this new pastry board. Up until now, I would just roll the dough directly on the counter. With this board, I had zero problems with sticking and the markers made rolling so much easier. A pastry board is not absolutely necessary, rolling out the dough on a well-floured counter will work just fine, but if you make a lot of pies, it really is a huge convenience.
Roll half of the dough to 1/8 inch thickness, or until large enough to cover the bottom of your pie plate.
To transfer the rolled dough to your pie plate, you can either gently fold it in quarters or drape it over the rolling pin.
Smooth the dough into the pie plate then trim any excess following the edge of the plate with a sharp knife or kitchen scissors. Place the pie plate in the refrigerator to chill while you roll out the other half of the dough to make the top crust.
I make it a point to roll out the top crust first before filling the pie.
Fill the now chilled bottom layer with the chilled apple pie filling and dot with about 2 tablespoons of butter.
Cover the pie with the second rolled dough, tightly crimp the edges and cut slits with a sharp knife in the center to allow steam to escape while baking. Beat together 1 egg and 1 tablespoon milk and brush this egg wash over the surface of the pie for a nice golden finish. Your pie will look something like this before you bake it in a 400 F oven for 50 minutes.
Then once you take it out of the oven, your pie will look something like this…..
Here’s the pie steaming hot and literally straight out of the oven. I wish I could have captured in this picture the steam coming out of the pie. At this point, your family will start to wander in following that wonderful aroma coming out of the kitchen. Do not, by any means, slice the pie right away or you’ll have a big mess. Allow the pie to cool completely for at least two hours. I usually bake pies in the evening close to bedtime so that everyone won’t keep asking if the pie is cool enough yet. After two hours, just place it in an airtight container or cover it with a cake dome.
I can guarantee, the next day your pie will go from looking like this…
…to this, in no time. A flag apple pie is a great way of presenting apple pie. A variation to this apple pie that’s equally delicious is one with a brown sugar cinnamon crumb topping.
Good old-fashioned apple pie.
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 6-8 medium apples
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup shortening
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 7 – 8 tablespoons cold water
- Pre-heat oven to 400 F.
- Peel the apples, slice thinly and dice.
- Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and mix with apples. Chill in refrigerator while rolling out pie dough.
- You can either use a food processor to cut the shortening and butter into the flour and salt, or if you don’t have one, you can also use a pastry blender.
- Mix flour and salt in food processor bowl.
- Add shortening and butter and pulse for a few seconds, just until the shortening and butter are evenly distributed and particles are the size of small peas.
- Add water a tablespoon at a time and pulse about 2 seconds after each addition. Once all the water is added, pulse until the pastry forms a ball. Use only enough water to form a ball. Do not over mix as this will result in a tough crust.
- If using a pastry blender, after cutting the shortening and butter into the flour and salt, add water a tablespoon at a time and toss the mixture with a fork. After adding all the water, the pastry will bind together to form a ball.
- Wrap the pastry ball in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for at least 15 minutes. Or if making the pie pastry ahead of time, store the wrapped pie pastry in an airtight container before storing in refrigerator.
- Divide pastry in half.
- Roll to ⅛-inch thickness and line a 9-inch pie plate.
- Fill with apple mixture and dot with butter.
- Roll out remaining crust and place on pie.
- Cut slits for steam to escape, seal and crimp edges.
- Brush the top with the egg wash for a nice, golden finish.
- Bake at 400 F for 50 minutes.
- Allow the pie to cool completely before serving.
Apple Pie Tutorial
I found this recipe several years ago and this has been my go to pie recipe ever since! Super helpful with the step by step pics, there’s literally no way you can go wrong with this. Thank you for the wonderful recipe that will be a household favorite for years to come!
That’s great, Maria! Thanks for dropping by.
Just wondering if you’ve ever prepped one and put it in the freezer? If so, how low did you bake it for when removing it from the freezer?
Hi Sarah,
Once the pie is filled straight into a hot oven it goes. If you want to prep like the day before, I would just mix the sugar, flour and spices together and chill the mixture. I would also just chill the pastry.
How far a head can you make the filling? And/or the crust? Working this week right up until the night before our Christmas Eve party and trying to prep as much ahead of time as possible. Thanks!!!
Hi Kyra,
You can make the crust the day before and chill it. Bring it to room temperature before rolling. As for the filling, you can slice the apples the day before as well, tightly wrap, then chill. Mix the sugar, flour and spices separately and chill them separately from the apples. Roll out the bottom pastry first then mix the apples and sugar mixture right before filling the pie crust. Note you have to give the pie time to cool before serving it.
I make this pie often with our three children, I have been making it with them for over two years. Please don’t ever move this page or ever lose this recipe. I will probably be making this pie for the rest of my life. I do add a teaspoon of lemon juice to my apples, I don’t even remember why? I also wash the crust with egg white and milk mixed then sprinkle a little sugar over it to give it a crispy sweet crust.I just want to thank SugaryWinzy for making something that brings our family closer together, oh yeah, and is absolutely delicious too!!
Hi there! Glad to hear you enjoy the pie and thanks for the tips!
First time making a pie. Do I use unsalted butter?
Hi Crystal,
Yes, unsalted butter.
Hi,
The recipe seems to be quite easy n want to give it a try however i wanted to ask does the butter n shortening need to b cold for the crust or is it ok at room temperature?
Hi Saleha,
The butter should be cold. The shortening is stored at room temperature so it wouldn’t matter for the shortening.
Can I use Granny Smith apples for Thai recipe?
Yes, they would be ok.
I am new to pie baking and my pie bubbled over and smoke was pouring out of my oven. What one earth did I do wrong? Pie dish not deep enough or too many apples?
Hi Kelly,
That can happen if your apples are extra juicy and also if your pie dish is shallow. Try placing a cookie sheet underneath your pie dish to catch the juices. Also note that once the juices start to bubble, your pie is just about done. Hope that helps.
I have tried many pie crust attempts for over 30 years, did this one and love it !!!
This is now my go to and I don’t have to ask my daughter-in-law to make the pie crust, LOL
Thank You.
That’s great, Patricia!
First time baking fresh apple pie. Crust was easy to make.
Can not wait to have my kids take a bite out of it!
This was my first pie. I had been told making a crust it was something super hard to do it. I thought this was so easy and the result was unbelievable. Amazing testing. Everything goes together so well!! Thank u!!!!!
Thanks, Edleide! Glad to hear it worked out.
I mean tasty!
Had some organic apples go a little soft and knew I wouldn’t eat them. Found this tonight and made my first pie!!! I am not that great if a cook/baker. I will say I am so impressed with how easy it was to follow along and how amazingly delicious it turned out! Thank you so much!
Hi Cheyenne,
I’m so glad to hear that and thanks for letting me know!
I found this on pintrest tonight because a batch of red delicious apples I just bought were on the soft side. I’m an experienced cook but new to baking about 6 years ago and have mastered breads, scones,cookies,pasta exc but have always been intimidated by pies ( cakes other than Betty Crocker too) but gave it a shot. Wow I’m so impressed with the results! Pefectly flaky crust and just the right sweetness in the filling! Thank you for making it easy. I hope when my boys look back some day they will remember the joy of not only cooking but baking pies with me! Thank you again!
Hi Shannon,
I’m really glad to hear that! Thank you.
Love this recipe! I’ve used a few times and think its so simple and easy to whip right up! 2thumbs up!!
Hi Emily,
Thanks, I appreciate the feedback!
I made this recipe before and I failed miserably. I attempted it again and got two wonderful pies. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I’ll be using it for future pies!
Hi Carmen,
Glad to hear. Thanks for the feedback!
I used this recipe today to make an apple pie and it was simply THE BEST EVER! The crust was by far the easiest I have used to date, and the filling was perfect. Thank you!
Hi Michele,
Glad to hear. Thanks for the note and try to keep in touch!
i would like to know if any of the pictures in this article are copyrighted because i would like to use them for advertisement of an event i am planning
Hi Maryama,
The pictures, not only in this post, but all throughout the website, are all copyrighted.