| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 1 hr 25 min |
| Prep: | 15 min |
| Inactive: | 20 min |
| Cook: | 50 min |
| Yield: | 1 pie, 6 to 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
- 2 1/2 pounds firm, tart apples (preferably seasonal local specials like Macouns, Northern Spy, or Granny Smith) peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/4-inch wedges
- 1/2 cup sugar plus 1 tablespoon for sprinkling
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoons ground cloves
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- Basic Pie Dough, recipe follows
- 1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water to make an egg wash
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- Fine sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes, plus more for greasing
- About 1/3 cup ice-cold water
Instructions
- Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed saute pan over medium heat. Add the apple wedges and saute until slightly softened but holding their shape, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the 1/2 cup of sugar and stir to combine. Add the raisins, cinnamon, and cloves and stir.
- In a bowl, combine the lemon juice and cornstarch. Stir the mixture into the apple mixture and remove the pan from the heat. Let cool completely.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Fill an unbaked bottom crust with apple filling and dot the top crust with the remaining 3 tablespoons butter. Top with a rolled-out top crust. Cut 1/2-inch vents in a round-the-clock pattern into the top crust to allow steam to escape. Brush the top lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.
- Put the pie on a cookie sheet or other low-sided baking tray to catch any spillage. Place on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 20 minutes, checking occasionally to ensure that the top is browning evenly. Rotate the pie 180 degrees to move the front edge to the back of the oven, and bake until the top is uniformly golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes more.
- Remove the pie from the oven and let cool for 20 minutes before slicing and serving.
- Put the flour and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the cold butter cubes and pulse a few times until the mixture begins to become mealy and the butter forms plainly visible pea-size nuggets.
- Dissolve 1/2 teaspoon salt in the water. With the motor running, pour in the water and let mix, just until the dough pulls together. Do not over-mix the dough. If it appears dry and is not holding together, add a few additional tablespoons of water.
- Form the dough into a ball, flatten, and wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Lightly flour a pastry board and a rolling pin and unwrap the dough. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and keep the second piece refrigerated. Tamp down the dough with the rolling pin and gently begin to roll it out into a circular pie shape by rolling evenly in one-eighth turns to keep the rolling even. When the dough is rolled out to an even thickness of about 1/8-inch and is about 12 inches in diameter, it is ready to be transferred to a 10-inch pie dish.
- Lightly butter the dish, lift the dough with the rolling pin by partially rolling the dough up on the pin, center the dough in the dish, and unroll. Pierce the dough in several places with the tines of a fork.
- Roll the second half of the dough into a circle slightly larger than the pie dish. Fill the bottom crust with your chosen filling. Cover the filling with the top half of the dough. Using both hands, crimp the edges of the 2 crusts together to seal. With a sharp knife, make several crosshatch slits in the top crust. Brush with the egg wash and bake in a preheated 375 degree Foven for 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 20 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 589 |
| Total Fat | 33 g |
| Saturated Fat | 20 g |
| Carbohydrates | 69 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Sugar | 31 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Cholesterol | 104 mg |
| Sodium | 604 mg |
Reviews
Not the greatest recipe. Just made it and the inside was runny – did not thicken even though I used cornstarch. My husband didn’t really like it. Crust was great but inside was too thin. That’s after cooking it 10 minutes more than what was stated.
I am so so happy I tried this recipe! The pastry is the best I have ever tasted!! I’m not sure how it is just so buttery, flakey and light! Especially since I thought I added too much water and over mixed it! Fantastic recipe! Thank you!!
My very first apple pie and it turned out delicious! I love how you cook the apples first to soften them a bit, and the pie did not turn out soggy at all. I used Fuji apples, though initially was worried they would make the pie too sweet, but they worked really well. I even forgot to put the remaining butter and sugar on the top crust but it was still super tasty. I did NOT put raisins, because why would you ruin a perfectly good pie with raisins?! I made this for a friend’s birthday and she loved it – will definitely be my go to recipe for apple pie from now on!
This pie was amazing. I used mostly Ginger Gold apples, with a few Mac’s tossed in for flavor contrast. Will be my go-to recipe for apple pie.
Fantastic recipe!! My first ever apple pie, too. I left out the raisins, didn’t have any on hand. My only complaint was that the apples were a bit crunchy for my liking…if you like a softer apple, i would cook them in the skillet until they are pretty much how you would like them in the pie. Mine didn’t seem to soften up much at all in the baking process. I ended up putting it back in the oven with foil on top for nearly 30 more minutes. Still came out amazing and the apples ended up just like we like them 🙂
This is definitely a “keeper” – Apples were cooked to perfection.
This recipe works really well because you partially cook the apples first which eliminates the sogginess usually found in an apple pie. I left the raisins out since my family wouldn’t eat anything with cooked raisins in it but t was still VERY GOOD! I will make this pie again repeatedly!
This is my go-to for apple pie pie recipes. The crust is rich, flaky and so delicious and the lemon brightens up the apples nicely. The only adjustment I make is cutting the sugar down to a quarter cup, the apples are sweet enough this time of year.
excellent pie!!!! loved the filling! making again tonight 🙂
This pie was good not great. I had no runny pie problems as others did, but the flavor was lacking something it was a little on the bland side. Next time maybe more spices like cardamon or nutmeg. It needs a little more zing to it.