Your new favorite dessert will be this novel take on apple pie. Without apple pie, autumn isn’t fall! We’re giving this popular classic a twist by substituting it with something other than a cinnamon-only apple pie. Your entire home will smell like the holidays after making this chai apple pie. With the addition of our chai spice blend, apple pie takes on a festive, warm flavor. Enjoy the tastes of the season with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream on top!
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 35 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 35 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 1 9-inch pie |
Ingredients
- 2 cups apple juice
- 2 chai tea bags
- 2 pounds Honeycrisp apples
- 1 medium lemon, juiced
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 2 pinches ground black pepper, or more to taste
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 (9 inch) frozen pie crusts, thawed
- 1 large egg, beaten
Instructions
- Heat apple juice in the microwave in a microwave-safe bowl in 30-second intervals until very warm, but not boiling. Add chai tea bags, cover, and let steep for 10 minutes. Discard tea bags.
- Meanwhile, peel and chop apples, tossing them in a bowl with lemon juice to keep from browning.
- Combine cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom, and black pepper for spice blend in a small bowl.
- Combine apples, apple juice-chai tea blend, the spice blend, brown sugar, butter, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and salt in a large pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the apples start to soften, about 30 minutes.
- Transfer 1/4 cup of the warm apple liquid from the pot to a small bowl. Add cornstarch and whisk until completely dissolved into the liquid and no clumps remain. Stir mixture back into the pot. Continue cooking over medium heat, stirring often, until the mixture starts to thicken, about 5 minutes. Pour the filling into a bowl and set aside to cool, about 1 hour.
- While filling cools, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
- Pour filling into one of the thawed pie crusts and press the other crust dough over the top. Cut a small, shallow slit in the top with a sharp knife. Gently brush beaten egg over the top crust. Cover the outer edges of the pie with aluminum foil to avoid burning.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Gently remove foil and continue to bake until golden and bubbly, about 15 minutes more. Allow to cool until the pie is warm, but not hot, before serving.
- Add extra apples for a deep dish pie.
- You can use the frozen pie crusts that come in an aluminum pie dish or the refrigerated ones that come rolled up if you have your own pie dish. If using refrigerated dough, roll it out to the appropriate size and shape of your dish and cut any decorative lattice work or shapes you like for the top.
- Chai originated in India and this chai spice blend was created by my friend Armani, who’s from New Delhi, India, but currently calls Dallas, Texas home.
- Please note the differences in ingredient amounts and the top crust preparation (lattice) when using the magazine version of this recipe.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 425 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 63 g |
| Cholesterol | 31 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Sodium | 324 mg |
| Sugars | 34 g |
| Fat | 19 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Very good!! The apple juice gives it a really heavy sweet apple flavor but the spices are quite good. I also used granny Smith apples because that’s what I had on hand, I assume a red variety would balance the sweetness better.
I adapted this to be gluten free by using 2 pre-made crusts, and thickening the liquid with tapioca starch. After I cooked the apples (they took less than 30 min to soften), I drained the liquid into a different pan and added the starch, then cooked it until it was honey thick. I tossed the apples and the thickened liquid together before adding it to the crust. I steeped the chai and juice for a long while, and had to adapt my spices with nutmeg and coriander as I was out of cardamom. As a result the pie was very spice forward, so you may want to follow the recipe more closely to have it be more apple forward. Overall, we loved it. We topped it with vanilla ice cream and it was to die for!
This recipe turns out an incredible, flavor-packed aromatic pie. I made it for a colleague’s birthday and the office loved it. Adding it to my favorites for sure.
One of the best pies I’ve ever made, in my top 3 for sure. Essentially a more spiced apple pie, it works very well. I didn’t have a strong chai tea, but the flavor profile was spot on regardless. I slightly overbaked so not adding a photo, but it was delicious.
This recipe inspired me to try to bake a pie for the first time in my life, and what a success! I love apple pie anyway, but the spiciness of this one is to die for! I made this for my family for Thanksgiving, and apparently I’ll be making it again for Christmas because everybody absolutely loved it.