American apple pie is a classic baked good. What makes it distinctive is that the pie is always closed on top — though if you like, instead of simply covering it with a second sheet of dough, you can make a lattice crust; it looks beautiful and tastes just as good. In my version I used a whole kilogram of apples for a relatively small amount of dough — I love a pie that's loaded with filling, but feel free to adjust that ratio depending on whether you prefer more filling or more crust. For a fragrant filling I used cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon zest; the cinnamon is really essential, but feel free to add the rest as you like. To get a gorgeous golden top I brushed it with egg and sprinkled it with brown sugar — the crust came out incredible: golden, crispy, and absolutely delicious, just like the rest of the pie! P.S. By the way, I also found one over on Kamelist — American apple pie!
Ingredients:
- Crust:
- 250 g flour
- 150 g butter
- 100 ml ice water
- 2 tbsp powdered sugar
- pinch of salt
- Filling:
- 1 kg apples
- 50 g sugar
- 15 g flour
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 0.5 tsp nutmeg
- zest of half a lemon
- For the top:
- 1 egg + 1 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp sugar (brown sugar if you have it)
How to cook american apple pie
Make the crust. Add the flour, powdered sugar, and salt to a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the cubed cold butter. For the flakiest dough possible, the butter should be as cold as possible — straight from the fridge, or even colder.
Pulse very briefly — visible pieces of butter should remain. Pour in the ice water and pulse just until combined. Here's how I make ice water: I drop a few ice cubes into a glass of water and let them partially melt, or you can chill the water in the freezer ahead of time. The colder the water, the flakier your dough will be.
Bring the dough together into a ball — do not knead it. Divide into two equal portions and refrigerate for 30–40 minutes. If you do everything right, the dough will come out beautifully flaky and delicious after baking.
Prepare the apples. Peel the apples and cut them into small thin slices. I used sweet-tart Golden Delicious apples.
In a separate bowl, mix together the sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon zest. The amount of sugar will depend a lot on what kind of apples you're using and your personal taste — adjust it to your liking! Add this mixture to the apples, then add the lemon juice and softened butter. Mix everything together thoroughly.
Roll out half the dough and press it into your pan (mine is 25 cm in diameter). As you roll out the chilled dough, the pieces of cold butter create layers inside — and that's exactly what gives you the flakiness you want once it's baked.
Place in a preheated 200°C oven and bake for 15–20 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 180°C and bake for another 30–40 minutes, or adjust based on your oven.
The pie can be served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or completely cooled — it's delicious either way. I personally prefer apple pie fully cooled, even cold, but that's just a matter of taste. American apple pie has a tender, fragrant apple filling and a crisp, flaky crust. Absolutely delicious!
Comments