Here she is… in all her glory. The perfect. apple. pie. I mean that in every way. Not only is it a beautiful sight to behold, but it will knock your socks off with the taste! I think everyone should know how to make a really good apple pie. Now it is your turn to learn!
Of course we start off with apples! These here are Granny Smith apples. The apple pie apple. Now to get to the business of preparing these babies for the pie. You have to peel, core and slice them. Yes, it is kind of a lot of work and takes some time. But if you happen to have one of these apple peeler, corer, slicer contraptions… it will be a snap!
Here we go!
Ok… hit pause, then rewind and we will go back to the basics for all of you that are feeling teary eyed and left out because you don’t have the nifty apple contraption and just want to give up right here. All you need is a cutting board and a knife. Yay.. we all have that! Ok now we all can proceed.
After you chop your apples into thin pieces, you are going to add sugar to them bunch of apple pieces.
Next comes the flour. Oh what a difference it makes to add some flour. I like to think of it as the secret ingredient that makes this pie so dang good! Trust me on this one.
Of course we will add cinnamon to the party. Apples and cinnamon are like the perfect marriage.
Then we will give it a good stir until all the pieces are nicely coated. Just look at that…. you can tell it will be just amazing.
Add the apple pieces into your prepared pie dish. You want to make sure the apple pieces are higher than your pie dish. Why you ask? Because when you bake the apples, they will fall as they soften, and your pie will have a sunken middle if you don’t have an abundance mounding in the dish. A sunken middle is not pretty. And we like pretty!
Add five pats of butter on the mound for extra goodness. Butter makes everything better!
Next comes the “beautiful” part. I use a leaf cookie cutter for the top crust.
Be sure not to roll out your dough too thin. Cut out the leaves….
And place them one by one on top of the pie. This is the fun part. I love to “pretty” the ordinary up!
Layer and overlap just so. And of course, let the leaves cascade over the sides.
After you get all the leaves on, brush them all with an egg wash. This will ensure the crust will bake a beautiful golden brown. No need to cut air vents on this pie. There are little gaps that act as air vents in between some of the leaves. Yes… I am smart like that. Sometimes.
To finish the pie before I bake it, I shake some cinnamon/ sugar all over the top of the pie. For both looks and taste. A double yummy whammy!
May I take one minute to show off my work? So pretty and it hasn’t even been baked yet!
Two important steps right here. Number one… place the pie on a foil lined rimmed jelly roll pan. This apple pie will bubble over sticky juice and this pan will save the bottom of your oven. And covering the pan with foil will save you major scrubbing to clean the very sticky and over baked juice. Second, lightly tent the top of the pie or those beautiful leaves will turn a nasty dark brown or burn. Oh the horror… not to our pie!
After about 1 hour and 45 minutes, pull the pie out and remove the tent. Be gentle just in case some of the crust is sticking to the foil.
Cover just the sides of the pie with wide strips of foil, leaving the middle exposed. Finish baking for about 25 minutes. When you see the juices bubbling out of the pie, it is a sign that the apples are cooked all the way through. Oh yes… it is a good sign… a very good sign.
And there you have it! Now have you ever seen a more beautiful apple pie? And I dare you to find a more tasty one too. Beauty and taste…. we have a crowd pleasing winner! For the full recipe, click here. Happy apple pie baking my friends!
