The BEST Apple Pie Recipe

I may have found the perfect combination of recipes for the best apple pie on the planet!  I tend not to bake a whole lot since we've moved, since it's just the two of us, but I couldn't say no this time.  

Poor hubby had a bad week...It began on Sunday night with a trip to the E.R., and then a business trip the next day.  So when he requested an apple pie (with big, sad puppy dog eyes), I gave in.  While pies can be a lot of work, this one was worth ever second spent prepping.  

I can't take credit for these...I found them searching Google- "Best Apple Pie Recipe" With almost 5,000 5-star reviews, I had to give Apple Pie by Grandma Ople a try (find the original recipe here).  I did add a few twists/ingredients of my own, and I thought the finished product was stellar. 

But before you jump into all that buttery, sugary goodness, you need a good crust recipe.  Sadly, Grandma Ople didn't include one on the All Recipes site.  I got this one from Simply Recipes, and it was gooood.  

This pie crust recipe is shown on Simply Recipes in a food processor, but I don't have one.  Here's my version:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, very cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
6-8 tablespoons ice water

-Combine flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl.  Whisk or sift together to incorporate ingredients.
-Add butter cubes, and mix in with pastry cutter until mixture resembles course meal (with pea sized pieces of butter).
-Add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time until the mixture begins to clump together.  If you pinch some of the crumbles and it holds together, it's ready.  If not, add more water until it does.
-Pour dough onto a very lightly floured counter and smoosh together any crumbly pieces with the palm of your hand.  (This also helps create the flaky texture once it bakes.)
-Shape dough into two disks, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

To roll out the dough, I always find that it's easier to roll it between two pieces of waxed or parchment. I lightly flour the insides of the waxed paper, and add my dough.  I let mine thaw a little on the counter before I started rolling because the refrigeration made it a little hard.  

Once rolled out to about 1/8 inch, I put one piece into my pie dish (a 9 inch stoneware dish), and cut the other into strips for the lattice top with a pizza cutter. 

For this particular recipe, it's easier to go ahead and have the lattice pieces ready to go.  The pie recipe is a little unusual in that you add the apples to the dish, put the lattice on top, and then pour hot pie filling OVER the lattice.  Trust me...it's delicious.  

The "Apple Pie by Grandma Ople" called for all Granny Smith apples, but I didn't have that many on hand.  I ended up making some changes to her original recipe, but I'm itching to try this again as written.  Here's my version of the pie filling:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

8 apples

dash of cinnamon

dash of vanilla extract 

(I like tart apples in my pies, so I used a few Granny Smith, Jonagold and Jazz Apples.  I personally think the more variety you have in the apples, the better your pie will taste.  I'm curious to try it with just the Granny Smiths though.)

-Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.  Melt the butter in a saucepan.  Stir in flour.  Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and cinnamon and vanilla extract to your liking.
(We like a LOT of cinnamon in our house.  I didn't measure, just eyeballed, but start with a teaspoon to see where your flavor is at.  I'd say the same for the vanilla extract.  I just wanted a little extra warmth in the filling, so I added a literal dash.  I took a spoon and tasted the filling to make sure these extra flavors were in check).

-Bring mixture to a boil.  Reduce temperature and let simmer.  

-Fill prepared pie dish with apples, mounded slightly.  Cover with lattice top.  Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust.  Pour slowly so that it does not run off.  

-Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees.  Reduce the temperature to 350 and continue baking for 35-45 minutes until apples are soft. 

If you've never made a pie like this before, beware of the dreaded oven drips.  While your pie is a-bubblin'-and-a-bakin', the deliciousness from the inside of the pie will sometimes spill over the top.  It ends up hitting the bottom of your oven, burning, and filling your entire house with a smoky haze.  I put a cookie sheet below my pie while it's baking, but found that I still got the smoke.  While there wasn't burned sugar glued to the bottom of my oven, I still wasn't a happy camper.  

So I baked the pie for the first 15 minutes with a dry cookie sheet under it.  (Because I wanted the crust to get nice and crispy brown).  When I reduced the temperature, I put a little water in the cookie sheet.  This helped the smoke problem a LOT!  Because I didn't want the excess moisture to make my crust soggy, I took the water out and replaced it with a dry cookie sheet for the last 10 minutes of baking.  The pie came out perfect!  

The hubster was a happy camper, and I earned some major brownie points for making something delicious!  Both of these recipes are keepers!