Dutch Apple Pie. Making a delicious pie should not have to be stressful; but, it doesn’t have to come from the grocery store either. When you can find the perfect pie crust with delicious filling and do it with ease, you’ve found a winner.
And did I mention the outrageous crumble topping? Let me introduce you to a winner.
Dutch Apple Pie
Pie Crust
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons cold water (approximate)
Place all pie crust ingredients in a food processor except for water. Pulse until butter is incorporated with flour & salt and about the size of peas.
Continue to pulse and slowly add water until the mixture begins to come together.
Without touching the dough too much, push the pieces together to form into two round disks. Gently wrap dough disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 – 60 minutes.
Yeast dough loves to be played with but pie crust does not. A cold pie crust is a flaky pie crust. Keep things cool by not touching the crust too much.
After the dough disks have chilled, form one of the disks out into about an 11-inch circle – just a little bigger than your pie plate. Pie plates are typically 9.5 inches.
The easiest way I’ve found to transport the pie crust into the pie plate is to fold it in quarters.
And then place it into the pie plate and carefully unfold it. The extra dough around the edges is good because pie crust often shrinks down while par-baked.
You can freeze the second half of the pie crust dough for another time or you can use it instead of the crumble topping today (steps for this at the bottom of this post).
The Par-bake
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Par-baking (also known as blind-baking) the bottom pie crust to prevent creating a soggy pie. To do this, lightly place a piece of foil or parchment paper over the bottom crust. Place about a pound of pie weights, dry beans, or rice on the foil. Beans or rice cannot be used for eating after this as they will no longer cook properly, but they can be saved for another day of pie-making and become known as “The Pie Beans” from this day forward.
Bake the bottom pie crust in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes or until crust edges are light golden brown. Remove the foil and beans and bake for another 5 minutes.
After par-baking is done, remove the pie crust from the oven & allow it to cool to the touch.
Apple Filling
- 8 large Honeycrisp apples, sliced to 1/4 inch thick
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 cup high-quality apple juice
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, chilled and sliced
Place apples in a large, shallow pot with lemon juice, apple juice, sugars, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Stir and allow to sit for about half an hour while the apples and sugars marry into a lovely sauce. The sugar will draw the juices out of the apples.
Then stir in the flour.
Place the filling on medium heat and let it come to a boil. Cook while stirring for 10-15 minutes. Your filling will thicken and the apples will partially cook.
Remove it from the heat and let it cool to room temperature.
Crumble Topping
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
Place crumble topping ingredients into a large food processor and process on pulse until the butter is evenly distributed and about the size of peas.
Carefully and lovingly place crumble topping over pie filling and secure around edges. Place the pie on a baking sheet to catch any dripping that might happen.
Bake at 350°F for 45-60 minutes or until the top crust is light golden brown and the filling is hot and bubbly. If the edges start to look done before the pie is done baking, cover them with a pie guard for foil. Allow the pie to cool for at least a couple of hours so the filling can set. It will still be warm to enjoy with ice cream if you like.
Regular Pie Crust Top
- 2nd half of pie crust dough
- 1 egg, well-beaten
- 2 tablespoons large sugar crystals (optional)
Once the bottom crust has cooled to the touch, fill it with the apple filling and remove the top crust from the refrigerator.
Keep the top crust in the refrigerator until you’re ready to fill and bake your pie and then roll out the top crust into at least an 11-inch circle.
Center and place the top crust on top of the pie and fold any extra edges under then crimp them all the way around.
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Brush the entire top crust with some of the beaten egg and then sprinkle with the large sugar crystals evenly over the top of the pie if you like. Bake for 45 minutes or until the top is light golden brown and the filling is hot and bubbly.
Allow the pie to cool for about an hour so the filling can set.
She’s beautiful. She’s delicious. She’s unforgettable. She’s apple of your pie.