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The Country Apple Pie Recipe I share today will shave HOURS from your holiday schedule if you find yourself needing to bring a dish to more than one gathering during the season. How? This recipe is designed to give you three pies, though they needn’t all be baked at once!
My Country Apple Pie Recipe is super basic with sweet and tart apples, sugar, and cinnamon, and a tender scratch crust that’s beginner easy! Dually, and if you play host to company coming to you, consider at the very least your dessert obligation done in half the number of steps. Have I sold you yet?
What’s that? Need only one pie? Don’t worry, as my recipe card covers everything you need to know for just one pie, too!
Baking with apples means beginning with the right variety of apple. And it may surprise many who read this, but they needn’t necessarily be ‘tart’ to be correct. But what exactly makes any apple correct for baking with?
STABILITY. An apple’s architecture needs to be able to withstand temperature and not become apple sauce during the process that is apple pie. A trip to the market or farm stand suddenly has you in a virtual sea of apples but knowing which varieties to choose from can make all the difference in your bakes.
When selecting apples to use in pies, cakes, cobblers, or ANY OTHER BAKE, consider Honeycrisp, Braeburn, Pink Lady, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Jonagold, and Granny Smith apples, or my personal favorites, Winesap.
Country Apple Pie Recipe
This recipe is as basic as it gets. Apples, sugar, cinnamon, and a homemade pie crust that’ll knock your socks off.
If you are like me, you get invitations to LOTS of holiday gatherings. I always want to bring something, and this pie is nice because it’s more of a gift for your hostess to decide if she wants to serve it immediately or keep it for herself for a later time.
Oh, and there is something to be seriously proud of when you bring something homemade. The way this pie turns out EVERY SINGLE TIME will restore your faith in your ability to create beautiful and delicious things.
You bake the pies as you need them. Not all three at once unless that’s when you need them!
The additional effort that I referenced above is by way of peeling, chopping, and freezing a few extra apples, and assembling a batch of pie crust to be cut into thirds and refrigerated for use at a later time. Each ball of pie dough yields a bottom crust and a top crust.
When you are ready to bake a pie, the apples are already chopped and pre-measured in your freezer. You simply need to divide dough in half, roll out two crusts, fit into a 9-inch pie plate or disposable tin, combine sugar and spice into an apple mixture, and bake.
BAM. Homemade apple pie.
Do You Have What You’ll Need to Assemble My Country Apple Pie Recipe? Check the List!
- shortening
- all-purpose flour
- baking powder
- Kosher salt
- a large egg
- distilled white vinegar
- ice cold water
- apples
- fresh lemon juice
- granulated sugar
- cinnamon
- cold butter, unsalted preferably
What is The BEST Thanksgiving Apple Pie?
Well of course I’m going to tell you it’s this one. But I do so because you’re about to scare yourself silly.
This is so basic. So easy. And it tastes fabulous served as is or with vanilla ice cream.
How to Make Country Apple Pie?
- Gather Equipment
Before you even grab for your pastry blender, grab two eggs from the refrigerator. You want these eggs to be warming to room temperature before anything else.
In addition to a 9-inch pie plate (you can also easily use a 10-inch pie plate if preferred), you need a large bowl for making an apple filling, a medium bowl for mixing the dough, a wire rack, and plastic wrap. - Peel and Chop Apples
Every six cups of apples are equal to one baked pie. I use four Granny Smith and one Winesap, and I muster just around six cups.
Peel, core, and rough chop into 1-inch pieces. After giving them a squeeze of lemon juice, bag them in 6-cup increments in freezer-safe zippered bags and pop each bag into your freezer. Label and date if these are going to be made into a pie at a later time. - Make a Pie Crust
Right off the bat, if you plan to use a refrigerated pie crust for this recipe, just please keep scrolling and find another recipe. You read me right.
This method works BECAUSE OF THE PIE CRUST. If you’ve never made a homemade crust in your life, I’m about to school you on a crust method that works for all pies and it’s a breeze.
Grab a bowl and your pastry cutter. If you don’t own a pastry cutter, you’ll use those two blessed things at the bottom of each arm…your hands!
In a bowl, add shortening, all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Use your pastry cutter or hands to blend all until it’s mealy.
Grab a US 1-cup measure cup and crack one of the eggs into it. Beat it lightly.
Add a tablespoon of white distilled vinegar to the egg, then fill the measure cup to the 1-cup mark using ice cold water.
Beat the egg mixture directly over the bowl of dry ingredients, scattering that egg all over as you go. Use the fork you used to beat the egg to gather the dough ingredients in the bowl and form a ball of dough.
Separate the mass into three equal parts and wrap each part (each part represents a bottom pie crust as well as a top pie crust) in plastic film. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before rolling.
NOTE: If you are not planning to roll dough immediately, dually wrap in aluminum foil and freeze for up to 3 months. - Stir Sugar Mixture for Apple Filling
In a separate mixing bowl, stir together 1/2 to 3/4-cups granulated sugar, 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, and some salt. Combine apples (6-cups frozen apple slices or chopped pieces) and stir to have the sugar mixture stick to the apples.
The amount of sugar you use is up to you, but this is my rule of thumb. If I’m using tart apples like Granny Smith, I go 3/4-cups of sugar. For all other apple varieties, I go 1/2-cup of granulated sugar. - Roll the Dough
Pull a dough ball from the refrigerator and use a bench scraper to cut the ball in half. On a clean lightly floured work surface, use your pin to roll each half of the dough into either a 10-inch circle for a 9-inch pie plate or a 12-inch circle for a 10-inch pie plate.
Fit a rolled dough half into the plate and trim any excess dough to within an inch of the edge. In other words, leave a little to be able to crimp. Scrape the apple filling into the pie crust and fit it with the second half of dough that you’ve rolled.
Crimp all the way around (I go over it twice!) and use kitchen shears to cut slits in the top of the pie to vent. Brush the pie lightly all over with an egg wash (break and lightly beat second egg in a small bowl) and sprinkle liberally with additional granulated sugar. I sprinkle MINIMALLY 1/4-cup of sugar all over the top. - Bake the Pie
Bake pie on a parchment-lined baking sheet on the center rack for 20 minutes at 450°F and then reduce to 350°F and bake an additional 35 to 40 minutes. Toward the end of the bake, you’ll notice a lot of bubbling from within, so it’s always very helpful to have that parchment-lined sheet beneath.
ProTip: if you find yourself with quite a lot of extra dough, roll it and use seasonal cookie cutters to cut shapes and apply them to the top of your pie crust using egg wash.
You can also use a bread knife and cut free form as I have here with my attempt at leaves.
If you want to get really fancy while being artistically accurate, sprinkle your leaves with ground cinnamon and sugar BEFORE applying to the pie. Keep the pie crust itself with just granulated sugar.
This way once baked, you will have created true ‘fall leaves’ atop your pie, their coloration discernable and very, very pretty!
Country Apple Pie Recipe
Equipment
- 9-inch pie dish
- pastry cutter
Ingredients
This recipe yields three (3) 9-inch pies. For a single 9-inch pie, see the NOTES SECTION below
- 18 cups apples, from 13 to 15 large apples; peeled, cored, and rough-chopped into 1-inch pieces; divided into 6-cup increments, and placed in freezer bags in the freezer AFTER tossing in lemon juice
- fresh lemon juice
- 1 pound shortening, COLD
- 5 cups all-purpose flour, plus, more for rolling the pie crusts
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 2 large eggs, warmed to room temperature
- 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
- cold water
the following ingredients are per every 6-cups of apples/1 pie
- ¾ to 1 cup granulated sugar, divided with 1/4-cup reserved
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
Instructions
- Gather all equipment and ingredients. Remove 2 eggs from refrigeration and allow to come to room temperature.
- Every six cups of apples are equal to one baked pie. With this in mind, peel, core, and rough chop into 1-inch pieces. Squeeze and toss with lemon juice and divide into 6-cup increments. Bag in 3 separate freezer-safe zippered bags and place into freezer. Label and date if these are going to be made into pies at later times.
- In a bowl, add COLD shortening, all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Use your pastry cutter or hands to blend all until it's mealy. Grab a US 1-cup measure cup and crack 1 egg into it. Beat it lightly. Add a tablespoon of white distilled vinegar to the egg, then fill the measure cup to the 1-cup mark using ice cold water.
- Beat the egg mixture directly over the bowl of dry ingredients, scattering that egg all over as you go. Use the fork you used to beat the egg to gather the dough ingredients in the bowl and form a ball of dough.
- Separate the mass into three equal parts and wrap each part (each part represents a bottom pie crust as well as a top pie crust) in plastic film. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before rolling. NOTE: If you are not planning to roll dough immediately, dually wrap in aluminum foil and freeze for up to 3 months.
If baking a pie(s) immediately, preheat oven to 450°F now
- Stir together 1/2 to 3/4-cups granulated sugar, 4 tablespoons of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Remove 1 bag of frozen apples from freezer. Add to sugar mixture and stir so the mixture sticks to the frozen apples. NOTE: The amount of sugar you use is up to you, but this is my rule of thumb. If I'm using tart apples like Granny Smith, I go 3/4-cups of sugar. For all other apple varieties, I go 1/2-cup of granulated sugar. Save aside approximately 1/4-cup for sprinkling on the top of the crust before baking.
- Use a bench scraper to cut one dough ball in half equally. On a clean lightly floured work surface, use your pin to roll each half of the dough into either a 10-inch circle for a 9-inch pie plate or a 12-inch circle for a 10-inch pie plate. Fit a rolled dough half into the plate and trim any excess dough. Scrape the apple filling into the pie crust and fit it with the second half of dough that you've rolled. Crimp all the way around (I go over it twice!) and use kitchen shears to cut slits in the top of the pie to vent. Brush the pie lightly all over with an egg wash you make by lightly beating the remaining egg and sprinkle liberally with additional granulated sugar.
- Bake pie on a parchment-lined baking sheet on the center rack for 20 minutes at 450°F and then reduce to 350°F and bake an additional 35 to 40 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack for 45 minutes to 1 hour before cutting.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Awesome recipe I love โค๏ธ making my own crust to anything I bake that requires a dough crust. This crust sounds delicious ๐
Connie, you are among my heroes then because, until THIS crust method, I would automatically walk away from a recipe that required a scratch crust due to the time it took and my poor crust skill level. Not now, not with this one, which can be used across the board for so many pies including slab pies. Thanks, Connie, for circling back around to leave this comment – it’s very appreciated and I am very grateful ๐ Jenny