Country Apple Pie Recipe

5 from 2 votes

This country apple pie is an easy Thanksgiving dessert that the whole family will love. This pie is made with sweet and tart apples, sugar, and cinnamon, and uses a tender scratch crust that's beginner easy!

Prep Time30

Cook Time55

Total Time1 25

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings: servings out of 3 pies

Author: Jenny DeRemer

Cost: $0.47 per serving

Equipment

9-inch pie dish
baking sheet
pastry cutter
Rolling Pin

Ingredients

Pastry Ingredients for 3 Double-Crust Pies

18 cups apples about 13-15 large apples; peeled, cored, and chopped into 1-inch pieces
fresh lemon juice for combining with apples
1 pound cold shortening
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

Filling Ingredients for 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

Making the Pastry

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 1-cup measuring 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.

Assembling & Baking the Pie

If you're baking a pie(s) immediately, preheat the oven to 450°F.
Stir together the granulated sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Remove 1 bag of frozen apples from freezer. Add to sugar mixture and stir so the mixture sticks to the frozen apples. (The amount of sugar you use is up to you. For tart apples like Granny Smith, I use ¾ cups of sugar. For all other apple varieties, I use ½ cup of granulated sugar. Set aside ¼ 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. Slice and enjoy!

Notes

If you are not planning to roll the dough immediately, double wrap in aluminum foil and freeze for up to 3 months.
If you have a lot of extra pastry left over, roll it and use seasonal cookie cutters to cut shapes and apply them to the top of your pie crust using egg wash. Sprinkle the leaves with ground cinnamon and sugar before applying to the pie, but only sprinkle sugar on the pie. Once baked, the leaves will look brown on top of the pie.
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. If you're not using them right away, bag them in 6-cup increments in freezer-safe zippered bags and pop each bag into your freezer.
To make 1 double pie crust only, use these measurements: 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour together with 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 cup of cold shortening, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar, and about 1/2-cup of ice cold water.
Refrigerate leftovers under plastic film up to 3 days.

Nutrition