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For the longest time, baking an apple pie has been on my bucket list. I never got around to it for some reason. That is, until recently! One weekend, my daughter and I spent an afternoon baking an apple pie. I’ve heard many times that making a pie is hard, but it was easy!

For my pie, I used a lattice crust apple pie recipe from the Food Network.

Lattice Crust Apple Pie (Food Network)

Ingredients
Dough:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon fine salt

14 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, diced

1 large egg, lightly beaten with 2 tablespoons cold water

Filling:
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

3 pounds baking apples like Golden Delicious, Cortland or Mutsu (I used Golden Delicious.)

2/3 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling on the pie. (This recipe makes a slightly sweet pie. If you want a sweeter pie, I’d heavily sprinkle the crust with sugar before baking the pie.)

1/2 stick unsalted butter

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Generous pinch of ground nutmeg

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Directions
To make the dough by hand: Whisk the flour, sugar and salt together in a medium mixing bowl. Use your fingers to work the butter into the dry ingredients. Work the ingredients until it looks like yellow cornmeal mixed with bean-size pieces of butter. (If the flour/butter mixture gets warm, refrigerate it for 10 minutes first.) Add the egg and stir the dough with a fork or by hand in the bowl. If the dough is dry, sprinkle a tablespoon more of cold water over the mixture.

To make the dough in a food processor: Pulse the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor fitted with the metal blade until combined. Add the butter and pulse about 10 times until it resembles yellow cornmeal mixed with bean-size bits of butter. Add the egg and pulse 1 to 2 times. Don’t let the dough form into a ball in the machine. (If the dough is very dry, add up to a tablespoon more of cold water.) Remove the bowl from the machine, remove the blade and form the dough together by hand.

Shape the dough into a disk. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour until it’s completely chilled.

For the filling: Put the lemon juice in a medium mixing bowl. Peel, halve and core the apples. Cut the apple into wedges. (An apple slicer makes the job easier.) 

Toss the apples with the lemon juice. Add the sugar and toss to combine evenly.

Melt the butter over medium-high heat in a dutch oven or large stainless steel skillet. Add the apples and cook and stir until the sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to simmer — about 2 minutes. Cover the apples and reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the apples soften and release most of their juices, about 7 minutes.

Strain the apples in a colander over a medium bowl to catch all the juice. Shake the colander to get as much liquid as possible. Return the juices to the skillet and simmer the juices about 10 minutes over medium heat until they thicken and lightly caramelize.

Toss the apples with the juices and spices in a medium mixing bowl. Set it aside to cool completely. (This filling can be made up to 2 days ahead and refrigerated or frozen for up to 6 months.)

To assemble the pie: Cut the dough in half. On a lightly floured surface, use a rolling rolling pin to roll each half into a disc 11 to 12 inches wide.

Layer the dough between pieces of parchment or wax paper on a baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes.

Place a baking sheet on a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Line the bottom of a 9-inch pie plate with one of the discs of dough, and trim it so it lays about 1/2 inch beyond the edge of the pan. Add the apple filling to the pan.

Use a chef’s knifeor a pizza cutter to cut the second round into 1/2-inch thick strips. Lay strips of dough, evenly spaced, across the entire pie. Weave more strips of dough perpendicularly through the previous strips to make a lattice or basket weave design across the entire pie.

Trim the excess ends from the strips of dough. Pinch the bottom crust edge and lattice edge together, and flute the edge as desired. Using a pastry brush, brush the surface of the dough with egg and then sprinkle with sugar. Refrigerate the pie for at least 30 minutes.


Bake the pie 50-60 minutes on the preheated baking sheet until the crust is golden. The pie keeps well at room temperature (covered) for 24 hours, or refrigerated for up to 4 days.

I enjoyed this apple pie recipe so much that I hope to make another one this week! My family really enjoyed this recipe.

For more dessert recipes, check out my chocolate pretzel pie, strawberry cheesecake pie and my tiramisu cupcakes recipes.