Make Ahead
by: mrslarkin
September14,2010
4
14 Ratings
- Serves 8
Jump to Recipe
Author Notes
This pie is inspired by the recipe Delicious Apple Pie from the Blue Ribbon Pies cookbook, published by Consumers Union, edited by Maria Polushkin Robbins - my all-time favorite pie recipe. I read about the apple layering technique in The Flavor Bible, so every bite of this pie has different textures and flavors of apples. My pie dough is adapted from the recipe for Flaky Pie Dough in the cookbook Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan. You'll have enough dough for 2 pies. And one of my favorite movies is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, hence the title. - mrslarkin —mrslarkin
Test Kitchen Notes
I had so much fun making this aptly named pie! While I was intimidated about making my own pie crust, it came together easily and was flaky, buttery and delicious. (Thanks to Merrill, Amanda and Dorie for the pie-rolling-out tutorials!) I loved layering the different apples, and you could really taste and the layers as you cut through the pie. I will definitely use that technique in the future. My husband and I both loved the pie. It is truly scrumptious and I'm pleased to recommend it as an Editors' Pick. – drbabs —The Editors
- Test Kitchen-Approved
What You'll Need
Watch This Recipe
Truly Scrumptious ApplePie
Ingredients
- Pie dough (makes enough for two double-crust pies)
- 630 grams unbleached all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur; about 5 cups)
- 2 1/2 teaspoonskosher salt
- 11 ouncesvery cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
- 6 ouncesvery cold vegetable shortening, cut into chunks
- About 1/2 cup ice water
- Pie (makes one 9” double-crust pie)
- 2 chilled pie dough disks, or 1 unbaked 9" pie shell with top crust
- 3/4 cupgranulated sugar, plus extra for decorating, if desired
- 1/4 cupflour
- 1/2 teaspoonfresh grated nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoonground cinnamon
- 2 cupsGranny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced thin
- 2 cupsGolden Delicious apples, peeled, cored and sliced thin
- 2 cupsMacintosh apples, peeled, cored and sliced thin
- 3 wedges of fresh lemon
- 2 tablespoonsunsalted butter
- 2 tablespoonscream or milk
Directions
- Pie dough (makes enough for two double-crust pies)
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, place flour and salt and blend on low speed.
- Add the butter and mix on low speed until the flour looks crumbly.
- Add the chunks of shortening and continue to mix on low speed. When clumps begin forming, and the dough holds together when you press some between your fingers, slowly pour the water in while the mixer is on low speed. Mix just until incorporated.
- Flour a work area and turn the dough out. Gather it into a ball. Cut it into 4 equal parts. Weigh them out to get even pieces, if you have a kitchen scale.
- Gently form each piece into a flat round disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least two hours. Dough can be kept in the refrigerator for 5 days, or frozen for one month. Store in zipper freezer bags.
- Pie (makes one 9” double-crust pie)
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Mix together the dry ingredients.
- Place Granny Smith apple slices in bowl, squeeze a wedge of lemon juice over and toss. In another bowl, place Golden Delicious apples, lemon juice and toss. And in a third bowl, place Macintosh, lemon juice and toss. Evenly distribute sugar mixture over apples in three separate bowls. Mix.
- If making the dough yourself, roll out one round of dough on a lightly floured surface into a circle about 11 inches across. Place crust into a 9-inch pie pan with 1-inch high sides.
- Roll another round of dough into a circle about 10 inches across.
- With a knife or scissors, cut excess dough from bottom layer, keeping about a ½ inch overhang. Set aside scraps.
- Starting with the Granny Smith slices, place them in one layer into the bottom crust. Next, layer the Golden Delicious slices over. And lastly, layer the Macintosh slices over. Dot with butter.
- Cover with top crust. Tuck overhang of top crust under the bottom crust edge. Flute edges with fingers, or however you like. Vent top.
- Gather any leftover dough scraps, flatten out dough and cut out a few leaf shapes with a knife. With the point of a knife, gently make vein indentations like on a real leaf.
- Brush top crust with cream. Gently press on leaves and brush them with cream. Sprinkle sugar over the whole pie, if desired. Place pie on a parchment-lined sheet pan.
- Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until juices bubble through vents. Check the pie after 20 minutes, and if you see the edges burning, take two long strips of aluminum foil and wrap edges of pie loosely.
- Let the pie cool on a rack for about a half an hour before cutting into it.
Tags:
- Pie
- American
- Apple
- Milk/Cream
- Fruit
- Make Ahead
- Sheet Pan
- Thanksgiving
- Rosh Hashanah
- Fall
- Dessert
Contest Entries
- Your Best Autumn Pie
- Your Best Fair Food
See what other Food52ers are saying.
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jpriddy
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Marilyn L
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Crispy
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Kate Spurr
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RB
Popular on Food52
127 Reviews
judy November 19, 2022
Different apple varieties truly help. Last year I discovered a variety called Autumn glory. Seems to have the characteristics of all three varieties. I made pie lat year and this with this one variety only, and it was delicious! I always add a dash or two of cardamom and one of anise to my spice mix..the pie crust still eluded me! I have decided to move to cobblers and crumbles instead!
Shortrib October 12, 2020
Great with the mix of apples! Made it vegan for a friend by using shortening only for the crust, dotting with margarine and skipping the wash. Mine took 60 mins to get bubbly and needed a foil tent to prevent burnt crust. Delicious.
kimc11 October 2, 2020
I had trouble with the crust as it was too thin and difficult to work with so I made a lattice pie and it turned out great!
jpriddy November 28, 2019
Any combination of apples improves the overall success of the bake. This recipe has a nice combination of tart, sweet, and structure. Sometimes I will add dried cherries or cranberries for color and to add another layer of flavor.
Poojitha November 20, 2019
Is it possible to avoid the vegetable shortening? Can I use some more butter instead?
jpriddy November 28, 2019
I always use all butter. And a little lemon juice added to the ice water helps make a flaky crust.
Bar K. March 23, 2019
I am not a baker. I’ve not made many apple pies and few successfully. Those I made tasted good but did not “come together” as a proper pie. This recipe is fantastic. I learned from making it and found that the 3 different types of apples were genius and the whole thing worked out great. I’ve saved it for future use. Thanks!!!!
Marilyn L. December 25, 2018
I’m up late making pies on Christmas Eve (it’s 1 a.m. in California) and I wish I would have gone with my trusted version of this Julia pie dough made either in a food processor or bowl/pastry cutter. I don’t understand how people had success with pie dough in a stand mixer. By the time the hard-as-rocks shortening melts enough to incorporate, the butter is overincorporated. I am left with giant chunks of shortening in a dough that is overworked and whose butter has all melted. I’m just going to bake it the way it is because I don’t have enough butter to start over and also my KitchenAid stand mixer started shooting sparks at me (it’s really old) and tonight is not going well. This is my first Food52 recipe and I don’t think I’ll try another.
jpriddy November 28, 2019
Yes, my reaction too.
June August 26, 2023
Hard shortening??? What did you use?
SPark0101 November 10, 2018
Really delicious - the fruit to spices and flour ratio was perfect and although i used slightly different Apple varieties, the method and mix was tasty. I used a different crust recipe but plan to try this one next time.
SPark0101 March 16, 2021
I'm updating my comments because I finally got around to using this crust recipe which I found too dry, and as a result, overworked the dough in trying to get it to the right hydration. I didn't see comments from anyone else having trouble with the crust, so it might just be me.
The filling is truly delicious--the combination or apples and the layering technique makes for a flavorful and toothsome pie.
Crispy December 26, 2016
Rave reviews from the Christmas crowd at a friend's house. I had to cheat just a little since I don't have a food processor and used a Trader Joe's pie crust (frozen) but look forward to making this crust in the future. Also used a little less sugar and added a dash of Allspice. Will definitely make it again!
Kate S. November 10, 2016
I made this pie last month for Thanksgiving (I live in Canada) and the reviews were great from family and friends. I'm not a pie expert, but I've been told by several friends/connoisseurs, that the pastry is "perfect". I'm making a few more pies this weekend as I've had several requests to repeat the magic. As far as I'm concerned, this is now my go-to apple pie recipe.
RB April 10, 2016
This is a keeper. Made this twice already. At both times, very well received. Thanks too for the reference to the all-butter crust. Added 2 tbsps of vodka to the ice water and the crust turned out super flaky :)
NotTooSweet November 27, 2015
GREAT crust - the best I've made. My husband prefers a tarter apple so I used all Granny Smith. That was the only change I made and it was a delicious pie! This is now my good to crust recipe and apple pie recipe. Thanks mrslarkin!
mrslarkin November 27, 2015
I'm so glad, NTS!!! I love Grannies.
Scarlet November 27, 2015
I made this yesterday, using an all butter crust recipe (Smitten Kitchen). The crust was awesome (very proud as it was my first!). The filling tasted great, but did not get thick & bubbly. There was more liquid than I would like. My assumption is this is caused by the apples used (granny, Fuji, and honeycrisp). I bought the Granny, but the others we already had, my husband is not fond of Golden Delicious or Macintosh. When cooked, do those disintegrate more? Do they have more fiber? I really liked the recipe & taste, but would like to get the filling thicker.
mrslarkin November 27, 2015
Hi Scarlet! Yes, macs and Goldens are a softer apple. Honeycrisps are super juicy; a better eating apple, imho. Fujis are better eating apples, too. I made a pie yesterday using Opals, Cortlands, Pink Lady, and something else. It was delicious! Good luck next time!
Nicole L. November 27, 2015
I have the same issue, the filling is more soupy than I prefer. I added about at tablespoon of cornstarch the second one time around and let the apples sit over night with spices and sugar to loosen then up because the first time they were too crunchy to my liking. Hoping the 3rd time I make this pie the filling would be a thicker consistency. All in all I love this recipe especially the crust
Nicole L. November 13, 2015
How many apples for 6 cups? 12 apples?
mrslarkin November 13, 2015
Hi Nicole! It depends on how big/small the apples are. If they are big, 6 will probably do. If they are small, use more.
Jade October 4, 2015
I'm a complete novice at this. When you say to slice the apples thin, how thin do you mean?
mrslarkin October 5, 2015
hi Jade! if you look at the picture up top (3 of 8) you'll get a better idea. It's about a good 1/4" to 1/2" slice. Or you can do chunks. Doesn't matter, really. It's all tasty. Don't sweat it! (I'm not really sure why I ever specified thin, because lately I've been doing sorta chunky, and it's delish!)
Josie M. January 13, 2015
This pie was great, however I made a few changes. I used lard instead of vegetable shortening, used 100% goldrush apples (highly recommended), and left out all but a dash of the nutmeg. Fantastic!
Jelena December 29, 2014
I was wondering what is the benefit of using butter and vegetable shortening in the crust vs just butter?
Shelly May 29, 2015
butter alone will cause the crust to burn quickly or brown to fast. Nobody wants a burnt crust yuck!
Christie October 27, 2015
That's not exactly true...I've used a 100% butter pie crust for years, and have never had burning problems--not even once. If you keep the butter cold, the crust will be flaky and taste delicious. Smitten Kitchen has a good tutorial.
Vick November 24, 2014
I've had the pleasure of eating mrs Larkins apple pie. We ordered one for Christmas dinner last year and it was a hit! This is THE quintessential apple pie.
mrslarkin November 23, 2014
I'd like to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone making this pie this week. Hope you all enjoy!
Ian November 17, 2014
When making the pie crust should I use frozen butter that I always have stored in my freezer, or would it be to hard and won't work in when using the stand mixer.
mrslarkin November 18, 2014
Ian, take the butter out of the freezer for 5 minutes or so, or transfer to fridge the day before. Then it will be just right.
