This apple pie is a classic and filled with homemade apple goodness at its finest! The crust is flaky and delicious! Top this apple pie off with vanilla bean ice cream and you’ve got yourself one of the best apple pie A La Mode recipes you’ll ever taste!
I absolutely must share one of my most loved and desired desserts! Homemade Apple Pie…it’s such a classic dessert that never gets old! It’s Christmas Eve and I just pulled this beauty out of the oven so we can enjoy after our Christmas Eve dinner tonight!
My husband LOVES apple pie, so about 13 years ago I decided to make one from scratch for Christmas dinner. To say he loved it is an understatement…he said it’s the best he’s ever tasted…ever! So now, it’s a Christmas tradition here at Mason manor! And it’s true…he only gets my apple pie once a year! It stays locked up in my recipe box until the holidays hit!
There’s a lot of different ways to make apple pie and a lot of people use different varieties of apples. I only use granny smith apples.
Why do I only use granny smith apples in my apple pie? Because the tartness of granny smith apples blend perfectly with the amount of sugar, flour, nutmeg and cinnamon this recipe calls for. I don’t like overly sweet pies and this one is the perfect blend of sweet and tart! It’s do delish!
Putting this apple pie together is so easy! First, I slice my granny smith apples thinly. Then I peel them with a paring knife. I then place the apples in a bowl and squeeze fresh lemon juice from a lemon onto the apples…about a teaspoon full. The lemon juice keeps my apples from turning brown. Plus, it adds a tiny bit more tartness to offset some of the sweet taste from the sugar. From here, I pour the sugar, flour, nutmeg and cinnamon mixture into the apples and stir.
Do you see all that yummy juicy apple filling pouring from the apples into the pie shell? This apple filling is what makes this pie so divine! When you pull this apple pie out of the oven, the filling is thick, hot and bubbly and oh my goodness it tastes so amazing!
Let’s talk about this pie shell for a minute. I’m going to give you the recipe to make your own but I’m also a fan of store bought pie shells. Sometimes you just need the convenience of a store bought pie shell and that is perfectly ok!! Feel free to cut yourself a break this holiday season!
Look how lovely these apples look in the pie shell! Looks amazing, huh? But, now it’s time to top our pie with the pie crust! There are so many ways to top a pie. Sometimes I completely cover the pie with a pie shell. Sometimes I use a mold to perfectly place the pie crust, but today I chose to lattice the crust.
I have an wheeled pie cutter so I made the dough, rolled it out with my rolling pin and cut my crusts lines.
I then intertwined the crusts and pushed the edges down. I took the extra dough I had left over and cut out snowflake molds to place on my apple pie, just because it’s Christmas and I thought it would be pretty! I popped this pie in the oven and let it cook for an hour.
When it was finished cooking, I pulled it out to cool. Looks delish, huh? Look at that crust…it’s super flaky and so buttery! It’s absolutely delicious!
But ya’ll…let me tell you…I couldn’t wait until after Christmas Eve dinner. I just couldn’t. I had to cut myself a piece to ensure it taste as good as I remembered from when I made it last year. Oh and it did, but it needed just one more thing….
A La Mode…yep it needed some vanilla bean ice cream, topped with a sprinkle of cinnamon!! My warm homemade apple pie was now complete with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and now I was ready to sit down and eat a piece of pie before dinner. And you can better believe I’m going to eat ANOTHER piece after Christmas Eve dinner. It’s that good!
So…this one is NOT gluten free (sorry guys). But it’s Christmas and I’ll deal with the headache I get when I eat gluten. It’s once a year….I can deal. Remember, if you want to take short cuts and save time, you can buy a pie shell and a pie crust top and just make your filling. But if you make your own crust…it’s so good!
Enjoy this one guys…it’s absolutely the best apple pie recipe I’ve ever had! Oh, and if you like apple desserts, then you MUST try my Apple Pumpkin Spice Cake with Butter Rum Glaze and my Cherry Apple Cake!
This apple pie is a classic and filled with homemade apple goodness at its finest! The crust is flaky and delicious! Top this apple pie off with vanilla bean ice cream and you've got yourself one of the best apple pie A La Mode recipes you'll ever taste!
- 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup shortening
- 10 Tablespoons cold water
- 1 Recipe for Double-Crust Pie (above) or use a store bought ready made pie shells and topping if you are short on time.
- 6 cups Thinly sliced peeled Granny Smith Apples (about 5-6 apples)
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon juice from fresh lemon
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 Tablespoon milk (for topping)
- 1 teaspoon sugar (for topping)
In a medium bowl, stir together flour and salt with a hand whisk.
Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until pieces are pea sized.
Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the water over part of the flour mixture. Gently toss with a fork. Push moistened dough to the side of the bowl. Repeat, using 1 tablespoon water at a time until all the flour mixture is moistened.
Divide in half; form each half into a ball
On a lightly floured surface, use your hands to slightly flatten 1 dough ball. Roll dough from center to edges into a circle 12 inches in diameter.
To transfer pastry, wrap it around the rolling pin and then unroll it into a 9-inch pie plate (or I re-use my aluminum pie pans)
Ease pastry into pie plate without stretching it. Trim the pastry even with rim of pie plate.
Transfer apple pie filling (recipe below) to pastry-lined pie plate.
Roll remaining dough ball into a circle, about 12 inches in diameter.
Cut slits on top to allow steam to escape. Place the pastry on top of the filling, then trim 1/2 inch beyond edge of plate.
Crimp the edges as desired (there are so many cute ways to do this!!)
Prepare and roll out pastry for Double-Crust pie (see recipe above).
Take your Granny Smith Apples and core them and cut into slices.
Peel the apple slices and cut slices until they are thin. Place in a large bowl.
Take 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice and sprinkle over the apple slices. Combine the apple slices with a spoon to ensure that the juice is covering all apple slices.
In a separate bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg until well combined.
Pour mixture over apple slices and mix well until all apple slices are well coated.
Transfer apple mixture filling to the pastry-lined pie plate. Trim the bottom pastry to edge of pie plate.
Place on filling, cut slits in pastry and crimp edges as desired.
Brush top pastry with milk and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of sugar. This gives your pie a nice brown topping.
Chef’s Note: To prevent over browning, cover edge of pie with foil or a pie edge cover.
Bake at 375 F for 40 minutes.
Remove foil or pie edge cover and cook for an additional 20 minutes.
Remove from oven an cool on a wire rack.
NOTE: The recipe written describes placing the pie crust over the entire pie. This is one way to cover a pie. In my pictures, I chose to use a lattice method. If you opt to make a fun design with your pie crust, you can still follow the directions in this recipe. The concept is still the same and you'll still get the same results.
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I can smell the apple pie baking now. Your crust looks so pretty and I really appreciate the step by step pictures. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Thanks, Tina!! I hope you enjoy!!
I love a good apple pie and that lattice crust is so beautiful! Such a great fall/winter treat.
Thank you!!
I barely make apple pie because I’m the only one that likes it in my family. But I would convince them to like it with this recipe. Looks so delicious!
Thanks! I hope they get to try it and enjoy!