Simple Apple Pie Recipe (Easy Recipe for Beginners!)
Enjoy this easy Apple Pie recipe with tender cinnamon-nutmeg apples, a buttery, flaky crust, and elegant pie crust leaves. Baked until golden and perfect for any occasion!
This easy classic apple pie recipe features a buttery four-ingredient crust and a deliciously spiced apple filling. Simple to make and perfect for preparing ahead, it’s a timeless homemade dessert for any occasion.
What is an Apple Pie?
This classic American apple pie features a flaky, buttery crust and sweet-tart cinnamon-spiced apples. Serve it warm for the ultimate comforting fall dessert, perfect for Thanksgiving, holidays, brunch, or any special occasion.
What Makes This Apple Pie Recipe Special?
- Easy to Make: A simple four-ingredient buttery pie crust and an easy apple filling made with sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, and salt.
- Make-Ahead Friendly: Bake the pie a day ahead, refrigerate, and reheat before serving to save time on busy holidays.
- Family Favorite: Sweet-tart apples and warm cinnamon-nutmeg spices make this a comforting classic everyone will love.
- Customizable: Adjust the sweetness and spices or use different apple varieties to create your perfect pie.
- Delicious: A flaky, buttery crust pairs perfectly with tender, warmly spiced apples for a delicious balance of sweet and tart.
What Kind of Apples Can I Use to Make an Apple Pie?
For the best apple pie, choose apples that become tender when baked while holding their shape and balancing sweet and tart flavors. Granny Smith is a great choice, but you can also use Braeburn, Pink Lady, Honeycrisp, Jonagold, Gala, or Golden Delicious. Mixing sweet and tart apple varieties can add even more flavor and depth.
What You Need to Make Apple Pie at Home
This apple pie recipe is incredibly easy to make and even comes with a pie crust recipe! Here’s everything you’ll need to make this apple pie at home:
For Apple Pie Crust:
- All-purpose flour: This is the base for both your pie crust and filling. It helps to bind all the ingredients together and creates the structure of your pie.
- Sea salt: A small amount of sea salt in the pie crust enhances the flavor and balances out the sweetness of the apple pie filling.
- Butter: This is the fat in the recipe, giving the pie crust its flaky texture and rich, buttery flavor. Additional butter in the apple filling creates a lusciously smooth texture.
- Water: Cold water is used to bring the pie dough together without activating the gluten, which keeps your crust tender and flaky.
- Leaves cutter molds: We’ll be using these to get a stunning leaf design to decorate our apple pies.
For Apple Pie Filling:
- Apples: We can’t make an apple pie without some apples! I’ve used Granny Smith apples here, but I have a whole section above in this post detailing all the other varieties you can use instead.
- White sugar: We’ll also need some regular granulated white sugar to sweeten our filling to the right level.
- Brown sugar: For added depth to the sweetness, we’ll be using some brown sugar as well, as it has a deeper flavor than white sugar.
- Flour: We’ll also need some flour since it will soak up the juices inside of our apple pie while it’s baking in the oven.
- Cinnamon: The flavor of cinnamon and apples smells (and tastes) like fall! It’s the perfect combination and just elevates the pie so much!
- Nutmeg: To enhance the flavor even more, we’ll also be using some nutmeg in our apple pie filling.
- Butter: You’ll also need some butter in the pie filling as well as to grease the pie pan.
How to Make Apple Pie (Step-by-Step)
Making this delicious Thanksgiving dessert at home couldn’t get any easier than this! It’s an incredibly easy pie crust recipe, and the apple pie filling recipe is super simple too.
My apple pie recipe shares everything you need to do to make this from scratch. Let’s look at how to make it step by step:
Next, drizzle cold water over the pie crumbs while mixing the crumbs with your hand. Slowly drizzle in the cold water while stirring the mixture around with your hand or a spatula. Form the dough into a ball (do not knead the dough).
Dust a bowl with a tablespoon of flour and roll the dough into a ball. Then split the ball into 2 even pieces, and flatten each piece into disks.
Wrap each dough disk with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for an hour or so.
NOTE: I have also previously refrigerated the dough overnight. You can even freeze the disks and then place them in the fridge and let them thaw overnight before using them the next day.
How to Make Apple Pie Filling
Now let’s make our apple pie filling! It’ll take about 45 minutes to prepare the apple filling which is perfect while you refrigerate the dough.
In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients, namely the cane brown sugar and regular white sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg spices, and sea salt. Stir with a hand whisker to combine.
Next, let’s prep the apples by rinsing, peeling, and slicing them.
Place them in a medium glass bowl. Sprinkle the dry filling mixture over the apples and toss and mix to coat all the apple slices with the filling mixture.
How to Assemble and Bake Apple Pie
Place the oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 400°F. Lightly grease a 9-inch pie dish to help prevent sticking.
Remove one dough disc from the refrigerator. On a lightly floured surface, roll it into a 12-inch circle using a rolling pin.
Next, place the rolled pie dough over the pie dish and cut the edge off evenly with a pizza cutter.
Arrange the apple slices tightly over the bottom crust, minimizing air pockets for a more evenly filled pie.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the second dough disc to about ⅛-inch thick. Cut out leaf shapes and arrange them around the edge of the pie for an elegant finish.
Now place sliced, thin pieces of butter over the top of the apples. Cover the pie with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour, covered until the juices begin to bubble, then remove the foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes uncovered until the pie is perfectly golden brown.
How to Make and Bake Decorative Leaves
While the pie is baking, you can work on the leaf topping. Cut out the leaves and place them on a large 16 X 22 baking sheet lined with parchment paper. You should have enough dough for decoration, and there shouldn’t be a lot of excess dough left.
Bake the leaves at 400°F for 20 min. Remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper with baked leaves onto the countertop. If you leave them on the baking sheet instead, they will continue to bake and will turn out very dark.
How to Decorate Simple Apple Pie
Remove the pie from the oven and let it cool to a warm temperature before topping it with baked pie leaves.
Insert the leaves into baked apples and serve. The leaves will be crunchy, but if you prefer the leaves soft, then place the leaves while the pie is still hot and let the pie cool with leaves on top.
Slice the pie after it has cooled down. Top it off with some whipped cream or serve it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Top the pie with cream or French vanilla ice cream and enjoy!
Serving Suggestions for Simple Apple Pie
- Here’s a shorter, SEO-friendly version that keeps the serving ideas: How to Serve Apple Pie
- With Vanilla Ice Cream: Serve warm apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a classic combination.
- With Coffee: Pair a slice with hot coffee for a delicious breakfast or afternoon treat.
- With Whipped Cream: Top warm pie with homemade whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon for a cozy fall dessert.
- With Caramel Sauce: Drizzle with caramel for an extra-sweet twist on this classic dessert.
- For the Holidays: Serve with warm mulled cider for a festive combination of comforting spices.
Recipe Variation Ideas for Simple Apple Pie
This apple pie recipe is honestly the easiest and tastiest one out there! Since I know you’ll be making it many times, here are a few decoration variations:
- Lattice crust: Instead of doing the leaves that I’ve done here in this recipe (which is very reminiscent of fall and Thanksgiving!), you can do a classic lattice crust on top instead. This is when strips of dough are placed on top of the pie in an overlapping, crisscrossed way.
- Shape cut-outs: An even simpler way is to just cover the pie with top crust and cut slits or shapes into it in several places.
Frequently Asked Questions
To prevent the pie crust from burning, cover the pie with aluminum foil for the first hour of baking. This allows the apple pie filling to cook without over-browning the crust. Remove the foil for the last 15 minutes to allow the crust to become golden brown.
Yes, you can prepare the apple pie in advance. Simply prepare the apple pie filling and the pie crusts, assemble the pie, and then wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and store it in the fridge. When you’re ready to bake, just pop it into the oven.
This homemade apple pie is delicious on its own, but it’s also great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream on top. You could also drizzle some caramel sauce over it for a caramel apple pie version.
How to Store Leftover Apple Pie
- Refrigerate: Cover leftover apple pie with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days.
- Reheat: Cover the pie with foil and warm in a 400°F oven for 10–15 minutes.
- Freeze the Dough: For the best texture, freeze unbaked pie dough for up to 1 month instead of freezing the baked pie.
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Simple Apple Pie Recipe (Easy Recipe for Beginners!)
Ingredients
For the Crust Ingredients
- 2 cups organic all-purpose flour + ½ cup for dusting
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- 10 oz. cold unsalted butter
- ½ cup cold water
For the Apple Pie Filling
- 3 lbs. Granny Smith apples
- ½ cup organic sugar
- ⅓ cup cane brown sugar
- ¼ cup organic all-purpose flour
- ½ tbsp. ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
- 3 tbsp. unsalted butter + 1 tbsp. for greasing the pie dish
Instructions
How to Make Apple Pie
- Making this delicious Thanksgiving dessert at home couldn't be easier than this! It's an incredibly easy pie crust recipe, and the apple pie filling recipe is super simple too.
- My apple pie recipe shares everything you need to do to make this from scratch. Let's look at how to make it step by step:
- Next, drizzle cold water over the pie crumbs while mixing the crumbs with your hand. Slowly drizzle in the cold water while stirring the mixture with your hand or a spatula. Form the dough into a ball (do not knead the dough).
- Dust a bowl with a tablespoon of flour and roll the dough into a ball. Then split the ball into 2 even pieces, and flatten each piece into disks.
- Wrap each dough disk with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for an hour or so.
- NOTE: I have also previously refrigerated the dough overnight. You can even freeze the disks and then place them in the fridge and let them thaw overnight before using them the next day.
How to Make Apple Pie Filling
- Now let's make our apple pie filling! It'll take about 45 minutes to prepare the apple filling, which is perfect while you refrigerate the dough.
- In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients, namely the cane brown sugar and regular white sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sea salt. Stir with a hand whisk to combine.
- Next, let's prep the apples by rinsing, peeling, and slicing them.
- Place them in a medium glass bowl. Sprinkle the dry filling mixture over the apples and toss and mix to coat all the apple slices with the filling mixture.
How to Assemble and Bake Apple Pie
- Time to bake our pie! Place the rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400℉.
- Grease the pie dish or pie plate. This is optional but preferred to prevent the crust from sticking to the dish.
- Take one of the discs of dough out of the fridge. Roll the disc using a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface till it's 12 inches in diameter.
- Next, place the rolled pie dough over the pie dish and cut the edge off evenly with a pizza cutter.
- Lay the apple slices as compactly as possible into the pie dish on top of the bottom crust. I don't just pour the apple slices into the crust, I tuck them in tightly so there are barely any air pockets.
- Dust the working surface again with flour and roll out the second disk about ⅛ of an inch thick. Cut out leaves and place them on the edge of the pie.
- Now place sliced, thin pieces of butter over the top of the apples. Cover the pie with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour, covered until the juices begin to bubble, then remove the foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes, uncovered until the pie is perfectly golden brown.
- While the pie is baking, you can work on the leaf topping. Cut out the leaves and place them on a large 16 X 22 baking sheet lined with parchment paper. You should have enough dough for decoration, and there shouldn't be a lot of excess dough left.
- Bake the leaves at 400 ℉ for 20 min. Remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper with the baked leaves onto the countertop. If you leave them on the baking sheet instead, they will continue to bake and will turn out very dark.
- Remove the pie from the oven and let it cool to a warm temperature before topping it with baked pie leaves.
- Insert the leaves into baked apples and serve. The leaves will be crunchy, but if you prefer the leaves soft then place the leaves while the pie is still hot and let the pie cool with leaves on top.
- Slice the pie after it has cooled down. Top it off with some whipped cream or serve it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Notes
- Choose the Right Apples: Combine tart Granny Smith with sweet Honeycrisp apples for a balanced filling.
- Use Cold Ingredients: Cold butter and water help create a flaky, buttery homemade crust.
- Chill the Dough: Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour before rolling to make it easier to handle.
- Layer Apples Tightly: Arrange the slices compactly to minimize air pockets and create a fuller pie.
- Protect the Crust: Cover the pie loosely with foil during baking to prevent the edges from over-browning.
- Let It Cool: Allow the pie to cool to room temperature so the filling can set before slicing.
- Add Decorative Leaves: Use leftover pie dough to create leaves or other shapes for an elegant finish.
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For step 13, at what temperature do you it bake it for 1 hour?
350 F.
So delicious. I usually don’t care for crust, but it was sooo good, same for filling. Will definetely make again. I don’t bake much, so this might be a dumb question. Why put the dough in the fridge for an hour? It was so hard, I couldn’t roll it out and had to wait a while for it to soften up.
No question too simple, no comment too small. ?
It’s actually a great question! By chilling the dough before rolling it out, it allows the present gluten strands time to settle down and relax. This actually makes your pastry dough easier to roll out, strasnfer, and cuts down on any shrinking during the baking process. Chilling also lets the dough become moist. I hope this helps. ?
Thanks for the recipe, I will try it out soon.
You are very welcome, enjoy! 🙂