I’ve never made a real, proper baked fruit pie before this one. Call me a bad American, but it’s true. I’m just not a pie person, and to be honest, I don’t feel too bad about it. However, I went apple picking with my friends a couple weekends ago, and I had a TON of apples lying around, so I decided to replicate the apple pie that Al dreams about.
Winry actually learned how to make the apple pie from Gracia, who is clearly some kind of kitchen goddess, but I’m calling it Winry’s apple pie because she makes it more than Gracia does in the series. After making the pie, I can totally see why Al would dream about it! Not only does it look adorable, but it tastes fantastic as well. Fruit pies can be kind of difficult to get right, just because you have to certify that the fruit cooks through and the crust browns up nicely.
In the end, though, it is pretty much guaranteed to taste amazing, and if you get the hang of the latticed crust, the look of it will go a long way towards convincing everyone that you are a cooking master. Also, as if you needed more convincing, it’s fall time and the perfect weather for spiced, sweet apples in a buttery, flaky crust.
The Ingredients
For the Crust
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, VERY cold
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
about 3/4 cup ice water
1 egg and a splash of water (for an egg wash)
For the Filling
About 4 pounds, or 6 apples. Essentially, enough to fill your pan to the brim.
1/4 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice (to taste)
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
Special Equipment: 1 1o inch SpringForm pan. You can also use an 8 or 9 inch, you’ll just have a bit more crust to play around with, or you can make your pie a little taller than mine ended up being.
Original pie crust recipe found here. Thanks to my friend Drew for giving me a general outline for a pie filling. 🙂
How to make the Pie
Crust first! Begin by chopping your butter into teeny tiny pieces. We’re not using a pastry mixer (because I don’t have one) or a food processor (because it’s sooooo many dishes…), so we’re cutting out some of the elbow grease by pre-cutting our butter nice and small. Throughout this whole process, we want to keep the butter as cold as possible for as long as possible, and that means using things other than our hands to incorporate the butter with the dry ingredients. If you have a pastry mixer, this is a great time to use it!
Next, mix all your dry ingredients in a nice big bowl, and plop the flour in.
Then, using a fork, gently stab the butter into the dry ingredients, mashing the bigger pieces against the side of the bowl to break them up and mix them in. Stop when the butter pieces are about the size of small peas.
Pour in about a half cup of your cold water, and begin mixing together. Drizzle in more water as needed, I used about 3/4 cup. You’ll know you have enough when larger chunks start to form and get pulled around by your spatula.
Then, using your hands, get in there and gently knead the crust into a ball.
Split your dough into two, wrap in plastic, and then refrigerate for at least one hour, preferably two.
As that’s chilling, we’ll move onto the pie filling. Skin, core, and chop apples into bite size pieces. If you aren’t sure how many apples to cut up, throw your chunks in the actual pan you will be baking with, and stop chopping apples when it’s full.
Then, dump all the rest of the ingredients on top of your apples, and mix it all together.
And it’s as simple as that! Let’s go back to the crust. First, prep your oven by heating it to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Take one of your crusts and roll it out so that it’ll cover the bottom of your pan, and at least partway up the sides. Protip #1 Stick your dough between 2 sheets of wax/parchment paper to roll out, and sprinkle down flour on each side to make peeling off the paper easier. Learn from my mistakes.
Then, peel off one piece of the paper, and flip the whole thing into your springform pan. Peel off the top paper, and press everything into the crevices of your pan to ensure you get a lovely shape. Fix any tears you might have by just pinching the dough back together.
We want to make the edges nice and tall, so roll out your second round, and cut strips off to lay around the edges and fill in any spaces that don’t have a nice high edge. Pinch the seam at the bottom, connecting the edge with the base to ensure that it all sticks together.
Then, scoop in your filling, and cut a few more strips of dough in roughly equal sizes for the lattice top. I used a pizza cutter to get nice, long, easy lines. In the picture above, Winry doesn’t have too many criss-crosses, and I used even less than she did just to keep it simple and pretty (also I was running out of crust).
Are you scared by lattice tops? They’re actually really simple. First, lay your vertical strips down across the pie. Then, place your first horizontal strip down by the bottom, and fold your vertical strips back over the horizontal strip.
Then, lay your next horizontal strip down, and fold the vertical strips back straight. Place your next horizontal strip down, fold the vertical strips back over, and repeat the process until you are completely finished.
Then, with your remaining pie crust, re-roll if you need to, and cut long, thin strips. with each two strips, twist them together into long, thin swirl.
Then, gently place each long swirl along the outer crust of the pie, covering up the ends of your lattice crust. When you run out of swirls and have to get a new one, just lay them down right next to each other along the crust, and gently pinch the ends together.
Crack your egg into a bowl with a splash of water, and mix together. Generously brush the top of the crust with the wash. Then, you can pop the whole thing in the oven!
Let it cook for about 20 minutes, and then just lay a piece of tin foil over the top to prevent the crust from over-cooking. Then, allow to cook for 40 minutes more (depending on your oven, mine actually cooked for another 50 minutes). You will know your pie is done when the crust is brown, the filling is bubbly, and, when you pierce a piece of fruit, there is little to no resistance, and your pokey tool (I used an oyster fork) goes in without a problem. You might find you want your crust to brown a little more on top, so feel free to remove that foil in the last 10 minutes or so. Let cool for at least 30 minutes before trying to remove the pan.
And now it’s done!
This pie was so delicious, it disappeared in about 2 hours. It’s especially great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and if you want to reheat this, you can pop a slice in the microwave for about 30 seconds so you can have hot pie whenever you want! 😀
I hope you can try this recipe out, it is so worth it. If you have any questions or comments, leave them below, and if you would like to suggest a recipe for me to make, please leave that below as well. Have a lovely day! 🙂