Homemade Apple Pie Recipe

An apple pie is basically a fruit pie made with the luscious goodness of fresh or canned apples. It is a filling made of apples (what else?), raisins, sugar and spices, sandwiched between a pastry crust, either top and bottom, or only top, where the top crust is disk shaped or a pastry lattice woven of strips. Over the years different ingredients have also been added to bring about a variation in the apple pie's flavor and taste. Although English in origin, it has become an integral part of the American culture and meal time. Let's have a look at some mouth-watering apple pie recipes which you can easily make at home.

Traditional Apple Pie

Ingredients for Pie Crust

• All-purpose flour, 2 cups
• Shortening, 6 tbsp
• Salt, 1 tsp
• Sugar, 1 tbsp
• Softened butter, 6 tbsp
• Ice water, ½ cup

In a large bowl, mix flour, salt and sugar, cream in the butter, shortening and ice water. Knead into a smooth dough, wrap it in a plastic sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Divide the dough into half and roll it out as the top and bottom, or just top crust.

Ingredients for the Filling

• All-purpose flour, 3 tbsp
• Sugar, 2/3 cup
• Ground allspice, ¼ tsp
• Cinnamon, ½ tsp
• Nutmeg, 1/8 tsp
• Thickly sliced, cored apples, 3 pounds
• Vanilla extract, 1 tsp
• Brandy, 1½ tsp
• Egg yolk, 1
• Cream, 1 tbsp

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar and spices, add in the apples and coat them well with the dry ingredients. Pour over the apples brandy and vanilla extract.

Place the bottom pie crust on the pie plate, spoon in the apple filling, mounding slightly in the center. Place the top pie crust, pinch top and bottom of dough rounds together and trim excess. In a small bowl whisk together egg yolk and cream, brush over the pie top. Bake pie in a preheated oven, until crust begins to turn golden, and the knife inserted comes out clean. Serve warm with a cream topping.

Cream Apple Pie

Ingredients

• Butter, ¼ cup
• Cream cheese, 8 ounces
• Sugar, ¼ cup
• Peeled and sliced tart apples, 4
• Egg, 1
• Pumpkin pie spice, 3 tsp
• Vanilla, 1 tsp
• Lemon juice, 1 tbsp
• All-purpose flour, 1 tbsp
• Caramel ice cream topping, 5 scoops
• Chopped pecans, ½ cup
• Whipped topping
• Nine inch ready pastry shell, 1

In a pre-heated oven, bake pastry shell, until firm. Set aside. In a large saucepan, melt butter, and brown sugar in it. Add the sliced apples and one teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice ingredients, stirring frequently, let it simmer, until tender. Drizzle pastry shell with caramel topping and sprinkle pecans over it. Spoon apple mixture over pecans. In another bowl, beat together cream cheese, sugar, egg, lemon juice and vanilla. Spoon it smoothly over the apples. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, until a knife inserted into the cream cheese layer comes out clean. Serve warm.

To bake an apple pie, keep all the ingredients for the filling and the crust ready, because that will save you a lot of time in assembling and baking. Make sure you use good quality apples and harmonize them with the perfect blend of spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.