Make-Ahead Apple Pie - Gemma's Bold Baking Basics Ep 32

Hi Bold Bakers! As we head into the busy holiday season, I've got some last minute tips for you for make-ahead desserts so you have more time to spend with your friends and family. Our first tip is apple pie filling. So I'm going to make my apple pie filling in a crock pot but you can also do this in a saucepan. It's totally fine. I just like to use a crock pot because you can set it and forget it. So in here to the bowl, we are going to add in some chopped apples. So into our apples, we're going to add in some water. The reason you add this in is because it creates steam and it also stops your apples from sticking to the bottom of the pot. We're going to follow the water with some brown sugar for lovely sweetness, a little bit of caramel flavor, a little bit of cinnamon, that flavor that we love around the winter time when it gets nice and cold, this will warm you up. A little bit of nutmeg, I love that spice. Now if you don't like nutmeg or cinnamon, feel free to leave it out. You can also add in some vanilla. That will work really well. So next, we're going to add in some cornstarch. Now what this does, it mixes with the water and it gives you a lovely thick apple pie filling. So that's an important ingredient. And then lastly, we're going to add in a little bit of lemon for some zesty zest. Once everything is in there, go ahead and mix it all up really well. Okay, and then on with our lid and then we're going to turn our crock pot on. If you're doing it in a saucepan, you want it on a medium heat and we're just going to let this cook until the apples are really lovely and soft. So it's been a little while and I'm going to check on my apple pie filling. Look at that. Beautiful, soft apples, there's a nice sauce there. This is perfect. So the real beauty of this apple pie filling is that you put it into a sterilized, clean jar, fill it up, then pop this guy into the fridge and it will stay fresh for up to four weeks. So during the holidays when people drop into your house, you didn't know that they were coming, you have a pie filling ready to go for them. So we have a pie filling ready to go, next I'm going to show you how you can make ahead a crisp topping. Into a bowl, we're going to add in some flour, some sugar, and cubed cold butter. Okay, this is my favorite part, we're going to go in with our fingers and we're just going to rub in the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. So after a few minutes, this is what it will look like. Some medium-sized bits of butter, some small bits, this is perfect. Now I'm going to show you my secret trick. So here I have a Ziploc bag and a Sharpie, and all I'm going to do while it's empty is right on it, crumble, topping, and then the date, so you can always remember when you froze it. So then just take a spoon and fill up your Ziploc bag as neatly as you can. So there you have it, crumbled topping ready to go. Now, here's my tip, we pop it into the freezer. This bakes perfectly from frozen, put it over fruit, on top of any pie, it's great when you're in a pinch during the holiday season. Now this is my second tip, I've got one more fantastic tip for you. So that's our cobbler topping, next up is a pie crust. Always have a pie crust in your freezer around the holidays, they are fantastic when you have them just ready to go. Here's the secret about pie crusts. You can put them in their tin and freeze them, get them nice and hard, and you can bake them from frozen. And also, a tip about baking them from frozen, it means you don't have to blind bake a pie. I always have these in my freezer, they're great to have to hand. Now here's what we're going to do, we're going to bring all of my tips together. So I have my frozen pie crust, I have my jar of apple pie filling, look at how good that looks. Fill it all the way to the top with your apple pie filling. So to top off our pie, of course I'm going to add on our frozen crumble mix. Now be generous with this, the more the merrier. Especially when it's around the holidays, the more the merrier. I like to do a nice, thick, generous layer. So there you have it, a make-ahead dessert that is absolutely delicious and homemade. From the filling, to the pastry, to the topping, get it all ready in advance so you can just pop it in the oven when you have guests. So these are just a few tips to get you through the holidays. I have lots more videos like this as part of my Bold Baking Basics series, so make sure you tap that subscribe button so you don't miss out.