How To Make Apple Pie, 3 Ways (Classic, Easy, Caramel) | Allrecipes

Nothing says fall more than apple pie. I'm gonna show you apple pie three ways, from the most classic way, to the easiest way, to something super fun and special. Here's what I want you to remember for this whole video. If I can do it, you can do it. I'm not a baker, but this is something I can do. Therefore, you can too. Okay, I'm starting out with butter flaky crust. So I'm starting with one and a quarter cup of flour. We all know how to spoon in our flour. To that, I'm going in with a quarter teaspoon of salt. The best way I know to add butter, to cut your butter in, is to grate it in, use a box grater. And I also keep my butter in the freezer so that it grates really easily and it stays really cold the whole time. So I like to grate it in and then give it a little stir, grate it in, stir, and then it still stays separated in there and you're still gonna get your flaky layers. And now we simply just add cold water a little bit at a time until it forms a dough. Everything has to be cold so that when it bakes, it all kinda happens at the same time together and that's what helps create those layers. Just gonna finish it on the board. You just wanna form it into a dough and then shape it into a disc. All right, so once you have your dough formed into a disc, then we're just gonna wrap it in plastic. If you wanna chill it for at least like four hours, this is something you could also do the day before. Now, you're gonna need two of these. You're gonna need to double the recipe and make two discs because we're gonna do a bottom crust and a top crust. And I already did a little work ahead of time. And by me, I mean Julia. All right, then once you've got your dough all chilled, you're gonna roll it out to a little bit larger than your pie plate. And see, you can see the flecks of butter in there. That's a good thing. All right, doesn't have to be perfect because we're gonna make a topping and it's all gonna connect. So I'm gonna keep this refrigerated or in the freezer while we prepare our filling. For the apples, I'm doing a classic combo of... Like I was saying, for the apples, I love a combination of Granny Smith and either Fuji or Gala or Honeycrisp. You can do whatever you want. So I'm going to peel them. I might purposely leave a little bit of the peel on just for that kind of rustic, I made this, did not get it out of a can feel. So I just cut it off the core and then I make little slices. While this pie is the old-fashioned classic way, this is also an easy way. I mean, there's nothing really complicated about it. To this, I'm adding in two tablespoons of flour. It is going to help thicken and absorb the juices as they leach out. And this way, we're not gonna get like a super watery apple pie. A teaspoon of cinnamon because duh, apple pie. And then just a little bit of nutmeg, just like about an eighth of a teaspoon. And then a little bit of salt to balance out all the sweet. And then give that a good toss. So while you can make an apple pie with canned apples, that really wasn't hard. Now, this goes into our pie crust. It's nice and chilled. Okay, so we're just gonna dump this straight into our pie. Oh, it smells so good. That's it, now time for the top crust. Okay, I went ahead and rolled out the second buttery pie crust. I'm gonna roll it out a little more. And because this is our old-fashioned apple pie to me, what is iconic in an old-fashioned apple pie is that lattice crust. And it's one of those things that looks like you went all out, but it's really not that hard. All right, and then I'm gonna cut down like one-inch strips of the dough. It helps if you dip your knife in the flour. Before it goes on, I forgot you got to dot some butter just kind of on top of the apples, just so it kind of gets all melty and good in there when it goes to bake. Okay, now this is where it requires just a little bit of thought. Start by laying out your strips all in one direction. So I'm gonna do all of my like vertical stripes. And then you wanna leave, you know, space them out evenly. Okay, and now fold every other one about halfway back. Lay a strip across, and then fold them back over. And then every other other one, and then back to those first ones that we did. Okay, then you go to the top side, and every other one, fold it back, flop them over, and then those other every other ones. She fancy, she fancy. Okay, now we are going to trim off the excess, and then try to connect the top dough to the bottom dough just by pressing down just a little bit along the sides. Okay, now here's how it starts. We're going in at 425, which is pretty hot, but only for like 10 minutes. Then we crank it down to 300, and that's gonna help the inside cook at the same time as the outside. So whole thing's gonna take about an hour. Next up, the easiest apple pie. Don't blink for this one, because it doesn't get any easier than this right here. So I'm just gonna start by slicing up some apples. You can use whatever variety you like. Going with the Fuji's here. Just been keeping them in some water so they don't turn brown. What's your favorite kind of apple? I go between the top three, Fuji's, Gala's, and Honeycrisp. These are hitting today though. All you do is get a bowl, and I'm going to mix together about 3 1⁄4 cup of regular granulated sugar, and then a teaspoon of cinnamon. Give that a mixy mix. And then you just layer this between the apples in your pie crust. Now for this, I'm using store-bought pie crust. Because I promised easy, I'm gonna deliver easy. I'm going in with just a little sugar on the bottom for insurance. And then you just layer in your apples with your sugar mixture. We're gonna rank all these at the end, you know? I'm gonna have to rank all these at the end to see, and I'm gonna take into account ease with taste. Like the other one, we're gonna dot up some butter and put it on top. And then our top crust. We're not gonna make any kind of fancy design here. Ain't nobody got time for that when we call it easy. This is already probably the right size. I'm just gonna roll it out just slightly. And for this one, I'm just using a nine-inch pie plate, not a deep dish, just a regular, regular roll, regular roll. And then you're gonna kind of fold the top over the bottom a little bit, just to kind of connect the two crusts. And the two become one. Once you've kind of connected them, we're gonna give it a little zhuzh, you know? A little crimp. Set your hand across it, and then you just go bloop, bloop, bloop. Looks pretty good. Okay, now what you have to do is you have to create, since we didn't do a lattice crust that allows for ventilation, we have to create our own ventilation. So I'm just gonna make the little slits. Again, kind of an iconic look to the apple pie. All right, this one bakes similar to the first one. So we're starting at a really high temperature just to kind of set that crust, and then reducing it. So I'm going in at 450 for about 10 minutes, then lowering it to 350 for about 30 minutes. Third one. I'm pulling it out. The canned pie filling, because there's something for everybody here, okay? Some of you may not want to deal with peeling and chopping apples. I got you, boo. This one is the fun apple pie. This is the one that just, it's a little something special. It's like your fun cousin, you know? Because one of my favorite things in the whole wide world is like a cobbler slash crisp with some, you know, cold ice cream on top. And I love pie crust, so this one has both. Starting with a store-bought pie crust. And this one's a combination of just like looks homemade, but is cheater, cheater. Okay, so into the crust. Two cans of apple pie filling. If you want to judge this up, make it your own. You can add in some additional spices, or you can cook off a couple apples and stir it in. I promise, easy as part of this, so I will deliver. The caramel. Really, you can use whatever caramel you want. I just love a salted caramel, so I'm gonna just top the apples with a layer of caramel. Mm-hmm, this might be the best one. All right, now I'm gonna make the crumbly topping. This is one of those pies that you can say is like for breakfast. It's my kind of pie. You go in with flour, some rolled oats, brown sugar. Some cinnamon, a little bit of salt. Stir that together. Okay, and then I'm going in with cold cubed butter here. You can also grate it in, but I'm gonna work this butter in a little bit. This one doesn't have to stay cold. I just like to become one with the crumble here. And I just like to work it with my hands till it gets like super crumbly. This is what I'm looking for, super crumbly little pieces and all those little clumps. All this is like buttery, sugary goodness. All right, so when it looks like this, we're dumping it on top. This is where cobbler meets crumble meets apple pie all in one. Yeah, I'm about to get back to you on cook times. This is trial and error. Okay, it's about time to start tasting. Pie one's out. They call that GBD, golden brown and delicious. Pie two, can you see it piping? This one might be my favorite. That is pretty. Here goes nothing. First taste of apple pie season. Let's take a moment to look at that thick crust. The crust to apple to sauce ratio is on point here. I'm gonna show you the most perfect bite. Look at that, juicy. If you can really think about what the most perfect apple pie is supposed to taste like, this is that, and I'm not even kidding. That crust, going in with the real butter just makes a difference in the flavor. 10 out of 10, but I need to stop because I got two more to go. Look at that little sweetness right there. Now this one may not be as pretty because this is our easy version. You know, you sacrifice a little bit when you go straight for ease. But if you're craving an apple pie and you want something quick and easy, this one is that. So this one comes across like a little bit sweeter than the old fashioned because I didn't add the tart green apples with it. This one tastes like country fried apples, you know, the ones that you just like sauteed and served like as a side dish in the cafeteria. But I don't mean that in a bad way because I love those. It's like you put those inside of a pie crust. That's what the easy apple pie is. Not mad at it at all. When you think crisp and cobbler, it's not perfection. We're not looking for that perfect pie slice. This one is just better with ice cream and a little more caramel. So many perfect bites. Hot, cold, creamy, crunchy, a little bit salty, super sweet. So dang good. You can tell a little bit of a difference between the canned apples and the other two pies where I had the fresh apples. So if you're willing to go the extra mile and make the apples for this one, then for sure this one is the over the top version. But the ease factor plus the deliciousness makes this a winner. I mean, they're all winners though in their own right. See, I've got something for everyone. Whether you're looking for just the good old fashioned or just shortcut super easy or something delicious and different, I got you covered. If you try one of these, please let me know. And in the meantime, happy fall, y'all.