Not Another Mushy Apple Pie Recipe

I’m not a huge fan of the mushy, mealy apple pies. Everyone has their own preferences, but for me, I prefer my pies to have a little crispness to them. I decided to do some research on apples and different methods for pie baking. Without getting too scientific on you, I decided to go with something a little different than the normal Granny Smith apples. I also decided to try out a different method than the normal ‘throw the apples in the pie plate and bake’ method. What transpired was this recipe for Not Another Mushy Apple Pie. 

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I found this Deep Dish Apple Pie recipe from Emeril Lagasse. I ended up changing it quite a bit. For one, I don’t really like the idea of adding cheese to an apple pie and two, I found that sauteing the apples a bit longer made a big difference. My first thought was that pre-cooking the apples a bit, might actually make the apples MORE mushy (or is it mushier?), but in fact, it has the opposite effect. It’s something super scientific that I probably wouldn’t do a good job of explaining.

Also, after doing a little research on apples (yeah I’m a nerd), I decided to go with Braeburn apples for their crispness and Golden Delicious for their sweet flavor.

I used two pounds of Braeburn apples and two pounds of Golden Delicious. I just weighed them before I sliced them. You don’t have to get too specific. I also did not add any lemon juice. You don’t need it because the Braeburn apples will have some tartness to them.

After slicing the apples, melt a half a stick (1/4 of a cup) of butter in a large skillet.

Add your apples to the melted butter and saute them for about three minutes.

Next add flour, sugar and spices.

Saute the apple mixture for five more minutes.

After you’ve sauteed your apples, they need to cool down. You can either set them in the fridge for a couple hours, or you can leave them there overnight and finish the pie the next day. That’s what’s so awesome about this recipe…you don’t have to spend hours out of your day baking this thing.

Once the apples have cooled, fill a deep dish pie plate with your crust. Ok, moment of truth here…I don’t make my own crust. Oh the horror! The way I see it, there are things I enjoy doing and that I like taking the time to do, but making pie crust is not one of those things. I just go with Pillsbury, but if you make your own pie crust, I say go for it. 

Next, fill your pie plate with the cooled sauteed apples.

Here’s where I got a little fancy. If you’re using pre-made refrigerated pie crust, you’re going to need an extra package if you want to do this next step.

I had some apple and small leaf cookie cutters. I used them to cut out shapes I could add to my top crust. You know me, I can’t leave well enough alone, right?

Before adding these cut-outs, you’ll want to add your top crust. Don’t forget to add a couple slits on the top of it and crimp the edges.

 

Brush a little egg wash (beaten egg with a little water) over the top and attach your cut-out pieces. Brush those with egg wash as well.

Now you’ll bake it at 350 degrees for about an hour and 15 minutes. When it’s done, set aside to cool completely before cutting it. Don’t cheat on that part…I know you want to though. 😉

What you get is a sweet, yet slightly tart apple pie with no mushy bits of apple in it. The apples still have a crispness to them that I find refreshing and a little out of the norm for your average apple pie. It’s SO good. You can top it with whipped cream, or my personal favorite, vanilla ice cream. I didn’t get a picture of it topped with ice cream, because well let’s face it, once I stick ice cream on something, I can’t stop myself from digging in.

Catch the slide show for the Not Another Mushy Apple Pie below:

 

 

Find the full recipe below: