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This epic Apple Pie is a classic apple pie recipe but the apples are cooked with apple cider, which makes this pie an explosion of apple flavor. If you love cider, you’ll LOVE this pie!
Apple pie is great, but this recipe takes it to the next level. I almost enjoy it more than a classic apple pie. The apples are perfectly cooked – no crunchy apples in pie! I cook them with apple cider, which just amps up the fall flavor. The cinnamon apple flavor of the cider just seeps into every bite of the apple – cooking the apples this way was a genius idea.
My favorite things about pie is the filling and crust, but deciding what style of crust can be a hard decision. For this specific pie, there is a decorative lattice pie top. If you want to skip the lattice, you can make a double crust or crumb topping!
Ingredients Needed
- All-Butter Pie Crust: Buy store-bought or make my own amazing pie crust recipe!
- Apple Cider: Make sure to use actual apple cider – not apple juice.
- Apples: I love using Granny Smith apples in pie.
- Cornstarch: Helps thicken the pie so the pie filling is perfectly gooey.
How to make Apple Cider Pie
- Place the apples and apple cider in a large skillet. Cover and cook over medium heat until the apples are almost translucent.
- Stir together granulated sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Stir a bit more cold apple cider. Add the cornstarch mixture to the hot apple liquid in the pan. Cook over medium-low heat until the mixture thickens. Add the butter and stir until melted.
- Place one crust in a 9-inch pie plate. Stir the brown sugar, cinnamon, and cornstarch together and sprinkle in the bottom of the pie crust.
- Add the apples to the pie.
- Top carefully with top crust. Crimp edges as desired.
- Brush the top of the pie with egg wash. Place the pie on a cookie sheet and top with a pie crust shield.
- Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes then lower the oven temperature to 350°F and cook until crust is golden and baked through and filling is bubbly (approximately 30-40 additional minutes). If the top browns too quickly you can tent the pie with foil. Remove pie crust shield after about half the bake time.
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Expert Tips
- There are so many apple choices, but use your favorite. I love Granny Smith in pie recipes because they can stand up to baking and the tartness of the apple makes the pie the perfect bit of sweet.
- If not using a lattice or decorative pattern, be sure to cut slits in the top crust for air to escape.
- The filling will thicken more as it cooks, but make sure that the pie is completely cool – even chilled – for the prettiest slicing.
FAQs
How do you store this pie?
Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Can you freeze this pie?
You can in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Why is my pie wet?
This usually has to do with the fact that the apples were not drained enough. Make sure you get any extra liquid out of the apples before putting the pie together.
Apple Cider Pie Recipe
This Apple Cider Pie has apple cider in every bite! Adding apple cider to the pie crust makes it super flaky and the apple cider in the apples makes a sweet and delicious pie filling!
Recipe Video
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Chill Time 4 hours
Total Time 5 hours 35 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 recipes all-butter pie crust (see note)
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons (237ml + 30ml) apple cider divided
- 3 pounds apples (see note)
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon (8g+3g) cornstarch divided
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon (14g) unsalted butter
- ⅓ cup (67g) packed brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Make pie crust as directed. Divide into two equal pieces. Roll half of dough into a 12-inch circle (about ⅛-inch thickness) and place in a 9-inch pie plate (not deep dish). Roll out the second piece of dough to a 12 inch circle between sheets of wax paper. Chill both crusts until ready to use. (See notes for link to pie crust tips).
- Place the apples and 1 cup of apple cider in a large skillet. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the apples are almost translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Remove the apples and reserve the cooking liquid in the pan.
- Stir together granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, and salt. Stir in remaining 2 tablespoons of cold apple cider. Add the cornstarch mixture to the hot apple liquid in the pan. Cook over medium-low heat until the mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Add the butter and stir until melted. Remove from heat and add the apples back to the hot liquid. Let cool for 5-10 minutes.
- Remove crusts from the refrigerator. Remove wax paper from top crust. At this point you can make a lattice, do a decorative crust, or just make a two crust pie. The pie shown in the photos is a decorative crust that uses small square cookie cutters to make it look like lattice. Prepare top crust as desired.
- Sprinkle the brown sugar, cinnamon and remaining 1 teaspoon cornstarch in the bottom of the pie crust in the pie plate. Place the slightly cooled apples into the pie plate.
- Top carefully with top crust. Crimp edges. (If not using a lattice or decorative pattern, be sure to cut slits in the top crust for air to escape.)
- Brush the top of the pie with egg wash. Place the pie on a cookie sheet and top with a pie crust shield.
- Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes then lower the oven temperature to 350°F and cook until crust is golden and baked through and filling is bubbly (approximately 30-40 additional minutes). If the top browns too quickly you can tent the pie with foil. Remove pie crust shield after about half the bake time.
- Cool completely before slicing (chilling will help set the pie). Serve room temperature or warm plain or with ice cream.
Recipe Notes
- Use any apples you like – Granny Smith are great for pie, as are golden delicious.
- The original recipe for this pie used cold apple cider in the crust but I found it too hard to work with. If you’d like to attempt that, just replace the cold water for the pie crust recipe with cold apple cider.
- You can use 2 refrigerated pie crusts or my all butter pie crust recipe.
- For the topping, you can make a lattice crust, decorative pie crust, or double crust.
- Store pie in refrigerator. You can make the pie up to 24 hours ahead of time. Freeze pie for up to 3 months.
Recipe Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 135kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 0.3g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Trans Fat: 0.04g | Cholesterol: 3mg | Sodium: 53mg | Potassium: 150mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 91IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 0.2mg
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
I’ve made this pie 3 times in the past month and I have some suggestions for anyone following the recipe. For novices, a crucial step not mentioned here is core, peel and slice the apples. I have an apple corer and really good Oxo peeler for this step. The first time I made it, I didn’t peel the apples and the peels were too tough in the pie. I add a little more cornstarch (about a half tsp more) to the tablespoon measure in step 4. I also, just by accident, found that it is not necessary to remove the apples from the liquid before adding the cornstarch mixture in step 4. I forgot to remove them and it turned out fine, which saves some time. It is important to have a big enough skillet to cook the apples— I used a large skillet that is very deep. I also added apple pie spice instead of just cinnamon. The result was delicious!
Thanks for sharing. Glad you like it!
I didn’t try the recipe but it looking real good like on God, it looking so crispy, just add some butter on top like melted butter and it’d be perfect.
I absolutely love this recipe but I have to say that the crust does not come together very well and does not really have the flavor of apple cider. So I will stick with my own recipe. And if you don’t have cornstarch for the filling flour works just as well just add a little extra.
I absolutely love this pie. It has a wonderful flaky and flavor crust and the filling is delicious. This is my go to recipe for apple pie.
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