Name: Mile High Apple Pie
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 105 min
Ingredients: 11 cups apples (peeled, cored and sliced ½ inch (a mix of granny smith, Cripps pink and Ambrosia)); 2 tablespoons lemon juice (add more to taste); 1 lemon (zested); 1 teaspoon cinnamon; ¾ cup light brown sugar; ¾ cup granulated sugar; 4 tablespoons cornstarch; 2 tablespoons butter (cubed); 2 cups all-purpose flour; ⅔ cup cake flour; 2 tablespoons sugar; 1 teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon baking powder; ½ cup butter (cold, cut into ½ inch cubes); 7 tablespoons shortening (I store mine in the freezer); 6-9 tablespoons ice cold water; 1 tablespoons Heavy cream (for topping); 1 tablespoons granulated sugar (for topping)

You will love this easy Mile High Apple Pie! It combines a brown sugar lemon apple filling with a flakey, buttery, and generously sugared crust for the perfect apple pie! Top it with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream and you have Heaven on a plate!

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Mind the gap!

The buttery, flaky sugared crust and brown sugar lemon apple filling are a heavenly combination.

And if you serve it with homemade French vanilla ice cream…all bets are off.

But why wouldn't you serve it with ice cream? All that cinnamon sugar apple goodness deserves a generous scoop of creamy ice cream, no?

I had big plans for this crust, but it almost cost me my sanity. When I initially tried to roll it out it cracked. I kneaded it back together, refrigerated it, and tried to roll it out again and it cracked. I finally decided just to cobble together the bottom crust and hope the top crust hid its sins…
It didn’t.

So the next logical step was to brush it all with heavy cream and generously sprinkle it with sugar in the hopes that people would be so blinded by the sugar that they wouldn't notice all the ridiculous irregularities in my crust.

(Shh! I think it worked.)

My new motto is: Sugar Everything.

Sugar on the top of pie crust, cookies rolled in sugar, buttered and sugared quick breads, more cookies rolled in sugar, you name it. #sugarallthethings

On a positive note, what this pie lacks in beauty it makes up for in taste! The crust tastes amazing. It didn’t shrink (thank God, or there would have been no crust!) and it crisped up perfectly. The extra burst of sugar on top was a hit.

The filling is on the tart side because of the combination of lemon juice and tart apples. If you like your filling sweeter, then start with 2 tablespoon lemon juice and go from there! If you get a little crazy with the lemon juice, you can always add sugar. (And we know how I feel about sugar...)

A little Culinary School Knowledge:

I made this pie before leaving for school, so I can now tell you that the acid in baking powder and the generous amount of “resting” time that my dough had in the refrigerator kept it from shrinking. It also didn't shrink because I didn't over work it and develop too much gluten. It cracked because it was under-hydrated and possibly because it was too cold when I rolled it out.

I would also precook my filling to keep it from shrinking so much. A little bit of shrinkage is inevitable, but there is no need to have a mile gap between the filling and the top crust, unless you like that sort of thing. I’ve included instructions in the notes for how to adapt the recipe for minimal shrinkage. But, honestly, no one cares about the gap because the pie tastes so darn good!

Mile High Apple Pie

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Lindsey

You will love this easy Mile High Apple Pie! It combines a brown sugar lemon apple filling with a flakey, buttery, and generously sugared crust for the perfect apple pie!

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Prep Time 45 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings people

Calories 438 kcal

Ingredients

For the Pie Filling :

11 cups apples (peeled, cored and sliced ½ inch (a mix of granny smith, Cripps pink and Ambrosia))
2 tablespoons lemon juice (add more to taste)
1 lemon (zested)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¾ cup light brown sugar
¾ cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons butter (cubed)

For the Pie Crust

2 cups all-purpose flour
⅔ cup cake flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup butter (cold, cut into ½ inch cubes)
7 tablespoons shortening (I store mine in the freezer)
6-9 tablespoons ice cold water
1 tablespoons Heavy cream (for topping)
1 tablespoons granulated sugar (for topping)

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make your pie crusts (Stand Mixer Method):

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the flours, sugar, salt and baking powder; mix to combine. Add the butter and shortening and mix on low speed until you have a sandy mixture where the largest pieces are the size of peas. Don’t over mix because then your dough won’t be flakey.
Slowly add the water, one tablespoon at a time, and mix on low until it holds together when squeezed in your hand. If the dough feels dry and there is lots of visible flour, add more water.
Dump out the mixture onto a lightly floured surface (aka your counter) and gently kneed the dough to form a cohesive ball. If it is dry and crumbly, add more water. Be careful not to over kneed your dough or your crust with be tough, not flakey, and it will shrink. Sadness.
Divide dough in half, pat each into a disk, wrap and chill for at least 2 hours. Overnight is really best.

Make your pie crust by hand (Old School Method):

In a medium bowl mix together flours, sugar, salt and baking powder, whisk to mix. You can do the remaining steps in a bowl but I like doing it on the counter.
Dump flour out onto counter and add butter and shortening. Cut in fat with a bench scraper, a pastry knife or two knives until the largest pieces of butter are the size of peas.
Slowly add the water, one tablespoon at a time, tossing the mixture together with a bench scraper or fork and your hands until it holds together when. If the dough feels dry and there is lots of visible flour, add more water. Gently kneed the dough until it comes together into a ball. It should not be crumbly. If it is add, more water.
Be careful not to over kneed your dough or your crust with be tough, not flakey, and it will shrink. Sadness.
Divide dough in half, pat each into a disk, wrap and chill for at least 2 hours. Overnight is really best.

For the Filling & Assembly:

Preheat your oven to 425°F.
Mix apples, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, zest, cinnamon and sugars in a large bowl. Allow to macerate while you prepare your pie crusts.
Roll out your pie crusts on a lightly floured surface into two circles that are roughly 2 inches larger in diameter than your pie dish, a little more than ⅛th of an inch thick. Line an ungreased pie dish with one of the crusts, allowing the excess to hang over the edges. Place on sheet pan, cover and chill.
Place top crust on parchment lined sheet pan, cover with plastic wrap and chill until ready to use.
Taste your apples. If they are to sour, add more sugar, or if they are too sweet, add a little more lemon juice to taste. Once you are happy with the flavor, Stir in the cornstarch.
At this point you can cook your filling in a medium sauce pan until the apples begin to soften; cool completely; then proceed.
Pour apples into pastry lined pie dish, mounding them in the center, and dot with the small cubes of butter. Place the top crust over the filling; cut vent holes on top (you can also make cute cutouts before placing the top crust over the filling. #fancy); trim all but ½ inch excess dough from around the edges; press the top and bottom crust together, fold under and create a decorate edge. You can flute the edges or press with a fork, or even decorate with cutouts from your scraps.
Brush the top with heavy cream and generously sprinkle with granulated sugar.
Bake in preheated oven 15 minutes; lower the temperature to 350° and bake until the filling is bubbling and the crust is brown about 45-60 minutes longer. If you precook your filling the cooking time will be much less.

Notes

The amount of lemon juice and sugar you need will depend on how tart your apple are. Taste as you go. It won’t get sweeter as you cook it!

If you want to precook your filling and still have a tall apple pie, I suggest you double the filling. You don’t have to but I would.

Pie Crust recipe adapted from Nancy Baggett’s “All American Dessert Book”; Apple Pie Filling recipe is my own.

Keyword apple dessert recipe, easy pie recipe, old fashioned apple pie, pie crust

Tried this recipe?Mention @cheflindseyfarr