Tart and sweet evercrisp apples infused with warm baking spices fill a flaky and buttery pie crust to make this holiday spiced apple pie. Once Fall hits St. Louis the apple picking extravaganza begins. This year we even had dibs on a brand new apple, the Evercrisp. The family headed to a local orchard for some fun and to find the perfect pie apples! But first, If you don’t want to be bombarded with family photos, feel free to Jump To The Recipe! Otherwise, get ready for a sweet family outing that includes the cutest kids ever! And of course, the best apple pie recipe!
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Evercrisp Apples
I never really thought about new strains of apples popping up. What is an Evercrisp Apple? According to the taste and texture, along with this website, https://evercrispapple.com/ evercrisp apples are a cross between a Fuji and a Honeycrisp. One of the growers, David Doud is quoted as saying, the Evercrisp is the “apple with the 21st century crunch.” Evercrisp apples are indeed crunchy like Honeycrisp and less sweet than fuji. They also promise to hold up their firmness, making it an ideal apple for pies like this spiced apple pie and Bourbon Apple Crisp.
There was only one weekend that they opened up for picking this new apple, so the wagon was full of people eager for this rare bite of a hybrid apple. And off we went!
Apple Picking
For anyone out there who has never picked apples, you have to do it! In a time where all we do is focus on our Apple devices, this is a great opportunity to remember what a real apple is and get some family bonding in! Apple picking is so much fun, and eating apples right from the tree doesn’t get any fresher. It also encourages kids to eat a ton of fresh fruit.
Thankfully, Grant is well over six feet tall, so the girls got prime apples from the tops of the trees. Meanwhile, I stood at barely over 5 feet and securely planted on the ground with all those discarded apples, ha!
Speaking of, has anyone else ever wondered what happens to all of those apples that are left on the ground? Hopefully they get fed to horses and other animals that eat apples.
My in-laws went with us, which made Tilly extra happy since she’s completely obsessed with her “Papa”! My father-in-law loves the fruit found from the orchards of Eckerts. So much so that he buys literally hundreds of the bounty each season! Hence this Spiced Apple Pie among a dozen others!
Once we loaded up our bags, we hopped back on the wagon, and headed back home to make this spectacular spiced apple pie!
On To The Spiced Apple Pie Crust
First comes crust. This spiced apple pie has a flaky and buttery crust with a touch of apple cider vinegar. This is a crust that holds up to the fresh filling and won’t get a soggy bottom.
To make the best pie crust ever you can work with your hands like I did for, Captain America Apple Hand Pies. Or use a Food Processor like I did for this recipe.
The first step to making the crust for this spiced apple pie is to put your dry ingredients: the flour, salt, and sugar into the food processor and pulse it up a few times before adding your cubed and very cold butter. I keep sticks of butter in the freezer just for making pie crust.
Then drizzle in your water and apple cider vinegar. Then you will carefully remove the blade and take out the pie dough. Divide it into two discs and wrap with plastic wrap. The dough should chill in the fridge at least an hour.
Spiced Apple Pie Filling
This spiced apple pie has a filling that is aromatic, warm, sweet, and slightly tart. The recipe will give you a deep dish apple pie. And Evercrisp apples definitely do hold up their firmness.
There is a blend of warm baking spices including cardamom, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. This, along with sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla bean paste will give this spiced apple pie the most incredible aroma and taste. Each bite will give you a flaky, buttery, spicy, saucy, and sweet. This is a memorable pie worthy of all of your holiday gatherings. Plus, it makes your house smell so amazing and like the holidays!
To make your filling, just peel the apples, slice them, and put them into a large bowl. I toss them in fresh lemon juice to prevent browning while adding that splash of lemon flavor to the mix.
In a dutch oven Dutch Oven, sizzle some butter before adding in your apples. Then coat them up with your sugars and spices. Allow it to cook on medium low heat for 10 minutes, until the apples are tender but not fully cooked through. Remove from heat and mix in vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste. This spiced apple pie filling needs to rest for about 30 minutes.
It’s All About The Bake!
Once your pie dough has chilled and the spiced apple pie filling has rested, it’s time to assemble and bake. Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.
Dust flour onto a clean surface and bring out one of the discs of dough. Then just roll it out and put it into your 9 inch Pie Dish. And can I just reiterate how amazing this filling smells!
Meanwhile, my buddies were hard at work cutting out the top crust. Note that you can use the second crust to top it, cut a couple slits to vent, and bake it. Or, you can use cookie cutters to cut it out into a decorative pie. This crust is boss, so it’s fun to have extra cutouts to snack on so you don’t accidentally devour this spiced apple pie before it’s dessert time!
As you can see, these girls have baking down! Look how they flour, roll, and press! Proud mom moment!
Next, set that top crust, in any form you choose. Last step before baking is to brush on some egg wash then sprinkle over raw sugar.
Then bake your spiced apple pie on a baking sheet for approximately 45 minutes. If the edges begin to brown to fast, use a Pie Crust Shield. Let it rest for at least 2 hours at room temperature before serving.
Serve with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or let this spiced apple pie stand alone as the best apple pie there ever was!
Spiced Apple Pie
Evercrisp apples and warm baking spices like cardamom give a spiced and fresh apple filling inside of a buttery, flaky crust. This is a memorable pie that is perfect for Thanksgiving!
Ingredients
Pie Crust
- 3 cups AP flour
- 4 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/8 cup butter cold and diced
- 1/3 cup cold water
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Apple Pie Filling
- 8 cups apples (peeled and sliced) like evercrisp, granny, or honeycrisp
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
- 1 egg white
- 1 teaspoon water
- 2 tablespoons raw sugar for topping
Instructions
-
For Pie Crust:
The first step to making the crust for this spiced apple pie is to put your dry ingredients: the flour, salt, and sugar into the food processor and pulse it up a few times before adding your cubed and very cold butter. Pulse until it looks like tiny pebbles. I keep sticks of butter in the freezer just for making pie crust.
Then drizzle in your water and apple cider vinegar. Then you will carefully remove the blade and take out the pie dough. Divide it into two discs and wrap with plastic wrap. The dough should chill in the fridge at least an hour.
For Filling:
To make your filling, just peel the apples, slice them, and put them into a large bowl. I toss them in fresh lemon juice to prevent browning while adding that splash of lemon flavor to the mix.
In a dutch oven Dutch Oven, sizzle some butter before adding in your apples. Then coat them up with your sugars and spices. Allow it to cook on medium low heat for 10 minutes, until the apples are tender but not fully cooked through. Remove from heat and mix in vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste. This spiced apple pie filling needs to rest for about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees:
Roll out one disc and use it for the bottom crust.
Fill with apple filling.
Then cover with second crust. Or make lattice crust. Or use cutouts as the top crust like I did.
Make the egg wash out of your egg white and water. Brush it on the crust and then sprinkle on raw sugar.
Put pie onto a baking sheet (to catch any drips), and bake for approx. 45 minutes,
Then allow to cool for 2 hours.
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