The Best Apple Pie Recipe

Few smells say fall like cinnamon and butter drifting out of the oven. Apple pie shows up at Thanksgiving, Fourth of July cookouts, and just about every family get-together in between, and it’s hard to find anyone in the US or Canada who doesn’t have a soft spot for a warm slice. What surprises most people is that this “all-American” dessert started in 14th-century England, where cooks were baking apples into thick pastry shells long before anyone sailed for the New World.

English, Dutch, and Swedish settlers carried their recipes to North America in the 1600s and 1700s, and by 1796, apple pie had earned two recipes in American Cookery, the first cookbook published in the United States. It still wears the crown today: apple pie made up nearly a third of all pie sales on Instacart in 2024. This apple pie recipe gives you a flaky butter crust, a filling that holds together when you slice it, and a few ideas for the coffee to pour alongside it.

Where Apple Pie Really Comes From

Apple pie’s story is a bit of a world tour. The fruit, the filling, and the crust each picked up something different along the way before landing on American tables.

Its 14th-Century English Roots

• The first recipe: The earliest known apple pie recipe was written in England in the late 1300s.
• A busier filling: Early versions mixed apples with figs, raisins, pears, and saffron.
• A sturdy shell: The crust was thick and straight-sided, closer to a baked box than the flaky pastry we know now. English cooks called it a “coffyn.”

The Dutch Touch: Lattice Tops and Better Crusts

• An early cookbook: A Dutch-language cookbook printed in Brussels in 1514 includes one of the oldest recipes for apple tart.
• The lattice top: Dutch bakers get credit for the woven pastry pattern that still decorates apple pies today.
• A sweeter crust: They also moved toward a softer, sweeter crust that people actually wanted to eat.

How It Became “As American as Apple Pie”

• Not native fruit: The only apples native to North America are crab apples, which are too small and sour for baking. Settlers had to plant European apple seeds.
• Cider first: Most early colonial apples went into cider, not pie.
• A national symbol: During World War II, American soldiers said they were fighting for “Mom and apple pie,” and the dessert has stood for home ever since.

The Best Apples for Apple Pie

No single apple makes the perfect pie. The best ones use a mix: tart apples that keep their shape and sweet apples that bring the flavor.

Tart Apples That Hold Their Shape

• Granny Smith: The classic choice. It stays firm in the oven and adds a bright tang, but it’s a little flat on its own.
• Braeburn: Tart with a touch of spice, and it holds up well to long baking.
• Northern Spy: Harder to find, but bakers who can get it swear by it.

Sweet Apples That Bring the Flavor

• Honeycrisp: Juicy and well balanced, with enough crunch to avoid a mushy filling.
• Fuji: Very sweet. Great in a blend, too soft on its own.
• Golden Delicious: Buttery and mellow. It softens more than Granny Smith but works if you want a one-apple pie.
• Pink Lady: Sweet-tart and firm, a solid middle-ground pick.

The Best Apple Mix for Pie

Go half Granny Smith, half Honeycrisp. It’s the same blend the Washington Apple Commission uses in its own pie recipe, and you can find both at almost any grocery store this time of year.

Apple	Taste	Texture After Baking	Best Use
Granny Smith	Tart	Very firm	Base of any blend
Braeburn	Tart, lightly spiced	Firm	Blends
Honeycrisp	Sweet-tart	Firm	Blends or solo
Fuji	Very sweet	Soft	Blends only
Golden Delicious	Mild, buttery	Medium-soft	Solo or blends
Pink Lady	Sweet-tart	Firm	Blends or solo

Apples to Skip

• Red Delicious: It turns mealy and bland in the oven.
• McIntosh (on its own): Lovely flavor, but it breaks down into applesauce. Use a handful mixed with firmer apples, never as the whole filling.

Classic Apple Pie Recipe

This makes one 9-inch double-crust pie, or about 8 slices. Plan for 45 minutes of prep, 1 hour of chilling, about 1 hour of baking, and 3 to 4 hours of cooling.

What You’ll Need

For the butter crust:

• 2½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 6 to 8 tablespoons ice water

For the apple filling:

• 3 pounds apples (about 7 medium), half Granny Smith and half Honeycrisp
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup packed light brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour or 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon butter, cut into small pieces

For the top:

• 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon milk or cream
• 1 tablespoon coarse sugar

Equipment: a 9-inch pie dish, a rolling pin, a large mixing bowl, and a food processor or pastry cutter.

No special gear? No problem. Grate frozen butter into the flour on a box grater, or cut it in with two forks. A 9-inch cake pan or cast-iron skillet stands in for a pie dish, and a clean wine bottle works as a rolling pin.

How to Make the Butter Crust

1. Whisk the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.
2. Add the cold butter and cut it in until you have pea-sized pieces with a few bigger chunks. Those chunks melt in the oven and make the crust flaky.
3. Sprinkle in the ice water a tablespoon at a time, tossing with a fork, until the dough holds together when you squeeze it.
4. Split the dough in half, flatten each piece into a disk, and wrap them tightly.
5. Chill for at least 1 hour. You can make the dough up to 2 days ahead.

How to Make the Apple Filling

1. Peel, core, and slice the apples about ¼ inch thick. Even slices bake evenly.
2. Toss them in a large bowl with the lemon juice so they don’t brown.
3. Add both sugars, the flour or cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and salt. Toss until every slice is coated.
4. Let the filling sit for 15 to 20 minutes while you roll out the crust. It’ll release some juice, and that’s exactly what you want.

How to Assemble and Bake Your Pie

1. Heat your oven to 425°F and put a baking sheet on the lower rack to catch drips.
2. Roll one disk into a 12-inch circle and ease it into the pie dish, letting the extra hang over the edge.
3. Pile in the apples, mounding them higher in the center, and leave most of the pooled juice in the bowl. Dot the top with butter.
4. Roll out the second disk and lay it over the filling, or cut it into strips for a lattice.
5. Trim the overhang to about 1 inch, fold the edges under, and crimp with your fingers or a fork.
6. Brush the top with egg wash, sprinkle on coarse sugar, and cut 4 or 5 small vents if you used a full top crust.
7. Bake at 425°F for 20 minutes, then lower the heat to 375°F and bake another 40 to 50 minutes. It’s done when the crust is deep golden and the juices bubble thickly through the vents.
8. If the edges brown too fast, cover them with strips of foil or a pie shield.
9. Let the pie cool for at least 3 hours before slicing so the filling can set.

When the pie goes in, put the kettle on, or better yet, grind a fresh bag of beans from Lovers Coffee. You’ll have about an hour to get the pour-over just right.

Classic vs. Dutch Apple Pie

The filling is basically the same. The difference is all in what goes on top.

	Classic Apple Pie	Dutch Apple Pie
Top	Second pastry crust or lattice	Buttery crumb or streusel
Texture	Flaky all the way through	Flaky bottom, crunchy-crumbly top
Sweetness	Medium	A bit sweeter
Difficulty	Moderate (two crusts to roll)	Easier (one crust, no rolling on top)
Origin	English and Dutch traditions	Linked to German and Pennsylvania Dutch baking in the US

Easy Ways to Change Up Your Apple Pie

Salted Caramel Apple Pie

Drizzle about ½ cup of thick caramel sauce over the apples before you add the top crust, then finish with a pinch of flaky salt after baking. It leans sweeter, so a darker roast balances it nicely.

Vermont-Style Apple Pie With Cheddar

Serve each warm slice with a thin piece of sharp cheddar on top or on the side. It sounds odd until you try it. The salty, tangy cheese cuts right through the sweet filling, and in parts of New England it’s the only way to eat apple pie.

Lattice Top vs. Double Crust

A lattice looks stunning and lets more steam escape, so the filling thickens a little faster. A full double crust is quicker to make and keeps the apples extra juicy. Both bake the same way, so pick based on how much time you have.

Tips for Getting Apple Pie Right

Avoiding a Soggy Bottom

• Bake low: Put the pie on the lower rack on a preheated baking sheet so the bottom crust gets direct heat.
• Leave the juice behind: Don’t pour all the liquid from the bowl into the pie.
• Use a glass dish: It lets you check whether the bottom has browned.

Stopping the Gap Under the Top Crust

• Pack the apples: Press the slices down as you layer them so there are fewer air pockets.
• Let the filling rest: The 15-minute sit softens the apples slightly, so they shrink less in the oven.

Getting a Filling That Isn’t Runny

• Look for thick bubbles: Pale or watery juice means the thickener hasn’t kicked in yet. Keep baking.
• Don’t skip the thickener: Flour or cornstarch is what turns apple juice into a glossy filling.

Why You Should Let It Cool

• Patience pays off: The filling keeps setting as it cools. Cut it hot and it’ll run all over the plate.
• Want it warm? Let it cool fully, then warm individual slices in the oven for a few minutes.

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Apple Pie Nutrition (Per Slice)

Here’s what one slice (⅛ of a 9-inch pie) looks like, based on USDA data for a standard apple pie.

Nutrient	Amount
Calories	296
Total fat	13.8 g
Saturated fat	4.7 g
Carbohydrates	42.5 g
Sugar	19.6 g
Fiber	2 g
Protein	2.4 g
Sodium	332 mg
Caffeine	0 mg

Homemade pie lands close to this, though your numbers will shift with the size of your slice, how much sugar you use, and whether you add ice cream. And since the pie has no caffeine, the only kick on the plate comes from your coffee.

Pie, Coffee, Repeat

Apple pie took a long road to get here, from medieval English kitchens and Dutch lattice tops to Thanksgiving tables across North America, and it’s still the pie people reach for most. A good one comes down to a few simple things: a mix of tart and sweet apples, a cold butter crust, enough patience to let it bake until the juices bubble, and a little more to let it cool. Pour a cup of something warm, cut a generous slice, and don’t be surprised when the leftovers disappear by breakfast.

If you want more coffee information, recipes, and seasonal coffee trends, make sure to check our blog daily and explore the Lovers.coffee marketplace for everything you need to make your moments even sweeter.