How can you improve on the classic American apple pie? Top it with a sweet cookie crust and sparkling white sugar!
My twist on the American classic apple pie is that I use less sugar in the filling and I top the pie with a Sweet Cookie Crust. You get a little tartness of the apples balanced with the sweetness of the top crust. To make this recipe quicker to make, I use a frozen pie shell for the botton crust.
For this apple pie I like to use a Gala, Jonathan, or Honeycrisp apple because their baking time is about 15 minutes less than a harder and denser apple like the Granny Smith. But, if you like a bit more tartness to the filling go ahead and use Grannies. Just cook them a bit after peeling and cutting and before you make the filling. Oh… I almost forgot. I had about of cup of blackberries in the fridge that looked so good I added them to my filling… which is totally optional.
Here are two charts you might like:
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Apple Pie with Sweet Cookie Crust
Ingredients
Bottom Crust:
- 1 Frozen 9” Pie Crust
Filling:
- 8 Cups Apples,, like Gala, Jonathan, or Honeycrisp, Peeled, Sliced, and Chopped
- 1 Cup Blackberries,, Optional
- ½ Cup Sugar
- 1/4 Cup Instant Tapioca
- 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
- 1 Teaspoon Nutmeg,, Freshly Grated
Sweet Cookie Crust:
- ½ Cup Butter
- ¾ Cup Sugar
- 1 Egg,, slightly beaten
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 Tablespoons of Milk or Cream
- 2 ½ Cups Flour,, Sifted
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
Pastry Wash:
- 1 Large Egg
- 2 Tablespoons Cream or Milk
- ¼ Cup White Sparkling Decorative Sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425° F.
- Bottom Crust:
- Remove frozen pie crust from freezer and thaw.
Filling:
- Peel, core, and cut apples. In a large bowl mix together apples (and optional blackberries), sugar, instant tapioca, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Let stand 15 minutes to allow juices to thicken. While filling stands to thicken, make cookie crust.
Cookie Crust:
- Cream together butter and sugar. Add egg, vanilla, and milk and beat well. Sift together flour and salt and add to creamed mixture. Stir until dough comes away from the sides of the bowl and forms a ball. Set dough aside.
Pastry Wash:
- Whisk together or beat with a fork, the egg and cream to make the pastry wash.
Assembly:
- Place pie shell on baking sheet.
- Roll out sweet cookie crust ¼ inch thick and cut with a decorative cutter. (My favorite is a 2-inch scalloped round biscuit/cookie cutter)
- Spoon apple filling into bottom crust pressing well into the pan. Mound apples in the center and taper to the sides of the pan.
- Starting at the pie’s edge, arrange cookies on top of apples decoratively. Scraps can be rerolled and cut as needed.
- Brush cookie crust with pastry wash and sprinkle generously with decorative white sugar.
- Cover pie completely with a tent of aluminum foil.
- Bake pie 55 minutes. Remove aluminum tent and continue to bake an additional 12 to 15 minutes until crust is golden brown. Remove pie from oven and cool on a wire rack.
- Pie is delicious served warm or cool.
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