Preheat andPrepare Pie Pan. Preheat oven to 425°F/218°C. Remove frozen pie crust from freezer and thaw or ease a refrigerated or homemade pie crust into a 9" pie pan. Place pastry lined pie pan on a baking sheet.
1 9” Pie Crust
Make the Cookie Crust. Cream together butter and sugar. Add egg, vanilla, and cream and beat well. Sift together flour and salt and add to the creamed mixture. Stir, slowly, until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl and forms a ball. Set cookie dough aside.
½ Cup Salted Butter, ¾ Cup White Granulated Sugar, 1 Large Egg, 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract, 2 Tablespoons Heavy Cream, 2 ½ Cups All-Purpose Flour, 1 Teaspoon Salt
Make the Apple Filling. Peel, core, and cut apples. In a large bowl mix together apples, sugar, instant tapioca, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
6 to 8 Cups Apples, Peeled, Sliced, and Cut, ½ Cup Sugar, 3 Tablespoons Instant Tapioca, 2 Teaspoons Cinnamon, ½ Teaspoon Nutmeg
Make Pastry Wash. In a small bowl whisk together or beat with a fork, the egg and cream to make the pastry wash.
1 Large Egg, 2 Tablespoons Heavy Cream
Cut Cookie Crust. 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 and I cut out 19 circles.
Fill the Pie. Spoon the apple filling into bottom crust pressing well into the pan. Mound apples in the center and taper to the sides of the pan.Fold the edge of the pastry over the filling and brush it with the pastry wash.
Add Top Crust and Pastry Wash. Starting at the pie’s edge, arrange cookies on top of the apples overlapping slightly and decoratively.Brush cookie crust with pastry wash and sprinkle generously with white sparkling sugar.
2 Tablespoons White Sparkling Decorative Sugar
Bake. Cover the pie completely with a tent of aluminum foil and bake the pie for 60 to 75 minutes or until the apples are tender when pierced by a fork or toothpick.Remove the aluminum tent and continue to bake for an additional 10 to 14 minutes or until the top crust is golden brown. Remove the pie from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack.
Notes
My Top Tip♡ My very best tip for this pie is to add a few blackberries to the pie filling as stated below. Blackberries make this pie extra special!Substitutions& VariationsSubstitute Milk or Half and Half. Instead of heavy cream, you can use milk or half and half when making the cookie dough crust.Add Blackberries. You can add up to 1 cup of blackberries for a delicious twist.Substitute All-Purpose Flour. Instead of instant tapioca, you can use 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour mixed into the apples to thicken the fillingSubstitute Ground Cardamom. Instead of cinnamon, you can use cardamon in the filling.Substitute Ground Coriander. If you add blackberries to the pie, reduce the cinnamon to 1 teaspoon and add 1 teaspoon of ground coriander to the filling.EquipmentI prefer to use a stand mixer to make the sweet cookie dough. However, you can use a hand mixer or beat the ingredients by hand.Make-Ahead& StorageCover the pie in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and it will keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. If desired, reheat slices of the pie gently in the oven or microwave.