This easy peasy apple pie recipe using Granny Smith apples is all you need to know to create a delicious home-made style apple pie for your family!
Nowadays it’s so hard to find recipes that aren’t full of sugar and taste like the old, original recipes our grandmothers used to make! I quickly fell in love with this simple yet very tasty apple pie recipe my mother sent over to me. This apple pie is not only very flavourful, it also holds it shape well thanks to the Granny Smith apples, which are a baker’s favorite when it comes to making apple pies. If you are about to make an apple pie, consider taking the time to find specifically Granny Smith apples, as they are known to hold their shape better and not turn watery or soggy.
Apple pie is an American staple and favorite, but who knew it originates back to year 1381 in the midst of the middle ages in England? There are multiple what they would call “cookery books” and documents that outline a very similar apple pie recipe that we make today. This early recipe used a standard pie crust, slices of soft apples with their skin and seeds removed, and mixed with several spices like ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and powdered sugar. It was then topped with butter or lard and saffron was used to color the pie filling. There are also versions that mixed in not only apples but also figs, raisins, and pears.
Today’s recipe is strikingly similar except that we love to serve it with whipped cream, ice cream, or some (although I’ve never tried this) pair it will cheddar cheese! You can make your apple pie using standard tin pie plates which are great for travelling or if you are gifting your pies, or you can use a stoneware pie dish which I normally use at home.
Homemade Granny Smith Apple Pie Recipe
- 2 2/3 cups flour
- 1 cup shortening
- 1/2 cups cold water with 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- Pinch of salt
- 6 cups Granny Smith Apples Sliced and Peeled
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp flour
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter cut into small chunks
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour and salt. Mix in the shortening and add the ½ cup of water. Continue mixing with your hands and add more water if necessary. Mix until you have formed a ball of dough. Divide the dough into two balls.
- Using a floured work surface and a rolling pin, roll out one ball of dough. Make your circle of rolled out dough at least 5 cm wider than your pie plate. Place the dough in your pie plate making sure the edges align with the pie plate rim. Next, make the pie filling.
- Get your oven warmed up and preheat it at 425 F. In a mixing bowl, mix apples, brown sugar, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg. Mix until the apples are well covered in the flour, sugar and spices. Transfer the apple pie filling into your apple pie plate. Sprinkle the butter chunks over the apples.
- Roll out the second ball of dough and place it over the apple pie filling that is in the pie plate. Using your fingers, pinch the edges of the apple pie crust to seal it with the piecrust below. Using a knife cut a circle into the middle of the apple pie crust.
- Optional: Use a pastry-brush to brush milk over the whole apple pie and sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake for about 15 minutes, then remove from oven and cover with tin-foil and return to oven to bake for another 25-30 minutes.