My mom made this amazing pie when we were visiting for Thanksgiving. I've always liked her apple pie but she used a new pie crust recipe this year and it was even better. In fact it was so good I think I ate about 3/4 of the pie myself. So thanks mom for making not only a beautiful pie but a very delicious one as well!
Deep Dish Apple Pie
Pie Crust:
- 2 ½ cups flour
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. sugar
- 16 Tbs. (2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch dice
- 3 to 4 Tbs. ice water
Filling:
- 2 lb. Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into slices ¼ inch thick
- 2 lb. Pink Lady apples, peeled, cored and cut into slices ¼ inch thick
- ½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. nutmeg
- 4 tsp. cornstarch
- 1 Tbs. lemon juice
OR
- Use three cans of apple pie filling (this is what I do)
- 2 Tbs. cold unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch pieces
- 1 egg white, beaten with 1 tsp. water
- 2 tsp. sugar
To make the dough, in a food processor, pulse the flour, salt and sugar about 5 pulses. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 pulses. Add 3 Tbs. of the ice water and pulse 2 or 3 times. The dough should hold together when squeezed with your fingers but should not be sticky. If it is crumbly, add more water 1 tsp. at a time, pulsing twice after each addition. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, divide in half and shape each ball into a disk.
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On a lightly floured work surface, roll out half of the dough into a 12 inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Fold the dough in half and then into quarters and transfer it into a 9 inch deep dish pie dish. Unfold and gently press the dough into the bottom and sides of the dish. Trim the edges flush with the rim of the dish.
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On a large sheet of lightly floured parchment paper, roll out the remaining dough disk into a 12 inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Using leaf pie cutters, make rows of cutouts in the dough, spacing them ½ inch apart and leaving a 1 inch border along the edges to create a lattice appearance. Reserve the cutouts for decorating. Re-roll the dough scraps to make more cutouts.
Meanwhile, make the filling: In a large Dutch oven, stir together the apples, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and cornstarch. Set over medium heat, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are just tender but not mushy, about 20 minutes. Uncover and cook until the liquid has thickened and become glossy, 5 to 7 minutes more. Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice and let cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
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Transfer the apple pie filling to the pie shell, scatter the butter pieces on top, and gently invert the lattice top over the pie. Trim the edges flush with the rim of the dish and press the top and bottom crusts together to seal. Brush the underside of the leaf cutouts with egg wash and gently press them onto the edges of the pie crust, overlapping the leaves slightly. Decorate as desired with the remaining leaves. Brush the entire top crust with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.
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Place the pie dish on a baking sheet. Bake until the crust is crisp and golden brown, about 1 hour, covering the edges with aluminum foil.
