Do you ever wonder what your legacy will be?
I probably won’t be the richest grandma so I doubt I’ll leave copious amounts of money to a school or hospital; I won’t end up buying a ton of jewelery in my lifetime so there will be no diamonds (sorry, grandchildren); and there’s a good chance I won’t be leaving behind large amounts of land in the hills of Wisconsin (are there hills in Wisconsin?…you get what I mean).
My hope is that my grandkids will tell their friends about how their grandma looked so sweet and small yet she was strong, told sarcastic jokes and had a foul mouth. I hope they tell their friends that whenever I visited, I made them the most elaborate ridiculous lunches and wrote them the sweetest notes for them to find at lunch time. And I hope they tell their friends about how their grandma, with her super veiny hands, made the best pies ever.
My future legacy is what I’m sharing today.
(I’m feeling very emo this week, can you tell?)
This week has been lots of feelings. If you sent me a text with a bit of attitude, I think you hate me. If you were nice to me, I hear it as you love me and I start to cry. Just all the feelings! I have ’em.
Maybe it’s the weather, maybe it’s my impending manuscript due date, either way, making pie helps me to work it all out.
Can we talk about apples?
Here are my favorites for apple pies:
1. First place: Honey Crisp.
2. Second place: Pink Lady
3. Third place: Granny Smith.
My all-time favorite combination is: Honey Crisp AND Granny Smith.
I like to mix a bit of sweetness and tartness. That’s my vote, folks.
And I like to be psychotic and mandolin them into nice even slices. But this isn’t completely necessary and a lot of times I don’t do this. IT’S AN OPTIONAL MOVE.
I like my apples to be tossed in a bit of lemon juice, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. Nothing weird. No twists. Just good ol’ AMERICA!
And then I layer them. It doesn’t have to be perfect but you’ll end up with the most beautiful layered interior EVER. Of course, you don’t have to do this. You could slice them up, and just throw them into the pie. I will not judge you, I swear, I would never do that to you, do you believe me?
And again, this is OPTIONAL.
And then I roll out the second half of dough and slice it up into thicker pieces so I can make a lattice.
You know how everyone always tells you not to re-roll the scraps? I say that’s absurd. I say butter, sugar and flour should be re-roll, Depression-era style.
And plus, you’ll need all if to make a lattice. It’s a win-win.
I like to prep my lattice so I know I have enough slices. Do you see that boo-boo on one of the strips? That’s me severing two pieces of dough together. A bit of water helps. When this is baked you won’t be able to tell.
I lattice. I trim the edges, making sure to leave about 1/2-inch all the way around, this way I can tuck it all under and have a good amount of dough to crimp.
Also, there will be shrinkage! Having that extra bit of dough helps prepare for that.
I brush it with egg wash. So important. The egg is what gives it that beautiful color. Really nothing else can replace it. No milk. No water. No buttermilk. Nothing. You need egg.
And then I sprinkle the entire pie with turbinado sugar. If you don’t want to buy a whole bag, steal those little packets of SUGAR IN THE RAW from Starbucks. I won’t tell.
It gives it that sparkle. That “shine bright like a diamond” quality.
And then, I stick it in the freezer for a good 30 minutes. While it’s chilling out, I preheat the oven to 400F.
After it’s baked, I allow it to cool completely. If you have shitty self-discipline then go ahead and slice it, but it will be gooey.
There are worse things in the world than pie that doesn’t hold up, so I say go for it!
Oh and I almost forgot, if you need a visual guide for the pie crust, here is Pie Crust 101.

Classic Apple Pie
PrintIngredients
Double Pie Crust:
- 2 1/2 cups 312.5g all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon 15g white granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon 7g fine-grain sea salt
- 2 sticks, 226g cold unsalted butter (straight from the fridge)
- 3/4 cups very cold water, divided
Apple Pie Filling:
- Juice from 1 lemon
- 2 small honey crisp apples, halved and cored (you could also use ALL honey crisp or pink lady)
- 1 Granny Smith apple, halved and cored
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg, beaten (for egg wash)
- 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar, for topping (optional)
Directions
To Make the Pie Crust:
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and salt. Using a box grater, grate the cold butter atop the flour mixture. Working quickly, and using your hands, break the butter bits into the flour until they’re evenly distributed and resemble the size of small peas. Add a 50% of the recommended water and mix. The mixture will be shaggy at this point. From here, add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until the dough comes together. I like to knead it a few times in the bowl so it comes together a bit.
- Flour your counter and dump the dough onto it. Knead a few times more until it comes together. Slice the dough into two, forming two discs. Wrap the discs in plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator to chill for at least 1 hour, ideally overnight.
To Make the Apple Pie Filling:
- You're welcome to peel your apples. This is optional. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. You choose! Core and slice your apples into 1/4-inch pieces. OR, you can use a mandolin and slice them very thinly. Squeeze in the lemon juice, being sure to catch any seeds.
- Add the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt; toss until the apples are evenly coated.
To Assemble the Apple Pie:
- Remove the first disc of dough from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes. Liberally flour your work surface and rolling pin. Begin to roll the dough, being sure to rotate it every so often to avoid sticking, to a 13-inch round. Wrap the dough around the rolling pin and unroll it over the pie tin. Gently fit the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the pie tin. Trim the dough around the pie tin, leaving about a 1-inch overhang. Recombine the scraps and set them aside. We’ll use them for the lattice. Transfer the pie shell to the refrigerator while you roll out the second disc.
- Remove the second disc from the fridge and repeat the rolling process. Using a knife, cut the dough into 1 to 2 inch strips, depending on how thick you want the lattice to be. I usually cut as many 1 1/2-inch strips as I can. Reroll the scraps you have set aside, too, you’ll need all of the pie dough. (If at any time your pie dough becomes too soft, transfer to a cutting board and put in the fridge to chill so it’s easier to work with.)
- I work slowly when making a pie so often times I'll need to transfer these pie dough strips to a cutting board and stick them in the freezer to firm up a bit. The freezer is your friend!
- Fill your pie shell with the apple filling. If you cut the apples in 1/4-inch slices, you can pour them into the pie crust. If you've used your mandolin, then you can layer them in a circular pattern. You'll notice in the picture above that there was a gap in the center - fill that gap with the few odds and end pieces of apple you saved.
- Lay out 5 to 7 strips of pie dough on top of the filling, leaving about 1/2-inch of space in between them. Lay the remainder of your strips running perpendicular. This will give you a good idea of how it will go. Next, fold back every strip. Start one at the top, running horizontally. and weave it under and over, rotating, each strip running vertically. Repeat this process until you’ve worked your way through every strip. If my directions are confusing, go to Youtube. The videos on there are super easy to follow. Much easier than written instructions!
- Trim the edges of the strips, being sure to leave about 1-inch overhand. Going all the way around, tuck the edges under. To make a pronounced crimp, like you see pictured, set your thumb on the outside edge of the crust. With your opposite pointer and thumb fingers, create a v, and push the two together. Repeat this process all the way around the pie crust.
- Transfer to the freezer to chill for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Brush the entire pie, liberally, with egg wash and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Transfer the pie to a baking sheet and place in the oven to for 25 to 30 minutes, until the edges are just lightly brown. Turn the heat down to 325 degrees F and bake for another 30-40 minutes, until the edges and are golden brown.
- Be sure to check on it intermittently, if at any time the pie crust begins to turn too dark, use foil to cover those areas to stop browning. Allow to stand for at least an hour so it can firm up before slicing--it'll still be slightly warm. Serve with whipped cream and/or ice cream.
60 Comments
You made me think..what would my legacy be.. Oh, I think I would like something similar like yours 🙂 and a slice of apple pie, please!
Oh man…that crust! This pie looks beyond gorgeous.
#1 – YES. SUCH an emotional week. Between Isis and Ebola and the kids in Missouri, it is just non-stop pain from the news. AND everyone has a cold/flu.
#2 – the cotton branches (right?) in the photos. STUNNING.
#3 – you will be an outstanding Grandma. Old jewelry always just gets reset/melted down anyway.
Yes cotton branches! LOVE THEM x a million.
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Um YES I want to be a pie baking grandma too, loveeee. Also, your styling is on POINT with this one, werk it girl.
Thanks girlfriend! x
LOL I love your grandma legacy dream …. mine I’m sure will be similar — hopefully my grandchildren ( I don’t even have kids yet … by the way lol) will appreciate my recipes and their ‘treasure’ mehh – only time will tell.
This honestly looks like the perfect pie 🙂
That apple pie looks amazing! I love that perfectly golden hue of the crust 🙂
There’s nothing quite like a classic apple pie!
Just awesome. I love this post and this pie — perfection. (And yesss for psychotic mandolining!)
I’m not really a cake person (there, I said it!). I find cake is often too dry. But pie…just pie. It’s so good and the old classics are the ultimate treat. The photography in this post is so beautiful too! Great post!
Great recipe for this classic dish!
Looks delicious…pinning it and will make for Thanksgiving….and yes we have lots of hills here in WI :))))))
Looks incredible. Delicious. Love the dough stripes.
This sounds really good, but I think the recipe ingredients are combined with what you need to make the pastry crust, which isn’t detailed unless you follow the Pie Crust 101 link? The pie filling would start with the lemon juice, yes?
Yes, yes, you’re so right. Fixed now!
Wow, combining honey crisp and Granny Smith? Never would have thought if that combination. Those are my two favorite kinds. Now I need to try it ASAP!
That is my exact ranking of apples too. I barely even mess with non-honey crisp apples anymore.
Have you ever tried buttermilk for your pie crusts? Joy (the Baker of course) is always replacing her water with buttermilk and it totally intrigues me!
So gorgeous, that lattice is perfection!
lovely looking pie! will be saving this recipe and your helpful dough tips
another thing that is lovely though, is that cutlery (last 2 images)!!
would you care to share the brand of it? would appreciate it very much!
Yes, of course, it’s from West Elm!
http://www.westelm.com/products/gold-flatware-c698/?pkey=e|gold%2Bflatware|3|best|0|1|24||1&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_-NoMerchRules
Looks amazing! I’ve never left the apple unpeeled before but would love to forgo that step if it doesn’t make a difference.
Your crust is gorgeous. Had no idea that layering the apples would make for such a beautiful slice.
This pie looks too good to eat! Delicious
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So beautiful! You can’t beat pie!
I am a huge pie lover and I’ve never even thought about what it looks like when you cut into it. I guess I’m just too focussed on shovelling it in to my mouth as quickly as possible ;). Yours has a major wow factor though and I love that!
I totally feel you on the legacy. I hope for much of the same!! I might need to brush up on my pie skillz though.
The lattice work of the pie crust is beautiful.
Definitely it is very awesome. I actually put a few slices of apple in there.
Thank you for this recipe! I followed your steps closely, even mandolining the apples (and hence my index finger). Pink Lady for sweetness and Granny Smith for tartness was a great combination. The taste was absolutely classic apple pie, it was perfect :).
Oh yay! LOVE THIS!
What an amazing legacy your apple pie will be! I am actually eating an apple (Ambrosia) while I read this! Would be much better in a pie….
This pie looks amazing! One question: would I be able to make this pie and leave it in the freezer to bake the next day?
Yes! You can assemble this, cover with plastic wrap and put it in the oven the next day. You may need a bit longer on the lower temperature for the thawing of the apples but it should work just great!
That lattice is gorgeous! I often make mine more loose so that you can see the filling, but now I want to make a closer knit version like this. We just went apple hunting, as the kids called it, this weekend. I see a pie or three in my very near future.
Adrianna I would love to be your grandchild. You have personality, style and definately big heart. Hugs.
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I notice when you layer the apples there’s an empty space in the middle of the pan. Is that correct? Should that be filled up or just left open? I’m making this pie tomorrow–can’t wait!
I actually put a few slices of apple in there. Like odds and end pieces! Let me add that little tidbit in the recipe itself.
[…] Over the holidays I plan to do a lot of baking. For Thanksgiving, my family and I made homemade pies. This was my first attempt at making pie completely from scratch, crust and all! I had some help from a great blog post http://acozykitchen.com/a-classic-apple-pie/. […]
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Definitely your classic apple pie are awesomeness! This is a great recipe, as you know I made it a short while ago and it was lovely, in fact have made it again since. Thanks for sharing!
[…] based off this very simple rendition from acozykitchen (she makes lovely cakes too!) Yields one 9-inch pie All […]
I bookmarked this for Thanksgiving. This with vanilla ice cream sounds heavenly right about now..
Thanks for sharing Adrianna.
This classic apple pie just looks SO incredibly delicious and I am so craving a slice right now!
[…] Source: A Cozy Kitchen […]
Question: if you freeze and bake it off the next day, are the baking times and temps the same?
the baking temp is the same but the baking time would probably be about 10 minutes more. i would just keep an eye on it and see how long it takes.
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AMAZING! I’m trying this recipe out for this Thanksgiving – super excited!
Just had two questions, sorry if there silly-
Can I use earth balance (vegan) butter?
Does Unbleached all purpose flour work the same as an regular all purpose flour?
Thank you!
unfortunately you’ll have to use a vegan pie dough recipe. i didn’t test this with that type of butter, which is really just oil, so not sure. and yes that’s the same flour! 🙂