A Dutch apple pie is also known as apple crumble pie. A buttery, flaky, homemade pie crust with an apple pie filling. And, topped with a buttery crumble topping. That's making a classic apple pie even better.
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Is there anything better than apple pie? Well, I do love the classic apple pie, and yet, I also have a soft spot for crumble.
Last year, I wanted to make something different from the classic. So, we made the apple crumble tart, which was a huge hit. This year, I wanted to make something similar, so I decided to make this Dutch apple pie. They are similar, but the tart is made with tart crust while my pie is made with pie crust.
What is a dutch apple pie?
Without going deep into history, a Dutch apple pie is basically an apple pie but with a crumble top rather than the classic double pie crust. This is good news for those who don't like working with pie crust and even better for those who love crumbles.
About this pie
This is a simple and easy recipe that can be made ahead of time. Therefore, it's the perfect dessert for festive days like Thanksgiving and Christmas. This means you can make the pie a day or two ahead, so you have enough time for meal preparations.
There are three components to making this pie. Two of these can be made ahead of time.
- The pie crust - I am using my homemade pie crust. But, you can certainly use a ready-to-roll store-bought crust. In the video, I am using a food processor to make the crust, and yet, you can also make pie crust by hand as I showed in my previous video.
Also, I like to partially bake my pie crust shell before I add the filling. This ensures a nice crispy shell along with my apple pie. And, while pre-baking is optional, I highly recommend you try it. It makes a huge difference. - The apple filling - You have to make the apple pie filling just before you are ready to bake the tart. But it's a very simple filing, which involves cleaning and cutting the apples, then, adding all the rest of the ingredients in. It took me about 10 minutes, at most.
- The crumble top - A crumble topping takes as little as five minutes to make. This can be made a few days in advance and kept in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
The timeline for making this pie
- Prepare pie crust - 10 mins
- Chill pie crust - 15 mins
- Roll and partially bake crust - 20 mins
- Prepare the filling - 10 mins
- Bake the pie - 40 to 45 mins
- Cool the pie - 30 mins (don't skip this)
Ingredients and substitutes
- Apple - What are the best apples for apple pie? I like to use a combination of at least two types apples when making an apple pie. Granny Smith apples are slightly tart and hold their shape well even after they are cooked soft and tender. For the second variety, I like to use either Fuji, Gala, or Honeycrisp.
- Sugar - I like the hint of caramel flavor that the molasses in the brown sugar adds to the apples. That said, I don't want it to be a caramel apple pie, use light-brown sugar, not dark brown.
- Spice - I've used cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground ginger. You can also use pumpkin spice.
- Lemon juice - While granny smith apples are sour, we need a little lemon juice to keep the apples from oxidizing as well as to cut into the sweetness of the pie.
Step by step instructions (pin)
Crumble topping
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, spices, and salt.
- Add the chilled cubed butter. Use a fork, pastry blender, or your fingertips to cut the butter.
- Squish the butter and flour between your fingers until you have a fine breadcrumb consistency.
- Place the bowl in the refrigerator to keep the crumble chilled.
Pie crust
- Add the flour, salt, sugar, and butter to the food processor.
- Pulse a few times until you have bread crumb consistency.
- Pour the chilled water through the feeder tube while the processor is on. The mixture will still be crumbly, but do not add more water.
- Pour on a clean work surface and gather all the crumbs into a ball.
- Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour.
- Dust the work board with flour. Open the dough and roll carefully so it does not crack too much.
Tip - if the dough cracks too much, means its too cold. Let it sit out for 5 to 7 minutes. - Use your pie pan as a guide to know how big you need it.
- When you reach the desired size, transfer the dough to the pie pan.
- Gently fit it to the pie pan, especially in the bottom edges. Cut the excess from the edges leaving a ½ inch for crimping.
- Fold the excess under so you have a pretty round edge.
- Crimp the edge by forming a V shape with your thumb and index finger.
- Let cool in the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven at 390 F/ 200 C.
- Line the pie with parchment paper, then, fill the center with pie weights or baking beans.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Then, remove the pie weights and parchment paper and bake another 10 minutes (total 20 minutes) - Set aside.
Tip - 20 minutes is not enough to cook the pie crust: it's just enough to ensure it has a nice crispy start.
Apple pie filling
- Peel, core, and chop apples into thin slices about ⅛ inch (see video).
- Add the lemon juice as you cut to prevent the apples oxidizing.
- Next, add the spices, salt, and sugar – combine well.
- Finally, add the flour – combine well.
Assemble
- Gently pour the apple filling in the partially baked crust. Do this in three batches to help the apples settle in.
Tip - shake the pan and move the apples around. This will prevent big air pockets and it looks nicer when baked. - Next, top the apples with the chilled crumble top. It will look like a lot but distribute them evenly.
- Place the pie on a baking tray and into the oven on the center rack.
- Bake for 10 minutes at 390 F / 200 C. Then, reduce the heat to 375 F / 190 C for another 40 to 50 minutes or until golden and crisp on top.
Tip - the initial high heat will prevent the butter in the crumble from melting, which gives a nice crumbly crumb.
- Halfway through baking, if you find the pie is getting too brown, tent with an aluminum foil. I used a pie shield to prevent the crust from getting too brown.
- Cool the tart for at least 30 minutes before slicing. If possible a few hours work best.
Frequently asked questions
This pie will keep at room temperature for about 2 days. You can also keep it in the fridge for up to a week if wrapped well.
Yes, you can use a ready-to-use store-bought pastry. Roll and line the pie pan just as shown in the video. Everything else will remain the same.
Actually pie crust and sweet shortcrust are similar. Pie crust has no sugar added while shortcrust has sugar in it. Considering that we have enough sugar in the apple pie filling, I'd say it's best to use pie crust dough.
Apple pie has a lot of delicious juices and puff pastry will soak it all up. So while puff pastry is a wonderfully rich and buttery pastry it does not work well with this pie filling. The resulting pie will be very soggy.
No, that's not necessary. In this case, I like that the apples are cooked just until they are soft and tender but still hold their shape. Partially cooking the apples will result in a very soft and mushy filling.
That would be a classic apple pie which I have shared before. Please use my recipe and video
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Printable Recipe
Dutch Apple Pie
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Video
Ingredients
Pie crust
- 1 ½ cup (190 g) All-purpose flour
- 4 oz (113 g) Unsalted butter (1 stick, ½ cup) chilled, cubed
- ½ tsp Salt
- 4 tbsp (60 ml) Chilled water
Apple pie filling
- 8 Apples large
- ½ cup (110 g) Brown sugar light
- 4 tbsp All-purpose flour
- ½ tsp Ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp Ground ginger
- ¼ tsp Ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp Salt
- 2 tbsp Lemon juice
Crumble topping
- 8 tbsp Butter (½ cup)
- 1 cup (125 g) All-purpose flour
- ½ cup (110 g) Brown sugar
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Ground ginger
- ¼ tsp Ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp Ground nutmeg
Instructions
Crumble topping
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, spices, and salt.
- Add the chilled cubed butter. Use a fork, pastry blender, or your fingertips to cut the butter.
- Squish the butter and flour between your fingers until you have a fine breadcrumb consistency.
- Place the bowl in the refrigerator to keep the crumble chilled.
Pie crust - 9-inch
- Add the flour, salt, sugar, and butter to the food processor.
- Pulse a few times until you have bread crumb consistency.
- Pour the chilled water through the feeder tube while the processor is on. The mixture will still be crumbly, but do not add more water.
- Pour on a clean work surface and gather all the crumbs into a ball.
- Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour.
- Dust the work board with flour. Open the dough and roll carefully so it does not crack too much.Tip - If the dough cracks too much, means its too cold. Let it sit out for 5 to 7 minutes.
- Use your 9-inch pie pan as a guide to know how big you need it.
- When you reach the desired size, transfer the dough to the pie pan.
- Gently fit it to the pie pan, especially in the bottom edges. Cut the excess from the edges leaving a ½ inch for crimping.
- Fold the excess under so you have a pretty round edge.
- Crimp the edge by forming a V shape with your thumb and index finger.
- Let cool in the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven at 390 F/ 200 C.
- Line the pie with parchment paper, then, fill the center with pie weights or baking beans.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Then, remove the pie weights and parchment paper and bake another 10 minutes (total of 20 minutes) - Set aside.Tip - 20 minutes is not enough to cook the pie crust: it's just enough to ensure it has a nice crispy start.
Apple pie filling
- Peel, core, and chop apples into thin slices about ⅛ inch (see video).
- Add lemon juice as you cut to prevent the apples oxidizing.
- Next, add the spices, salt, and sugar – combine well.
- Finally, add the flour – combine well.
Assemble
- Gently pour the apple filling in the partially baked crust. Do this in three batches to help the apples settle in. Tip - shake the pan and move the apples around. This will prevent big air pockets and it looks nicer when baked.
- Next, top the apples with the chilled crumble top. It will look like a lot but distribute them evenly.
- Place the pie on a baking tray and into the oven on the center rack.
- Bake for 10 minutes at 390 F / 200 C. Then, reduce the heat to 375 F / 190 C for another 40 to 50 minutes or until golden and crisp on top.Tip - the initial high heat will prevent the butter in the crumble from melting, which gives a nice crumbly crumb.
- Halfway through baking, if you find the pie is getting too brown, tent with an aluminum foil. I used a pie shield to prevent the crust from getting too brown.
- Cool the tart for at least 30 minutes before slicing. If possible a few hours work best.
Recipe Notes
- Keep the pie crust cold at all times, starting with the ingredients. Chill the crust for a minimum of an hour before rolling it out.
- Use the right apples for the pie - in this case, we've used a variety of two.
- Prebaking the pie crust will give you a crisp crust that won't soak up all the juices from the apples
- Make the apple pie filling just before you are going to bake it. The longer the apple pie sits outside the more juices it will release. These will make the bottom pie crust soggy.
- Cut the apples into thin slices so there will be less shrinkage. (they still shrink but big chucks make a flat pie).
- Add spice to your apple pie, but do not over spice it. Let the apples shine through and not be drowned with the strong flavors.
- Cook the pie on high for a short time this will ensure the butter in the crumble does not meltÂ
- Let the pie rest so the juices will cool in between the slices not flow down to the bottom.Â
Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
Mirlene
You are making me drool with this pie. Look so good. Bringing in the holiday vibe.
Veena Azmanov
Thanks, Mirlene. I hope you try it
Charla
I have a butch of pink lady apples that I could put to good use and make this recipe. I'm super excited to try it!!
Veena Azmanov
Thanks, Charla. Let me know how it was
Dannii
You can't beat a classic apple pie and this looks fully loaded. YUM!
Veena Azmanov
You must try this one Dannii
Jessie
I love fall because I have a reason for having apple pie, and this one looks amazing!! Looks like I am going to be baking in my near future.
Veena Azmanov
Thanks, Jessie. I hope you try this one