Dutch Apple Pie
Our best Dutch apple pie recipe requires a bit of extra work, but it is a foolproof recipe that is sure to please. It features a buttery crust, perfectly spiced apples and a golden streusel topping – and the results taste just as good as they look.
- Nutritional Analysis
- Per Serving
- Serving Size
- 1 of 8 servings
- Calories
- 767
- Total Fat
- 41 g
- Saturated Fat
- 22 g
- Carbohydrates
- 94 g
- Dietary Fiber
- 6 g
- Sugar
- 45 g
- Protein
- 8 g
- Cholesterol
- 115 mg
- Sodium
- 167 mg
Article by: Krissy Downey
Our Dutch apple pie stands out with its irresistible, crunchy streusel topping. Sweet, buttery and crisp, the topping is what elevates this classic apple pie to the next level. While this recipe requires a bit of extra effort and attention to detail, the payoff is undeniable – think bakery-quality dessert the crowd will go crazy for. With its warm, spiced apple filling and golden, crumbly finish, this pie strikes the perfect balance of comfort and sophistication, making it a wonderful addition to any gathering in any season.
What Makes Dutch Apple Pie Dutch?
While there are many interpretations, our version of a Dutch apple pie is essentially an apple crumb pie, meaning the bottom layer is a pie dough, followed by the apple filling and topped with a crumbly streusel topping. A traditional American apple pie has pie dough between both layers of filling, often with some sort of design or cutouts on the top layer. The Dutch version, however, has a simple-yet-delicious crumb topping made of flour, sugar salt, butter and, in our case, walnuts.
The Best Apple Varieties to Use for the Filling
The best Dutch apple pie apples are baking apples, which are varieties that hold their shape and flavor even after being baked. They have a firm texture, so they don’t turn mushy, and they often have a flavor that is well balanced between sweet and tart. The sweetness mellows while it bakes, but that sweetness is pronounced enough to cut the tartness of the apples as well. When baked, tart fruit enhances the flavor of any fruit-forward dessert. In our best Duch apple pie recipe, we prefer Golden Delicious, Cortland and Mutsu apples, which are all excellent baking apples.
Can I Use Storebought Pie Dough?
If you’re really in a pinch, you can absolutely use store bought pie dough for the bottom layer. We can’t promise it’ll be as flaky, golden and buttery as our homemade dough, but it will still get the job done.
How to Make Dutch Apple Pie Like a Pro
Refrigerate the dough thoroughly. This step is essential. Chilling the butter helps form those flaky layers when baking, and refrigeration also helps relax the gluten, making the dough much easier to roll out and less likely to shrink. This step is one of those little things that will give your baked goods a professional quality.
Toss the apples in lemon juice. The acid in the lemons helps bring out the natural sugars in the apples, creating a beautiful liquid to coat the apples as well as bright flavor.
Simmer the apples before baking. Our Dutch apple pie recipe calls for simmering the apples with sugar, lemon juice and butter to help extract all the flavor of the apples, as well as create a syrup-like liquid. We take it a step further by reducing the liquid until it is caramelized and then tossing it with spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. This process makes the apples utterly delicious, resulting in a truly special Dutch apple pie.
Don’t overmix the streusel topping. We want the crumb on this pie to be chunky and crunchy, with large, buttery crumbs. Be sure not to over mix the flour and sugar into the butter; keep some larger chunks in there. If you overmix it into the texture of sand, you’ll lose the crumb that sets this pie apart from the rest.
Give the streusel an extra crunch. We make our streusel topping extra special and crunchy by adding walnuts to it. The texture is a welcome accompaniment to the soft apples, and the nutty flavor intensifies the taste of the apples.
How to Store Dutch Apple Pie
Since the filling doesn’t have any dairy in it, this pie will keep, tightly covered with plastic wrap, at room temperature, for one day. For longer storage, cover it with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to four days. To reheat, let it come to room temperature and put it in the oven for about ten minutes.
Dutch Apple Pie
- Level: Intermediate
- Total: 7 hr 30 min (includes chilling and cooling times)
- Active: 1 hr 30 min
- Yield: 6 to 8 servings
-
- Nutritional Analysis
- Per Serving
- Serving Size
- 1 of 8 servings
- Calories
- 767
- Total Fat
- 41 g
- Saturated Fat
- 22 g
- Carbohydrates
- 94 g
- Dietary Fiber
- 6 g
- Sugar
- 45 g
- Protein
- 8 g
- Cholesterol
- 115 mg
- Sodium
- 167 mg
- Level: Intermediate
- Total: 7 hr 30 min (includes chilling and cooling times)
- Active: 1 hr 30 min
- Yield: 6 to 8 servings
-
- Nutritional Analysis
- Per Serving
- Serving Size
- 1 of 8 servings
- Calories
- 767
- Total Fat
- 41 g
- Saturated Fat
- 22 g
- Carbohydrates
- 94 g
- Dietary Fiber
- 6 g
- Sugar
- 45 g
- Protein
- 8 g
- Cholesterol
- 115 mg
- Sodium
- 167 mg
Ingredients
Dough:
Filling:
Streusel Topping:
Directions
- For the dough: Pulse the flour, granulated sugar and salt in a food processor until combined. Add the butter, and pulse until the mixture resembles yellow cornmeal mixed with pea-sized bits of butter. Add the egg, and pulse until the dough just comes together. (If the dough is very dry, add up to 1 tablespoon cold water.) Remove the dough, gently pat it into a round, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.
- For the filling: Meanwhile, put the lemon juice in a medium bowl. Peel and core the apples; cut each in half, and cut each half into 4 wedges. Add the apples and granulated sugar to the bowl with the lemon juice, and toss.
- Melt the butter over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add the sugared apples, and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to simmer, about 2 minutes. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the apples soften and release most of their juices, about 7 minutes.
- Strain the apples in a colander over a medium bowl to catch all the juice. Shake the colander to extract as much liquid as possible. Return the juice to the skillet, and simmer over medium heat until it has thickened and lightly caramelized, about 10 minutes.
- Toss the apples with the thickened juice, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg in a medium bowl. Set aside to cool completely. (The cooled filling can be refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 6 months.)
- For the streusel topping: Whisk the flour, sugar and salt together in a medium bowl. Add the butter, and rub it into the flour mixture with your fingers until it has been absorbed. Mix in the walnuts.
- To assemble and bake the pie: Position a rack in the lower third of the oven, place a baking sheet on it and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough disk into a 12-inch circle. Layer it between pieces of parchment or wax paper on a baking sheet, and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes.
- Ease the dough round into a 9-inch pie pan. Fold and crimp the edges as desired. Add the filling, and spread it out to make an even layer. Squeeze handfuls of the streusel topping, and drop clumps of it on top of the filling to completely cover it.
- Bake the pie on the preheated baking sheet until the crust and streusel are golden brown, 50 to 60 minutes. Let it cool on a cooling rack for at least 3 hours before serving. (The pie keeps well, covered, at room temperature for 24 hours or refrigerated for up to 4 days.)
