Appeltaart (Dutch Apple Pie)
This deep-dish appeltaart features a shortbread crust with lattice top, filled to the brim with spiced apple pie filling and plump raisins.
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Equipment
- 8 or 9 inch Springform Pan with Removable Bottom (3 inches high)
Ingredients
Filling
- 5 lbs Granny Smith and Honey Crisp apples
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- ½ cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- ⅔ cup raisins
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Crust
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 ½ sticks (10 oz) unsalted butter, cold
- 1 large egg
Instructions
Filling
- Peel, core and thinly slice the apples. In a large stock pot, combine the sliced apples with the rest of the filling ingredients.
- Bring the apples to a simmer over medium low heat. Continue to cook the apples, stirring frequently to ensure the bottom layer of apples doesn't stick to the pot or scorch. You need to cook the apples fairly slowly until they've cooked down and become very soft, and the liquid at the bottom is thick and syrupy. If the liquid gets too thick or evaporates too quickly, add some water, a teaspoon at a time. This process may take about 30 minutes.
- Set the filling aside to cool for 30 minutes while you work on the dough for the crust.
Crust
- In your food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, brown sugar and salt to combine.
- Cut the butter into chunks, and with the food processor running, drop the butter in one piece at a time, until the mixture is moist and crumbly. Once all the butter is added, add the egg, and continue running the food processor until the dough comes together.
- Dump the dough out onto a clean counter, knead in any stray bits of flour, wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Assembly and Bake
- Preheat the oven to 375 F, and position a rack in the lower third of your oven. This is a very tall, deep-dish pie, and you'll need an 8 or 9 inch springform pan with a removable bottom and a depth of 3 inches.
- Before rolling out the dough, note that this dough is very "short" and can easily tear apart. If it's chilled too long, it will just crumble and will not roll out smoothly, which can be very frustrating. If this happens, warm it in the microwave on 50% power for 30 seconds so it has a more pliable consistency (like play doh).
- Take 2/3 of the dough, and on a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to just under 1/4 inch thick. You don't need to try to transfer the bottom crust to the pan in one big piece. Just take pieces of dough and press them firmly against the bottom and sides of the pan, piecing them together as you go. Cover the bottom and sides of the pan completely, all the way up to the top edge of the pan.
- Now spread the cooled apple filling into the crust.
- Roll out the remaining 1/3 of the dough to just under 1/4 inch thick, then cut strips to make a lattice pattern on top of the apples. Again, don't get too precious with this; you're sure to break or tear some of the strips, and this is simply the nature of this dough. If you have any leftover dough, you can roll it out again and cut little decorative cutouts to arrange on top.
- Set the pan on top of a baking sheet to catch any drips. Bake the pie for about 55-75 minutes on the lower oven rack. The pie is done when the crust is golden brown AND the apple filling is bubbling with slow, thick bubbles. If the crust is getting too dark before the filling is bubbling, you can cover it loosely with a piece of aluminum foil.
Cooling
- Set the appeltaart on a cooling rack and let cool for 20 minutes.
- Run a sharp knife around the edges to ensure the crust isn't sticking to the pan, then release and remove the sides of the pan.
- Let cool completely before cutting into slices. To speed this up, set the pie, still on the base of the pan, in the refrigerator to cool and set up more quickly.
Notes
Store leftover pie in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
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