Who doesn’t love homemade pies and that too ones filled with extra goodness of apples and spices like cinnamon- Yes we are talking about homemade egg-less Apple Pies! Doesn’t the name activate your bile glands!

As we all know, home bake products come with extra goodness, flavor, hygiene, customization and most importantly self-appreciation. And yes! They are pocket friendly too. If you start baking all the products at home, you’d save more than 50% spent on your food. So, it’s worth a try!

Spices are really good for health and leave a lovely flavor to the product. It’s a really good getaway for those looking for healthier options. So for you all, we have recommendations of various spices that you could incorporate in your bakes for a healthier indulgence. Apples pies usually involve combining cinnamon as apples & cinnamon give a very sweet and appetizing flavor

For our homemade egg-less apple pie,We’ve just used cinnamon and nutmeg, which are all time favorites; you could choose any other spice. Combining the taste of pies and goodness of spice is the best invention till date. So go on, try out the unexplored flavors and maybe you find the best taste for you.

The main creative part of any pie is the cover. In this recipe, we make a net; you could shape it according to your preference. There many of them like flower, vintage full cover, ribbon like and what not.

Next, pies can have numerous fillings, this one is a classic apple pie which is really yummy and has all the goodness of cinnamon and nutmeg.

Prep Time: 45mins (including refrigeration)

Baking Time: 40-50mins

Ingredients:

for CRUST

2 ¹/₂ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon sugar

¹/₂ teaspoon salt

¹/₂ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¹/₄ teaspoon ground nutmeg

³/₄ cup cold butter, cut into chunks

6 to 9 tablespoons cold water

for FILLING

¹/₂ cup sugar

¹/₄ cup firmly packed brown sugar

¹/₄ cup all-purpose flour

¹/₂ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¹/₂ teaspoon ground nutmeg

6 medium (6 cups) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored, sliced 1/4-inch

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon sugar

Time to get started:

• STEP 1

Combine 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon sugar, salt, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg in bowl. Cut in 3/4 cup butter, with a pastry blender or fork mix until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make sure butter doesn’t melt. You might have to use Ice bath in hot weather and avoid using hands as body heat might melt the butter and it will not retain the coarse texture. Add water just enough to put it together in the form of a hard dough.

• STEP 2

Divide dough in half; shape each half into ball. Flatten slightly. Wrap each ball of dough in plastic food wrap; refrigerate 30 minutes. Refrigeration is important to give a rest to dough and reduce the natural heat created while kneading.

• STEP 3

Preheat oven to 400°F. This step is really important, as it can lead to one of the most common baking mistakes.

• STEP 4

Roll out one ball of dough on lightly floured surface into a circle. Fold into quarters. Place dough into greased 9-inch (or a size big enough to suite you) pie plate; unfold dough, pressing firmly against bottom and sides. Make sure no air bubbles are left under the dough and you don’t push too strongly to make the dough uneven. Trim crust to 1/2 inch from edge of pie plate; set aside.

• STEP 5

Combine all filling ingredients except apples, 1 tablespoon butter and 1 teaspoon sugar in bowl. Add apples; heat and toss lightly to coat. Don’t overcook the filling as it would also be baked with the pie later. Put a spoonful of apple mixture into prepared crust.

• STEP 6

Roll remaining ball of dough. Cut strips of dough; remember these shouldn’t be broader than an inch. Place these strips on the pie in a manner that it forms a net. Gently press sides to seal. Brush with melted 1 tablespoon butter; sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar. Cover edge of crust with 2-inch strip aluminum foil.

• STEP 7

Bake 35 minutes; remove foil. Continue baking 10-20 minutes or until crust is lightly browned and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust. The juice should be such that can be easily absorbed by the pie or evaporated without making the pie soggy. Cool pie 30 minutes; serve warm. Store refrigerated.

In case you need further assistance, here are some few things that you might want to review before starting with the pie.

CHEAT SHEET

• Burnt pie? If you want to avoid your homemade apple pie from burning or want to bake it perfectly, the best place is bottom rack. This gives a nice brown color to the top and well-cooked bottom. Also, there are lesser chances of burning the top here.
• Too soft a dough might get torn while you add the filling- While making the dough, make sure butter doesn’t melt. You might have to use Ice bath in hot weather and avoid using hands as body heat might melt the butter and it will not retain the coarse texture. Just incase your butter melted before you read this, refreeze it and get going!
• Soggy bottom! Prick your uncooked pie with a fork. This step is helpful to release air and make your pie bottoms nice and lovely.
• Water could be released from pie when baking and make it a complete watery mess. To avoid this, add flour to the filling or nuts which thickens it and leaves less chances of a watery apple pie.
• Bland apple pie! As it has a lot of dough, the flavors might taste bland, so add the ingredients on the higher side.
• Always give time to the product to cool down and take its shape and flavors in place. All of your efforts would crumble down.
• Never overfill the pie crust else it will ooze out on heating and make your pie soggy and watery.
• Always use fresh ingredients rather than canned ones. The flavor of fresh ingredients is much better than that of those canned, unhealthy ones.

To conclude, make it with love and enjoy the whole journey of making it from scratch; you’ll realize that the end product would automatically be a perfect satisfaction! For first timers, it might seem very complex but you got to start from somewhere, so why not with this classic?

These homemade egg-less apple pies would totally remind you of your granny and you’ll realize that how much love is put in these pies. Hey! Why not gift one of these to her…