Apple Pie Filling Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the best thickener for apple pie filling? ›

All-purpose flour is an easy solution, as you're sure to have it in your pantry. Since it's lower in starch, you'll use more of it than you would higher-starch thickeners. Quick-cooking tapioca makes filling bright and clear, but also gives it a stippled and somewhat sticky texture.

The exact ratio is up to you. If you prioritize a more puckery pie, use mostly Granny Smiths and toss in a Honeycrisp and a Jonagold. If you like your apples to slump and soften, use mostly Golden Delicious with a Braeburn thrown in.

Skip the Thickener

Adding a few tablespoons of thickener is absolutely necessary to keep your apple pie filling from turning into apple soup. Flour is most commonly used, although it does leave a slight cloud over the filling. Alternatives include cornstarch, quick-cooking tapioca, and apple jelly.

Should you cook the apples before baking apple pie? You don't have to pre-cook the filling before spooning it into the pie crust, but it's a quick step I recommend. Just 5 minutes on the stove begins the softening process, and also helps the flavors start to mingle.

Cornstarch makes for a shiny, glossy filling. A little goes a long way because it has twice the gelling power of flour. Flour thickens nicely but leaves more of a matte finish. You'll need to use twice as much as you would with cornstarch.

Corn starch lends a glossy thickness and adds sheen to the filling while flour adds opacity and some mouthfeel so that it has a sort-of creaminess. With all corn starch the filling reminds me too much of store-bought pies with that gloopy clear gel-like texture and with all flour it can get too lumpy and stodgy.

One of the chief reasons bakers end up with apple soup under the crust is failure to bake their pie long enough. There's almost no such thing as over-baking an apple pie; I've baked apple pies for 2 hours and longer, and they turn out just fine.

If the recipe calls for 6 cups of sliced apples, you'll likely need about 8 medium-sized apples, or about 2 pounds of medium-sized apples. Now go fill your home with the scents of the season and bake the day away.

You do not need to pre-bake a pie crust for an apple pie or any baked fruit pie really, but we do freeze the dough to help it stay put. Pre-baking the pie crust is only required when making a custard pie OR when making a fresh fruit pie.

What apples should not be used for apple pie? ›

There are a few apples that don't make the cut. While great for snacking, Gala, Fuji and Red Delicious are the most common apples that won't hold up in the oven and will give you a watery-mushy pie, tart or cake.

Some say that scattering small bits of butter over a fruit filling keeps the juices from bubbling over in the same way that adding a bit of fat to simmering jam keeps it from foaming up in the preserving pan. The theory is that the fat disrupts the formation of bubbles on the surface of the viscous fruit mixture.

Glass Pie Pan Experiment Results

For texture, it was most comparable to the crust baked in the ceramic pan. Glass takes a long time to conduct heat compared to metal, so you may not achieve as much browning on the bottom and sides of your crust. This is exactly what we found with this crust – minimal browning occurred.

Brush the Bottom with Corn Syrup or Egg White

Coating the inside surface of the bottom crust will create a barrier to prevent sogginess.

Resting gives the starches in the filling a chance to set into a gel that'll hold everything neatly in place, which makes for a nice clean slice of pie. This process takes time.

When thickening a fruit pie filling, there are several options to consider. Very often flour or cornstarch is used, but in certain instances tapioca, arrowroot and potato starch can also help achieve the desired consistency.

All-purpose flour is an easy substitute for cornstarch; in fact you may see recipes for thickening pie fillings or soups with either. You'll need 2 tablespoons of flour for every 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in a recipe.

Instant ClearJel

It can tolerate a range of temperatures (and can even thicken fruit without any heat at all). It's used by many commercial bakeries because it works well with acidic ingredients, has a neutral flavor and creates clear, cloud-free fillings. Pies made with Instant ClearJel can also be frozen.

For my taste, tapioca starch is the best thickener for fruit pies. It sets at a lower temperature than corn starch, has no objectionable flavor like flour and it sets clear, so you can see the color of the fruit better. For stone fruit or berries, I toss in a couple of tablespoons when I macerate the fruit.