Recipes Dutch Apple Pie

This Dutch Apple Pie is my all-time favorite apple pie! Made with a flaky homemade pie crust, a deliciously flavorful apple pie filling and it’s finished with a sweet and buttery streusel crumb topping. Pie doesn’t get any better than this!

So what’s the difference between a Dutch, French or American style apple pie? The typical American apple pies are all flakey, butter or shortening crust based, with a crust enclosing the apple filling both above and beneath. While Dutch apple pie is typically covered in a sweet crumb topping or covered in a lattice, and a French apple pie comes in several variations made with an egg based cookie-like pastry dough, a puff pastry dough or a crumb topping. French apple pie also commonly contains raisins in the filling.

Did you know the first apple pie dates back to a recipe recorded in England in 1381 (source)? It included apples, pears, raisins, figs and saffron. Looks like this dessert has evolved quite a bit, coming in many variations around the globe. But I think it’s a timeless dessert that will stick around for many more centuries to come. It’s just that good!

Easy Dutch Apple Pie

And the first authentic Dutch apple pie dates back to a cookbook from the year 1514 (source). It was baked in a Dutch oven pan, made with a standard pie crust, soft apples and lots of spices. It also included what we would now view as an odd method: removing top pie crust partway through baking and pressing the baked pie filling through a sieve, then stirring the pie with a wooden spoon and adding cream and baking to dry. How pie has changed!

My modern Dutch apple pie obviously is not the same as that very first recipe but it is easily one of the best pies I’ve ever tasted! Every time I serve it it gets so many compliments. Perfection in every layer!

For the very best pie I highly highly recommend a homemade crust. But if you insist a store-bought crust will work too but the partial blind baking instructions can vary, just follow the guide on the package.

Smoked Apple Pie

This pie does keep well for 2 days. I highly recommend reheating slices (just a short time in the microwave) before serving with cold ice cream.

If you’d like to serve the pie a few hours after baking but want some prep to be done the day before you can prepare the crust and blind bake the day before (store in the fridge then bring to room temp and fill) and you can also prep the crumble topping the day before and store in the refrigerator.

While I’ve tried many different types of apples in apple pie I’ve narrowed my favorite here down to golden delicious and granny smith. They golden delicious have a delicious apple-y flavor and granny smith hold up the structure of the pie. But if there’s a baking apple you like better you can use it here, just keep in mind some bake up differently than others (as in taking longer to cook through and so forth).

Caramel Dutch Apple Pie

Once pie is cool cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator. You can serve chilled but it will taste best rewarmed briefly in the microwave.

This Dutch Apple Pie is my all-time favorite apple pie! It's starts with a flaky homemade pie crust, then a deliciously flavorful apple pie filling and it's finished with an sweet and buttery streusel crumb topping.the most amazing golden-crisp, buttery crumb streusel topping! This pie is adapted from one of my top recipes, traditional Apple Pie. You are going to love it!

Lately? A giant package arrived in the mail this week, the day before my daughter Valentine’s 5th birthday. Certain grandmas had told me to be expecting something, so I figured this was it and set off to wrap it.

Classic Dutch Apple Pie

(Eric tried to convince me that it was big enough that it didn’t need to be wrapped. Just slap a bow on and call it good. But I mean come on, what could a 5-year-old love more than ripping a ridiculous amount of paper from a present the size of her body??)

So anyway, I wrapped it all up and tied on the ribbon. On Val’s birthday, we face timed grandma to let her in on the fun. She took one look at the wrapped present and said, that’s not what I sent.

Utterly confused, we opened the box to find a beautiful baby play mat. And we even had a moment looking at each other with blank faces, asking, who would think a 5-year-old would be into this baby toy??

Mini Dutch Apple Pies Recipe By Tasty

And ONLY THEN did I remember that just days previously, I had bought the play mat for my cousin, whose baby shower is coming up. And I had even commented to Eric about it. “That present for my cousin hasn’t arrived yet, I’d better check the order.”

You guys! What is it with me! I guess I’ll have to wrap it back up again, for the second time. (There’s no “slapping a bow on it” for a baby shower either, Eric. This is your etiquette tip for the day. There will be a test. Just kidding.)

Tis the season for PIE my friends. I mean I know it’s Thanksgiving and all, but Dutch Apple Pie kind of transcends the holidays, don’t you think?

Dutch Caramel Apple Pie

Raise your hand if you’ve made my Best Homemade Apple Pie? I posted this recipe in fall 2020, and all you Covid hermits went INSANE. I’ve never seen traffic on a recipe like that before. Thousands of people have since made that pie and fallen in love.

I’ve had so many requests over the last year to create a Dutch Apple Pie version of that recipe, and today is the day my friends! The best homemade apple pie, Dutch-ified! But what does that even mean, you ask??

Dutch apple pie, like so many other American traditions, is a combining of cultures. Basically, it’s like traditional Apple Pie (which is French, using pie crust) and Apple Crisp (which is German/Dutch, using streusel on top) got busy and had a pastry-bottomed, crumb streusel-topped baby. A delicious, glorious baby. Business on the bottom, party on the top. Best of both worlds!

Best Apple Crumble Pie Recipe

An apple pie can only be as quality as the apples themselves. Fortunately these days we have access to a massive variety of apples to choose from. These are my most important tips when it comes to apples:

If you like pies a bit more on the tart side, grab a few more Granny Smith. If you like them a bit more sweet, go heavier on the Gala or Golden Delicious. I would avoid Red Delicious (too mushy, and honestly if you don’t like to eat it plain why would you want it in a pie? Are there people who actually still eat Red Delicious??)

Since apples can vary in size, it’s best to weigh them rather than to go by count. However, there are about 3 medium apples in 1 pound. Buy at least 15 to be on the safe side. With the large apples I used, I only needed about 12. If you have leftovers, you have something to snack on while making your pie!

Mini Dutch Apple Pies

Cook your apple pie filling. My last tip is kind of super duper important: COOK YOUR APPLES. So many apple pie recipes add raw sliced apples to a pie shell, and bake a long time so the apples soften in the oven. I’ve tried this lots of times, and just don’t love it.

For one, you risk under baking your apples. Does anyone else hate this as much as I do? Say no to crunchy apple pie! That is the absolute worst!

Secondly, apples have a lot of water, and all that water ends up in your pie if you don’t cook some of it off first. This means your apple pie is not as flavorful.

Authentic Dutch Apple Pie (appeltaart)

I tested this pie twice: the first one with uncooked apples and the second one with cooked apples. The raw apple pie definitely had less flavor. It was bland guys. I mean, still a passable apple pie, just nothing to write home about.

The pie with the cooked filling, on the other hand, had a darker, deeper flavor. It was almost caramel-y, and there was more sauce in the filling. There’s no chance of under-baking, and the flavor is INCREDIBLE.

I know it’s inconvenient to cook the filling (even more inconvenient when I tell you that you’re going to have to cool that filling before adding it to the pie) but hey, you didn’t sign up to make an apple pie because you needed a quick dessert, did you? Take the extra 20 minutes to cook the filling. You won’t regret it!

Dutch Apple Pie (best Ever Recipe)

Here’s how I slice my apples. You can usea mandolinif you want, but be sure to use a metal glove. Those suckers are sharp!

Keep slicing around the core until you have these segments. Then slice to about 1/8 inch. You can slice thicker than that if you like (you may have to cook longer), but I love thin apples in my