Dutch Apple Pie

Sweet-tart apples, warm spices, and a buttery crumble topping on a flaky crust.

📝 Ingredients

Apple Filling

• 5 lbs apples (Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious)

• Juice of ½ lemon

• ¼ tsp lemon zest

• ½ cup brown sugar

• ½ cup granulated sugar

• ⅓ cup all-purpose flour

• ½ tsp kosher salt

• 1½ tsp cinnamon

• ¾ tsp nutmeg

• ½ tsp cardamom (optional but amazing)

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Crumb Topping

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour

• ⅓ cup granulated sugar

• ¾ cup packed brown sugar

• ½ tsp kosher salt

• ¾ cup unsalted butter, melted

Crust

• 1 homemade or store-bought pie crust, fitted in a 9-inch pie dish

👩‍🍳 Instructions

1️⃣ Cook the Apple Filling

1. Peel, core, and slice apples to ⅛ inch thick.

2. In a large skillet, combine apples, lemon juice & zest, both sugars, flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom.

3. Cover and cook over medium heat 20 min, stirring occasionally, until tender but not mushy.

4. Stir in vanilla. Spread on a sheet pan to cool completely (30 min in freezer or 2 hrs at room temp).

2️⃣ Make the Crumble

1. In a bowl, whisk flour, sugars, and salt.

2. Pour melted butter over mixture; stir gently until it looks like wet sand with some clumps.

3. Chill until ready to use.

3️⃣ Prep the Crust

1. Roll out dough into pie dish, crimp edges.

2. Chill crust in freezer 30 min.

3. Preheat oven to 425°F with a pizza stone or baking sheet inside.

4️⃣ Assemble & Bake (First Round)

1. Add cooled apple filling to crust.

2. Sprinkle 1 cup crumb topping over apples.

3. Bake at 425°F for 15 min.

5️⃣ Add Remaining Topping

1. Reduce oven to 350°F and bake 10 min more.

2. Remove pie, sprinkle remaining crumble, and cover crust edges with foil.

3. Bake 25–35 min until topping is golden.

6️⃣ Cool & Serve

• Let cool at room temp for 4 hrs before slicing.

• Serve with vanilla ice cream or salted caramel sauce.

💡 Tip: For extra flavor, toast the crumble mixture in the oven for 5 minutes before topping the pie.

If you’d like, I can also give you a make-ahead freezer version so you can prep this pie in advance for holidays. Would you like me to do that?