English Apple Pie (Cooking Apples Under a Pastry Lid)
Chunks of tart cooking apples with honey, cinnamon and mixed spice piled into a deep pie dish under a single lid of butter shortcrust, glazed with egg and baked hot at 400°F until golden and bubbling.
Apple pie is English. Wikipedia's apple pie article says it was first recorded in 14th-century England, in the Forme of Cury, a cookery roll compiled by the master cooks of King Richard II. Its recipe "For to make Tartys in Applis" is one sentence long in the Project Gutenberg edition: good apples, good spices, figs, raisins and pears, colored well with saffron, put in a "cofyn" (a pastry case) and baked. It names no sugar. Wikipedia adds that it sits among the fasting recipes, that lattice and dome-shaped tops came in the 17th century, and that the English traditionally stewed the apples before baking.
The modern English pie is simpler and sharper. Wikipedia says today's versions are often made with Bramley apples, the English cooking apple, heaped in a dome. This recipe is BBC Good Food's easy family apple pie: chunks of cooking apple, honey and spice in a deep pie dish under a single lid of homemade shortcrust, with no crust underneath. Set it next to an American pie and the second crust is the first thing America added.
🇬🇧 The original
Chunks of tart cooking apples with honey, cinnamon and mixed spice piled into a deep pie dish under a single lid of butter shortcrust, glazed with egg and baked hot at 400°F until golden and bubbling.
🇺🇸 The American version
America made it a tall double-crust pie with a flaky all-butter crust, lots of cinnamon and a lattice or vented top, served warm with vanilla ice cream or a slice of cheddar. See the Classic American Apple Pie (Double Crust) recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
Cooking apples in chunks
Tart cooking apples cut into even chunks soften under the lid in the same 20 to 30 minutes the pastry takes to bake, so nothing has to be cooked first.
One crust on top
With no bottom crust to go soggy, the pastry lid stays crisp and sandy over a deep layer of apples.
Step by step
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C; 350°F or 180°C with a fan). Rub the cold butter into the flour with your fingertips until it looks like fine breadcrumbs.
- Step 2
Add the cold water 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing, until the dough just comes together in a ball. Wrap it and refrigerate while you prepare the apples, or 30 minutes if you have time.
- Step 3
Peel and core the apples and cut them into even chunks so they cook at the same rate. Pile them into a deep pie dish (about 1 1/2 quarts), drizzle with the honey, and add the cinnamon, mixed spice and about 2 tbsp water.
- Step 4
Roll the pastry on a floured counter until it is a little larger than the dish. Lift it over the apples on the rolling pin, trim the excess and press the edges onto the rim to seal. Reroll the scraps into leaves or shapes for the top if you like.
- Step 5
Cut a small slit in the center so the steam can escape, and brush the lid with the beaten egg.
- Step 6
Bake 20 to 30 minutes, until the pastry is golden and sandy-looking, the juices bubble at the edges and a thin knife pushed through the slit meets soft apple. Serve warm with crème fraîche, ice cream or yogurt.
English Apple Pie (Cooking Apples Under a Pastry Lid)
Serves 4 · one deep pie dish (about 1 1/2 quarts) · 1 hr total
Shortcrust
- 225 g (about 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tbsp) all-purpose flour
- 140 g (10 tbsp) cold butter
- About 3 tbsp cold water
Filling
- 3 large cooking apples, such as Bramley (or Granny Smith in the US)
- 2 tbsp honey
- A pinch of ground cinnamon
- A pinch of mixed spice (or pumpkin pie spice)
- About 2 tbsp water
To finish
- 1 large egg, beaten
- Crème fraîche, vanilla ice cream or plain yogurt, to serve
Method
- Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C; 350°F or 180°C with a fan). Rub the cold butter into the flour with your fingertips until it looks like fine breadcrumbs.
- Add the cold water 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing, until the dough just comes together in a ball. Wrap it and refrigerate while you prepare the apples, or 30 minutes if you have time.
- Peel and core the apples and cut them into even chunks so they cook at the same rate. Pile them into a deep pie dish (about 1 1/2 quarts), drizzle with the honey, and add the cinnamon, mixed spice and about 2 tbsp water.
- Roll the pastry on a floured counter until it is a little larger than the dish. Lift it over the apples on the rolling pin, trim the excess and press the edges onto the rim to seal. Reroll the scraps into leaves or shapes for the top if you like.
- Cut a small slit in the center so the steam can escape, and brush the lid with the beaten egg.
- Bake 20 to 30 minutes, until the pastry is golden and sandy-looking, the juices bubble at the edges and a thin knife pushed through the slit meets soft apple. Serve warm with crème fraîche, ice cream or yogurt.
Adapted from BBC Good Food (Good Food team), "Easy apple pie" (published February 9, 2015; updated November 8, 2022), serves 4. We follow it as written: shortcrust of 225 g plain flour and 140 g butter rubbed to crumbs and bound with about 3 tbsp cold water, chilled about 30 minutes; 3 large cooking apples cored and cut in even chunks, with 2 tbsp honey, a pinch each of cinnamon and mixed spice and about 2 tbsp water; one pastry lid sealed to the dish, a steam slit and a beaten egg glaze; 20 to 30 minutes at 200°C (180°C fan) until the pastry is golden and sandy-looking and the filling is bubbling. Peeling the apples, the dish size, the 400°F rounding and the knife test are ours. History from Wikipedia, "Apple pie": and The Forme of Cury on Project Gutenberg (eBook 8102). bbcgoodfood.com. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (3)
Tips
- BBC Good Food says the pastry scraps can be rerolled and cut into shapes to decorate the top.
- Mixed spice is a British blend of sweet spices; pumpkin pie spice is the closest US swap (our suggestion).
- Bramleys are hard to find in the US. Granny Smiths are firmer, so cut them into smaller chunks and bake toward 30 minutes (our suggestion).
- For the older English habit, stew the apples first, as Wikipedia describes, and the pie will bake faster and flatter.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Apple pie is an English dish, not an American one. Documented as Wikipedia's account: first recorded in 14th-century England and brought to America by colonists.
- The oldest apple pie recipe dates from 1381. Disputed: Wikipedia's caption dates the Forme of Cury our 1381 recipe; the Project Gutenberg edition of the roll says it was compiled about A.D. 1390.
- Medieval apple pie had no sugar. Documented in the text itself: the Forme of Cury recipe lists apples, spices, figs, raisins, pears and saffron, and no sugar.
- Nobody ate the medieval pastry "coffin". Folklore: often repeated about medieval pies; nothing we read says so.
- Eating cheese with apple pie began in England. Documented as Wikipedia's account (17th century, with sharp cheddar or Wensleydale), which rests on a single Atlas Obscura article.
Every other apple pie
Wiener Apfelstrudel (Viennese Apple Strudel)
A soft egg and oil dough stretched over a floured tablecloth until it's paper thin, brushed with butter, layered with hazelnut breadcrumbs fried in butter, sliced apples, rum-soaked raisins, cinnamon and cloves, rolled up and baked at 350°F until golden.
Tarte Tatin (French Upside-Down Apple Tart)
Apple quarters packed in a skillet and softened in butter, covered with a light amber caramel cooked to 355°F, topped with a chilled disk of butter pastry, baked at 350°F until the edges bubble thick and syrupy, then flipped onto a platter.
Appeltaart (Dutch Apple Pie)
A tall springform pie with a cookie-like brown sugar crust pressed in by hand, packed with precooked Golden Delicious apples, golden raisins and speculaas-style spices, topped with a crisscross of dough strips and baked at 375°F for about 75 minutes. Served "met slagroom", with whipped cream.
Versunkener Apfelkuchen (German Sunken Apple Cake)
A buttery vanilla and lemon batter spread in a springform, topped with a ring of peeled apple quarters scored on top so they fan open and sink as the cake rises around them, baked at 350°F for about 45 minutes and brushed hot with apricot jam.
Gammeldags Æblekage (Danish Old-Fashioned Apple Cake)
Not a cake at all: tart apples cooked with vanilla and lemon into a chunky sauce and chilled, breadcrumbs toasted golden in butter and sugar, and lightly whipped cream, layered in glasses just before serving.
Sharlotka (Russian Apple Sponge Cake)
Four eggs and a cup of sugar beaten until thick and airy, a cup of flour folded in with diced apples, baked in one pan at 350°F for 35 to 40 minutes, then topped while hot with sour cream stirred with orange marmalade.
Classic American Apple Pie (Double Crust)
Eight cups of thin-sliced apples tossed with sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice, thickened with flour and cornstarch and dotted with butter, sealed between two flaky butter and shortening crusts, baked at 425°F and then 375°F until the filling bubbles hard through the vents.
Pennsylvania Dutch Apple Pie (Crumb Top)
One flaky shortening crust filled with 2 pounds of apples tossed with sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg, covered with a lumpy brown sugar and butter streusel instead of a top crust, baked at 425°F and then 350°F.
Apple Pandowdy (Old New England Pan Dowdy)
Apples with sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, molasses and butter baked between two crusts in a square pan at 425°F, then the top crust is slashed and pushed down into the juices in rough chunks, "dowdied", so it turns half crisp, half pudding.
Vermont Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust
A butter crust with grated sharp Vermont cheddar folded in, filled with sliced apples, sugar, maple syrup and apple pie spice, layered with thin slices of more cheddar under the top crust and baked at 375°F until browned. Vermont's 1999 state pie law names cheddar as one way to serve it.
Southern Fried Apple Pies (Dried-Apple Hand Pies)
Dried apples simmered soft and mashed with sugar and cinnamon, spooned onto 5-inch rounds of lard pastry, folded into half-moons, crimped with a fork and fried in lard at 350°F until blistered and lightly browned.
Skillet Apple Crisp (One-Pan, About an Hour)
Apple wedges sautéed in butter in one ovensafe skillet and coated with reduced cider, covered with a pecan, oat and brown sugar crumble made with melted butter, and baked hot at 450°F for 15 to 20 minutes until the fruit is tender and the top deep golden.
Fried Apple Hand Pies (Inspired by McDonald's, Not Official)
A copycat of the original fried fast food apple pie, inspired by McDonald's, not official: diced apples sautéed in browned butter with brown sugar and cinnamon, sealed in rectangles of pie dough and deep-fried at 375°F until golden and shatteringly crisp.
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