Brown Butter Apple Pie
Classic apple pie with a brown butter twist: made with a brown butter crust and filled with thinly sliced, well-spiced apples, brown butter and brown sugar.
I always feel a bit timid entering a new recipe space. Especially when it’s something classic, and in this case the most iconic of all american desserts: apple pie…
This is my first foray into apple pie, so I’d like to preface this by saying, this is a really good pie but it’s probably not your beloved grandma’s recipe. It has it’s own unique charm to it and I hope you’ll try it. Perhaps it’ll even make its way into your annual pie making rotation…
What to love about about a brown butter apple pie
Classic but with a twist. It’s got an all butter, flaky crust (and uses my brown butter pie crust recipe!). The filling is very flavorful, with tart granny smith apples, brown butter bits, and warm spices.
You decide how soft & spicy the apples should get: I like just a little crunch in my pie slices so I leave my apples to soften for a long while. If you like some crisp to them, you have the option to macerate them for less time. I’ll give you my recommendations for the spices but you can alter them to your liking.
The filling AND the crust have brown butter: Isn’t that awesome?! The crust will definitely taste of brown butter (and it stays flaky!) and the brown butter bits in the filling add flavor depth. It really complements those autumn spices well.
The filling will be thick! No worries about slicing into the pie only to be horrified by the amount of liquid spilling out. After softening the apples, we’ll cook down the dropped liquid so we can keep the flavor but do without the extra water. Then we’ll add it back to the filling. Also, a bit of flour/starch helps bind it all together.
Recipe Origins
Probably the first apple pie I made was Joy of Baking’s recipe (I was on that site every weekend when I was an undergrad) and from it I learned the technique of cooking off the liquid. After some two decades of making apple pie at least once a year, I find I can’t do it any other way. It makes the most sense: you can capture all the good flavor without having to worry about an overly ‘wet’ baked pie or needing to add so much flour or starch to keep the pie thick. The other recipe I consulted when creating this one was Natasha’s , hers was one of the few that used butter in her filling – I wanted to be sure I could add a decent amount of brown butter to the filling without messing up the ratios of liquid 😉
Recipe Ingredients
Apples: I used all granny smith apples here (seven in total) but in the past I’ve enjoyed mixing up apple varieties; so a mix of granny smith with some fuji, honey crisp or pink lady (I love the latter in a pie). I think using more than one variety adds more depth of flavor to the pie, just make sure they’re all baking apples!
Butter: I talk more about why I suggest using american style butter for the pie crust on its page. American butter is perfect in the filling. If, however, you want to use something richer (european, 83% butterfat or higher), it won’t hurt the recipe so go for it!
Spices: A combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. If you have it, freshly grated nutmeg is just wonderful here. You can skip the allspice if you prefer. To me it really brings out an apple pie flavor.
Sugar: I like using brown sugar in my apple pies, the added molasses add a deeper flavor. You can use light or dark brown.
Lemon: Juice of half a lemon. This adds a teeny bit of acid to balance out the sweetness, but for the most part helps with softening the apples without turning them brown.
Flour or starch: all purpose flour or tapioca starch. This helps thicken the filling.
Salt: Fine sea salt. If you’re using table salt, halve the amount.
Vanilla: pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste.
How to make brown butter apple pie
Make the brown butter pie crust: have this done the night before or at least 4 hours earlier. Pie crusts need to chill so the flour can hydrate.
Macerate the apples: Start by peeling the skin off then core the apples then slice thinly. I use and recommend a mandolin slicer for even slices. If you are slicing with a knife, do your best to ensure they are all the same size: too thick slices will not cook sufficiently, too thin slices will turn to bits.
Toss the slices with the sugar, lemon and spices. Then cover the bowl to seal. How long you leave them to macerate will depend on how soft you want the apples in the finished pie: I like very little crisp to the apples in the pie so I leave mine for over 4 hours. If you want some crunch, leave them for 2-3 hours.
Roll out pie crust bottom and shape: While it might seem counterintuitive, we’ll do this step before draining the apples and cooking the liquid (and before browning the butter) so we can set it to chill. Chilling helps the crust keep shape after baking.
Drain the apples & cook down the liquid: after the apples are done macerating they will have dropped lot of liquid into the bottom of the bowl. Pour the apples through a fine mesh sieve with a pan underneath to catch the liquid.
We’re going to cook off a lot of the water in this liquid. Have it on medium heat and cook it for 15 minutes or so until it’s thickened, and at least half the volume it was initially. It should have the consistency of a warm syrup.
Brown the butter: cook it in a frying pan until the milk solids separate and turn a toasty brown color. The butter will smell nutty and be foaming. As soon as its done, immediately transfer to a bowl or the butter will keep cooking and burn.
Toss the filling: if the apples have gathered any more liquid, drain them again and discard that liquid. Then toss the apples with the cooled brown butter, the reduced liquid and the starch.
Top the pie: Roll out the remainder of the crust (including the scraps cut off from the bottom) and slice into strips to weave for the top.
Chill then bake: chill the pie while the oven preheats (in the fridge) then place it on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (this will catch any bubbling juices). Bake uncovered at first, then cover the edges halfway and lower the temperature.
Bake the pie until the filling is bubbling and has been bubbling for at least 7-10 minutes.
Never cut into a hot pie, it needs to set. Wait an hour at least before slicing =)
Tips to streamline the pie-making process
Plan ahead: Both the pie crust and the apples need to chill and sit for a while before you can begin assembling the pie. The pie crust can be made up to two days ahead of time. The apples need to be sliced and tossed with the flavorings about 4-8 hours before. Before the pie goes into the oven fully assembled you’ll cook down the apple liquid (should take no more than 20 minutes) and brown the butter (5 minutes). You’ll want time to roll out the crust too!
Use help and helpful tools: for me the most tiresome part of making apple pie is all the peeling, slicing, coring and well, more slicing. I have on occasion skipped the peeling and then regretted it later because the baked skin is not very fun to chew. As for slicing, instead of doing it by hand, I use a mandolin slicer (use the grip so you don’t cut yourself!) this helps ensure the apple slices are uniform so you don’t have bigger chunks that don’t bake as much and smaller chunks that bake so much they turn to mush.
Pie crust visual guides: I have a video for you showing my process right above the recipe card.
Brown Butter Apple Pie Recipe
Brown Butter Apple Pie
Ingredients
Filling
- 7 granny smith apples peeled, cored and thinly sliced (after slicing mine measured 1 kg or 2.2lbs)
- Juice of half a lemon
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon each ground nutmeg and allspice freshly ground nutmeg would be excellent here
- 200 g or 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 113 g or ½ cup butter
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour or tapioca starch
Topping
- 1 Egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water for the egg wash
- Organic Sugar for sprinkling
Method
- Make the brown butter pie crust recipe, divide the crust into two halves, wrap and chill it for a few hours or up to 2 days.
Macerate the apples:
- Peel, core and thinly slice the apples and set into a large bowl. Toss with the lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, brown sugar and salt. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set in the fridge for 3-6 hours (longer means less crunch in the apples after baking).
Assemble the pie:
- The crust recipe is enough for the bottom and top. Roll out the bottom crust on a floured surface until it’s about 10” diameter (1 inches wider than your pie pan). Place the dough into the bottom of a metal pie pan and press the crust into the bottom edges. Using kitchen scissors, cut the extra dough on the sides so you have an even circle, fold the edges under and pinch to seal, then use your thumbs to crimp the crust (see video for guidance). Set it in the fridge or freezer to chill.
- Set a fine mesh sieve over a large frying pan or saucepan. Pour the apple mixture into the sieve. Set the apples aside and set the pan with the liquid over medium heat.
- Cook until the liquid has considerably reduced in volume and is thick has the texture of a warm syrup (careful not to burn it), about 7-10 minutes depending on how high the heat is. Once thickened, set aside.
- Brown the butter in a frying pan: cook the butter in a medium frying pan until it melts, then sputters, then foams. Once you start to see brown bits at the bottom, stir until all the bits are brown. Immediately transfer the butter to a heat-proof bowl and set aside to cool for 5 minutes.
- The apples may have gathered a bit more liquid at this point - you can discard that liquid. Toss the strained apples with the brown butter and reduced liquid then fold the flour or starch over the apples. Spoon it into the bottom crust.
- Roll out the top crust into a 10” circle and slice it into six 2” strips (you may need to roll it out, slice out some strips, then gather the dough and roll it out again). Thread the strips over and under each other, folding them over to weave. Tuck the top crust into the edges, and pinch to seal.
- Chill the pie for 20 minutes in the fridge.
- Preheat the oven to 400 F.
- Brush the top pie crust and edges with the eggwash and sprinkle with sugar. Set the pie on a cookie baking sheet lined with parchment paper (this is to catch any escaping juices) and bake for 20 minutes.
- At the 20 minute mark, the edges will usually show browning. To prevent it from over-browning, cut out 3 small sheets of aluminum foil and, with oven mitts to protect your hands from burning, gently place the strips around the crust, gently squeezing to secure the foil (you can leave the middle of the pie exposed).
- Return the pie to the oven and bake for another 35-40 minutes, until the juice is bubbling out of the top and has been bubbling for at least 5-7 minutes.
- Let the pie cool on the counter for at least an hour before slicing.
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This was delicious! I made the brown butter crust and it is the best pie crust I have ever had! I will always use this recipe for my pies. Thank you for sharing !!