My favorite apple pie is made with an easy sour cream crust and spice-infused apple filling, all topped with a crumbly walnut topping.
This is my favorite apple pie recipe, no contest. To the point where I hardly will eat any other apple pie, because it’s just downright disappointing compared to this one. This pie has ruined me in the same way these chocolate chip cookies have made me a cookie elitist.
It’s not really *my* recipe, though. Most of my recipes I come up with mostly from scratch based off of prior experience and a hodge podge of dozens and dozens of other recipes I’ve tried. This one, however, is a close adaptation of a recipe my Mom has been making for years. The recipe was clipped from a Women’s Day magazine that was published in 1996 and in the past 20 years (OMG, I just realized 1996 was 20 years ago!) it’s been photocopied and scribbled on but it’s persevered as the favorite pie in my household.
Two decade reigning champion, this pie. <3
After apple picking the other weekend, there was nothing that I wanted to make more than this precise apple pie recipe. I didn’t want to strike out to reinvent something new, I wanted to stick with the classic, and I really think you’re going to love it just as much as my family does.
You’re going to need 3 pounds of apples to start. Tart apples; Granny Smith are preferred but we picked some pucker-worthy apples at the orchard that were perfect for this pie.
Peel them up and slice them thinly.
I used to help my mom peel the apples for this recipe, trying to very carefully peel away the skins so that they might fall in a single curled ribbon. I was never successful, my swipes with the peeler were too jagged and sloppy, and not much has changed — I had visions of photographing a perfectly peeled apple with a coil of red skin beside it, but alas, I hacked them up royally and the only apples worth photographing were fully dressed.
As with most pies, there are several separate entities that you have to prepare: crust, filling, and in this case, topping (sweet, sweet crumble topping). However, this recipe uses a food processor to take most of the heavy lifting out of the preparation.
Yes, you’re going to use a food processor for this pie and you’re going to love it, trust me. This takes all of the hard work out of making the pie crust — no need to work over the butter with a pastry cutter over and over, let the machine do all the work for you. Likewise for the topping, (just be sure not to overdo it — you want that nice crumbly texture to the topping).
Just a quick note on the sour cream — it doesn’t have any sort of distinct taste or overpowering flavor in this recipe! It does, however, make for an incredibly easy crust and makes the filling less runny than your average pie.
I hope you love this pie recipe as much as my family and I do, if you try it out please comment and let me know how you liked it.
Oh! And a heads-up: My next post on Monday is going to be a Halloween “special”. It’s a little more creative and fictional than my usual posts, but if you totally hate it don’t worry, I’ll be back to normal recipe posts on Wednesday.
If you enjoy reading my recipes, please be sure to subscribe to receive an e-mail every time a new recipe is posted!
The Best Apple Pie
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 batch homemade pie crust (click link for recipe) not baked, you may substitute one storebought pie crust instead.
Filling
- 1/4 cup sugar (50g)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar tightly packed (50g)
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour (45g)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/3 cup sour cream (85g)
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 pounds tart apples Peeled, cored, and sliced thinner than 1/4". I use Granny Smith (1.36kg)
Crumble Topping
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (125g)
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter cold (113g)
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (65g)
- 2/3 cup brown sugar firmly packed (145g)
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
Crust
- Prepare pie crust according to recipe instructions. As per recipe, prepare, chill, roll out, and arrange into a 9 1/2" pie plate (do not bake). Return to refrigerator to chill while you prepare apple pie filling.
- Preheat oven to 425F (220C)
Filling
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together sugars, flour, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg.
- Add sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla extract, and stir well until completely combined (mixture will be like a loose paste).
- Add apple slices and stir until all apples are coated with mixture.
- Pour apple filling into prepared pie crust, mounding the apples in the center of the pie. Set aside while you prepare crumble topping.
Crumble Topping
- Combine flour and brown sugar in the basin of a food processor¹ and pulse to combine.
- Sprinkle butter pieces over the mixture. Pulse until coarse crumbs form.
- Add walnuts and pulse briefly (don't overdo it or the mixture will loose its crumbliness and clump together)
- Take your crumble topping and sprinkle it evenly over the pie filling. Use your hands to gently pat down the topping.
- Bake on 425F (220C) for 15 minutes. Without opening the oven door, reduce heat to 350F (175C) and continue to bake another 40 minutes, or until apples are tender (use a skewer to pierce the pie and check the apples). Keep an eye on your pie crust as it bakes, the crust is prone to browning faster than the pie is finished, and if the crust is becoming too dark you should remove the pie from the oven and cover the crust with foil before returning to oven to finish baking.
- Enjoy warm, preferably topped with vanilla ice cream.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Recommended Tools:
You Might Also Like:
Janet P. says
October 1, 2019 at 3:16 amCan I use sugar in the raw instead of the white and brown sugar for the filling and the crumble topping? I just dont want the topping to be really crunchy. Also can I use oats in place of most of the flour in the topping? Thanks for the recipes.
Sugar Spun Run says
October 1, 2019 at 9:31 pmHello, Janet. I haven’t tried sugar in the raw but I think it would be ok. If anything it will be more crunchy, not less. I haven’t tried making the topping with oats but I think substituting at least some of it would be fine. I hope that you enjoy the sour cream apple pie. 🙂
Susan says
November 18, 2018 at 3:47 pmI would love to make this this week. We cannot ave nuts. Any ideas on improvising the crumb crust? Thanks!
Sam says
November 19, 2018 at 12:55 pmI don’t think there would be any issue leaving the walnuts out of the topping. Enjoy! ☺️
Troy says
August 1, 2018 at 5:43 pmGreat pie. My kids devoured it in 30 mins
Sam says
August 1, 2018 at 5:44 pmSo glad to hear it was enjoyed! Thank you for commenting, Troy!
pat says
October 24, 2016 at 11:21 amSam I got your invite to LinkedIn, and wanted to say thanks. However, I am not on any of the social networks and really don’t wish to be at this time. Fondly, Pat
Sam says
October 24, 2016 at 12:22 pmUgh, I’m brand new to LinkedIn and it sent out an invitation to anyone I’d ever been in contact with without me realizing it, I apologize for that! I don’t blame you for staying off of social media, Zach doesn’t have any accounts, either. Sorry about the request!
puja says
October 21, 2016 at 1:08 pmThis looks gorgeous, so delicious and very creative Sam!
Sues says
October 20, 2016 at 12:33 pmSeriously gorgeous pie!! And I can’t believe 1996 was 20 years ago either… that seems crazy to me!
Sam says
October 20, 2016 at 2:05 pmRight!? I typed 10 years at first, that feels a little more realistic, but nope! Thank you, Sues!
Medha says
October 19, 2016 at 9:32 pmSour cream seriously makes everything better! I love the crumb topping on the top of the pie 🙂 Delicious!
Sam says
October 20, 2016 at 9:29 amThank you, Medha! 🙂
Mikaru86 says
October 19, 2016 at 1:59 pmThat looks amazing. I really have to try that one some time. Although it might have a tough time competing against my usual apple pie recipe 😉
Have you ever tried it without peeling the apples? I’ve always used mine with the skin left on and after baking it is cooked so soft, it is hardly noticeable (although the bright red color is still visible, so visually it’s kind of nice: http://i.imgur.com/ZYGxiL3.jpg ). The original recipe I adapted (and later greatly improved with the addition of sour cream to the pie crust thanks to your input) also included peeling the apples, but I simply never bothered with it. Supposedly there is also a lot of nutritional value lost by peeling the apples, so having the skin still on there gives me some excuse to eat more slices than I should (“it’s healthy after all!!!”) XD
Sam says
October 20, 2016 at 9:29 amThank you so much! It’s really my favorite, you should definitely try it! And you know, I haven’t tried it without peeling the apples, I was afraid the skin would become tough and chewy, but you’ve made a good case for trying it out and I do like the pretty red peeking through that (perfect!) latticework!. Thank you for commenting 🙂
Kay says
October 19, 2016 at 1:15 pmHow much sour cream is in the crust? You failed to list it as an ingredient in that recipe.
Sam says
October 20, 2016 at 9:27 amHi Kay, it’s listed now, I’m so sorry I missed that earlier! I’m going to try and blame that on lack of sleep, thank you for the catch and I hope you love the pie!
Pam says
October 19, 2016 at 1:13 pmHow much sour cream in the crust?
Sam says
October 20, 2016 at 9:26 amHi Pam, it is listed now, sorry about the miss earlier!