This Dutch apple pie is a tender and flaky crust filled with sweetened apples, then finished off with a brown sugar crumb topping. Serve your apple pie with vanilla ice cream, and watch the rave reviews come in!
When apples are in season, I make the most of them by whipping up all kinds of treats including apple crisp, baked apples, and this decadent and delicious pie. It’s the best apple pie I’ve ever tasted!
Apple pie is a classic dessert for good reason – that combination of sweet apples, cinnamon and pastry just can’t be beat. This Dutch apple pie is my all-time favorite, because it’s like a combination of apple pie and apple crisp, all in one package. It also happens to be quite easy to make!
How do you make Dutch apple pie?
This recipe starts with my homemade apple pie filling, which is super easy to make and really makes this pie something special. After you’ve made the filling, it gets piled into a pie crust. You can make your own crust, or go for a frozen store bought crust like I did.
Now you are ready to make the streusel topping that puts the “Dutch” in Dutch apple pie. The streusel is a simple blend of butter, brown sugar and flour. The butter gets cut into the flour and sugar to make the familiar crumb topping. The topping is sprinkled over the pie, then the pie goes into the oven to bake to golden brown perfection.
Tips for Dutch apple pie
- This pie can be made up to 2 days before you plan to serve it. I recommend serving your pie with a scoop of ice cream on top.
- When you are making your streusel topping, make sure the butter is cold and right out of the refrigerator. The cold butter helps create the little crumbles of streusel that make a good, even topping.
- Bake your pie on a sheet pan, this will catch any drips or overflow from the pie.
- Let the pie cool a little before you serve it. The longer the pie cools, the more the pie filling and topping will set up and give you nice slices of pie.
Dutch Apple pie variations
This pie is sweet, tart and delicious, but you can add other fun flavors.
- Fruit: You can swap in one cup of fruit such as peaches, pears, blueberries or raspberries for one cup of the apples. You can also use cherry pie filling instead of apples.
- Cran-Apple: Try adding 1/2 cup of fresh cranberries. If you add cranberries, make sure to increase the sugar in the filling by 1/4 cup.
- Nuts: Feel free to add 1/2 cup of chopped nuts to the topping such as walnuts, almonds or pecans.
What are the best apples for apple pie?
The best apples for an apple pie have a nice, slightly tart flavor and are firm enough to keep their shape when baked. I like to use Granny Smith apples for Dutch apple pies because they are firm and their tart flavor pairs nicely with the brown sugar streusel topping. If you prefer, you can use other firm apples such as Braeburn, Golden Delicious or Honeycrisp apples.
Do you need to refrigerate apple pie?
Apple pie stays good on the shelf for about 2 days. You can keep your pie fresh longer in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. When you are ready to store your pie, make sure to wrap it in plastic wrap or place it in an airtight container. The topping in the Dutch apple pie may start to soften, especially in a refrigerator, but even a soft topping can still be good to eat.
Can you freeze apple pie?
You can freeze apple pie and have it stay fresh for 6 months. If you want to freeze your pie, I recommend cutting individual slices and keeping those slices separately stored in an airtight container.
This apple pie has a sweet, crisp and crumbly topping that highlights the tart and wonderful flavor of the apples. This classic pie is one of my favorites that I love to make for holidays or any time I feel like a treat.
More delicious apple recipes
Dutch Apple Pie
Ingredients
- 1 pie crust homemade or store bought
- 1 recipe apple pie filling
- 1/2 cup cold butter cut into cubes
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 2/3 cup brown sugar packed
Instructions
- Prepare the apple pie filling according to recipe instructions. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Place a 9 inch pie plate on a sheet pan. Fit the pie crust into the pan, fluting the edges of the crust. Alternatively, you can use a frozen pie crust that's already in a pan (no need to thaw it).
- Pour the pie filling into the crust.
- Place the butter, flour and brown sugar in a bowl. Use two forks or a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour and sugar until coarse crumbs form.
- Sprinkle the crumb mixture over the pie.
- Bake the pie for 45-50 minutes, or until crust and topping are deep golden brown. Cool for at least 20 minutes, then serve.
This was such an incredibly tasty recipe and I did your cranberry version.