How to make an incredible Amish apple pie

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• 🥧 The Amish and Apple Pies
• 📋Step-by-Step Amish Apple Pie
• Amish Apple Pie Variations
• 🍎 More Amish Apple Recipes
• 🖨️ Full Recipe

🥧 The Amish and Apple Pies

Apple pie is a popular dessert among the Amish. It as much a staple of summer among the Amish as it is among the non-Amish. Apples are often plentiful on Amish farms and the fruit make for a flavorful way to fill up a homemade pie crust.

They begin by making the crust by hand, typically using flour, salt, and cold water, with lard being the preferred fat due to its availability and the rich, flaky texture it gives. The crust is rolled out with care and placed into pie pans—often metal or glass—and set aside while they prepare the filling. But you can also use our famous pat-a-pan pie crust. That's my favorite.

Homegrown apples are peeled and sliced by hand. Tart varieties like Jonathan or Winesap are favored for their balance of sweetness and acidity. The apple slices are then tossed with sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and sometimes a bit of flour or cornstarch is added to thicken the juices. Once the filling is ready, it is mounded into the crust, often with small pats of butter placed on top to enhance the flavor.

The pie is then covered with either a full top crust, a lattice crust, or a crumb topping, depending on family tradition. Edges are crimped by hand, and the pie is baked—often in wood-fired or propane ovens—until golden brown and fragrant. Amish bakers typically rely on sight, smell, and experience rather than timers or thermometers. The result is a rustic, deeply flavorful pie that reflects the care and skill passed down through generations.

In this case of this pie, you won't have the pie filling bubbling over, the paper bag will catch any mess and the cooking style seals in the flavor so you are tasting wonderful apple, not the inside of your oven.

📋Step-by-Step Amish Apple Pie

Paper bag cooking isn't as common anymore in the general population, but among the Amish it is still popular and this apple pie is perfect for picnics, family gatherings, church carry-ins, and on and on. This particular pie, if you like deep dish, is a real treat!

This recipe works well with honeycrisp, Rome, Gala, or Granny Smith apples, but, really, I think almost any would work unless you are a real apple snob.

You can peel the apple or not and you can chop the apple or slice it. We went with slices just for a "fancier" look.

Nutmeg, sugar, lemon juice are the main drivers of flavor in this one, a very simple, but flavorful version of apple pie!

Delicious when it is packed into a homemade deep dish crust. The pat-a-pan pie crust method would work great in a deep dish pie plate.

You can also use a more traditional crust, which you can find here.

And then slide the pie into the paper bag. Keep an eye on it. The burn point of a paper bag is 451 degrees, but if it makes you nervous, don't stick it in the oven and then go out and do some gardening. If it just makes you too nervous, you can do away with the paperbag altogether and just bake in the oven. I mean, you'll lose a little bit of flavor intensity. Anyway, when it is all done you get a beautiful deep dish apple pie worth of any celebration!

This pie is ideal for holiday celebrations like Fourth of July, Labor Day and any time of year an apple pie brings out the celebratory mood!

Amish Apple Pie Variations

Dutch apple pie is a common version of the American classic.  The recipe below is common in the Berne settlement of Indiana and other "Swiss sister settlements."   The ingredients are: 1 unbaked pie shell (9″)4 to 6 apples–enough to fill a pie plate½ cup brown sugar2 tablespoons milk¼ cup margarine½ cup flour½ cup sugar1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions 

• Peel apples and slice into pieces
• .Put them in the unbaked pie shall.
• Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and milk.
• Pour over top of apples.
• Combine flour and sugar.
• Cut in margarine until crumbly.
• Sprinkle crumbs on top of apples in shell
• .Bake for 5 minutes at 425 degrees.
• Then lower the heat to 350 degrees and finish baking for about 40 to 50minutes or until the apples are tender and bubbly.

Glazed Dutch Apple Pie: make the recipe above, but spread this glaze onto the pie after the pie cools and enjoy!  Icing: 1 /2 cup powdered sugar 1 tablespoon water , 1 /4 teaspoon vanilla.

Sour Cream Apple Pie: 8 to 10 medium-size apples (such as Ida Red or Golden Delicious), peeled and sliced, 2 (9-inch) unbaked pie shell, 4 large eggs, beaten, 1 ½ cups sugar, ¼ cup all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 2 teaspoons,½ teaspoon salt,2 cups sour cream

Crumb Topping

• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
• ⅓ cup butter, softened

Instructions 

• Preheat the oven to 325°F.
• Place the apple slices in the pie shell.
• Mix the eggs, sugar, flour, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and sour cream in a large mixing bowl.
• Pour the mixture into the pie shell over the apple slices.

Bake for  60 minutes, until the pie is solid when jiggled.  Two pies in at the same time you may have to bake for 90 minutes. Make the crumb topping: In a small mixing bowl, mix the flour, brown sugar, and softened butter, using your fingers, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Top the apple mixture with a generous layer of the crumbs.

🍎 More Amish Apple Recipes

Apple Cookies - So good!

Amish Apple Dumplings - Amazing!

Baked Apple Pudding - Super

Easy Apple Drop Cookies - wow!

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