This deep dish apple pie recipe comes to us from Aylmer, Ontario and is a delicious one, so I thought I'd share it.
Cooking or baking food in a paper bag is a relatively old technique that really gained popularity early in the 20th century. From an old, old book called the ABCs of Paper Bag Cookery, it describes the advantages of cooking in a bag:
"There is no doubt that the system has great possibilities, combining, as it does,cleanliness with economy of time, labor, and the nutritive elements of the food.
Cleanliness, because the cooking causes no grease, dirt, nor even unpleasant fumes of cooking which render the atmosphere of the home objectionable."

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.
The book also describes how to seal the bag:
How to Close the Edges of a Bag
Lay any open edges of the paper evenly together. Fold them over once, and crease down heavily with the finger or some blunt edge. This creasing down is a matter of great importance if the bag is to be made airtight. Fold the edge over a second time, and again crease down firmly; and, if liked, even a third fold may be given. Lastly, push the folded edges up between an ordinary brass or wire paper clip which will effectively keep them in place. At least three clips should be used to each folded side. The clips can be used over and over again. Be sure to lay the bags on the shelf of the oven with the folded edges turned uppermost.
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 intensityoAnyway, 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!
🥧 Apple Pie Ingredients
- 6 cups coarsely sliced or chopped apples
- 1 /2 cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Topping:
- 1 /2 cup butter
- 1 /2 cup flour
- 1 /2 cup brown sugar
📋 Apple Pie Instructions
For the topping, measure apples in a bowl, mix with 1 /2 cup sugar, flour, nutmeg, and lemon juice. Turn into unbaked pie shell and pat down evenly. For the pie:
- Measure apples in a bowl, mix with 1 /2 cup sugar, flour, nutmeg, and lemon juice. Turn into unbaked pie shell and pat down evenly.
- For the topping, cut butter into a pastry blender until crumbs are the size of peas.
- Sprinkle this over the apples evenly and pat down around the edges.
- Slide the pie into a paper bag, fold end under pie.
- Put on a cookie sheet for easy handling.
- Bake at 425 for 50 minutes.
🍎 More Amish Apple Recipes
Apple Cookies - So good!
Amish Apple Dumplings - Amazing!
Baked Apple Pudding - Super
Easy Apple Drop Cookies - wow!
🖨️ Full Recipe
Deep Dish Amish Apple Pie
Ingredients
Pie
- 6 cups coarsely sliced or chopped apples
- 1 /2 cup ugar
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Topping
- 1 /2 cup butter
- 1 /2 cup flour
- 1 /2 cup brown sugar
Instructions
Topping
- Measure apples in a bowl, mix with 1 /2 cup sugar, flour, nutmeg, and lemon juice. Turn into unbaked pie shell and pat down evenly.
Pie
- Measure apples in a bowl, mix with 1 /2 cup sugar, flour, nutmeg, and lemon juice.
- Turn into unbaked pie shell and pat down evenly.
- For the topping, cut butter into a pastry blender until crumbs are the size of peas.
- Sprinkle this over the apples evenly and pat down around the edges.
- Slide the pie into a paper bag, fold end under pie.
- Put on a cookie sheet for easy handling. Bake at 425 for 50 minutes.
Mary
Have a wonderful Birthday!! ????????????????
Sherrie
Happy Birthday, hope you enjoyed the zoo
Robert Bolton
You left out part of the topping recipe in the instructions. Plus #1 for pie is given twice.
Kevin Williams
Thanks, Robert, maybe it is just a long day, but I keep looking and I am not finding anything missing, could give me a little bit more detail? I want to fix ix the error...
D. Smith
I love deep dish apple pie and there are actually multiple ways to make it.
But, Kevin, you are wrong about heat lightning. There certainly is such a thing. You just don't SEE the lightning bolt so it lights up only the tops of the clouds. I've seen it hundreds of times in my 70 years ont his old earth.
AND, speaking of pet peeves . . . why is your comment board so "light"? I mean, the area where we type messages like this one is not a dark black type, it's so light grey it can hardly be seen. You might look into that. Sure would make life easier for us old people to make comments! Of course, maybe you don't want them, I don't know......
Kevin Williams
Sorry about the comment configuration, I'll look into making it more user-friendly! As per heat lightning, here is what the National Weather Service says!