Apple Pie Filling
Raw apples in a pie cause two griefs: they release juice that sogs the base, and they sink, leaving a void between filling and top crust. A cooked filling solves both — the apples have already given up their water and the starch has bound it. Use firm, tart varieties: sweet ones collapse into purée while still in the pan.
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Rest
- 1 h
- Total
- 1 h 40 min
- Servings
- 8
- Level
- Easy
- Per serving
- 170 kcal
Ingredients
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What to use instead
Water with a spoonful of lemon juice works instead of cider — slightly less depth, the same set.
Makes: About 1.4 kg of filling, one 24 cm pie
Shopping list
The ingredients for the servings you chose — copy them or send them to a messenger. Tick what you already have at home: only the rest goes on the list.
Method
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Step 1: Slice the apples
Peel and core the apples and cut them into 1 cm slices. Thinner ones cook to mush; thicker ones stay raw inside the pie.
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Step 2: Macerate
Toss the apples with the lemon juice, both sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Leave 20 minutes: the sugar draws out juice and you will see it pooling in the bowl.
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Step 3: Cook them
Tip everything into a pan with the juice that came out, add 180 ml of the cider and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, until the apples soften at the edges but stay firm inside.
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Step 4: Thicken
Whisk the remaining cider with the cornflour until smooth and stir it in. Cook 2 minutes, until the syrup turns clear and thick.
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Step 5: Finish
Off the heat, stir in the vanilla and the butter. The butter gives the filling the gloss and the velvet that makes it hard not to eat from the bowl.
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Step 6: Cool completely
Spread it in a wide bowl, cool to room temperature, then chill at least an hour. Warm filling melts the butter in the pastry.
Tips & variations
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Tip
The best varieties are Bramley, Granny Smith and Antonovka. Sweet, mealy apples like Golden Delicious are purée before the cornflour even goes in.
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Swap
Water with a spoonful of lemon juice works instead of cider — slightly less depth, the same set.
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Variation
For a raisin pie, stir in 80 g of raisins with the vanilla. No need to soak them first; they plump in the hot syrup.
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Storage
A week in the fridge, three months in the freezer. Thaw frozen filling in the fridge, or it weeps water.
Nutrition
| 1 serving | Whole dish 8 servings | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 170 kcal | 1,360 kcal |
| Protein | 1 g | 8 g |
| Fat | 3 g | 24 g |
| Carbohydrates | 36 g | 288 g |
Approximate values calculated from standard ingredient data.
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