Apple Butter Pie
Apple butter pie is a lot like pumpkin pie, but with apple butter instead! Its rich and gooey apple butter filling is perfectly warm and delicious. Paired with this easy flaky pie crust recipe, you may have just found your new favorite pie.
Ingredients
For the Pastry
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, cold, cubed
- 2 Tbsp ice water
- 1 Tbsp vodka see notes
- 1 large egg for egg wash
- coarse sugar optional
For the Apple Butter Filling
- 2 cups apple butter White House brand preferred
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 Tbsp all purpose flour
- 4 large eggs beaten
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter 1/2 stick, melted
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
For the Pastry
- In a food processor, pulse together 2 ½ cups of all purpose flour, 1 Tbsp of granulated sugar, and 1 tsp of salt until combined.
- Add 1 cup (2 sticks) of cold unsalted butter cut into cubes directly into the food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
- Add 2 Tbsp of ice water and 1 Tbsp of vodka* and mix until the mixture comes together. Do not overmix.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured clean surface and bring it together with your hands. Form the dough into a round disc and wrap with plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour or overnight.
For the Apple Butter Filling
- In a large bowl whisk together 2 cups of apple butter, 1/3 cup of granulated sugar, 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1 Tbsp of flour, 4 beaten large eggs, 1/2 stick of melted butter and 1/4 tsp of salt. Mix until combined.
For the Assembly
- Preheat the oven to 425°F (roughly 218°F).
- Once the dough has finished chilling, flour your work surface and then remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it into a rectangle roughly 10” x 5”. The dough will be very hard to work at first. You may allow it to warm up slightly on the counter but not for longer than 10 minutes. It’s important to work with pastry while it is cold.
- Perform the ⅓ fold technique to the dough by folding one short end ⅓ of the way over itself. Then fold the other short end over the previous fold. This process is similar to folding a piece of paper into thirds. Roll the dough into another 10” x 5” rectangle and perform the folds one more time. Be sure to keep your work surface well floured. Separate the dough into two squares after you perform the folds.
- The dough should be pliable enough to work with now, plus we just developed layers that will result in deliciously flaky pastry once baked!
- Roll the dough out to about an inch larger than your pie tin (I recommend a 9" pie dish for this pie). The dough should roughly be about 1/8 inch thick.
- Place the pastry into the pie tin and trim the excess edge.
- Place the dough lined pie tin in the freezer while you roll out the other pastry disc.
- Roll out the other half of the pastry and prepare the top how you prefer. I used cookie cutters to cut out leaves for fall, but the design is up to you.
- Remove the pie tin from the freezer, add the apple butter filling, top it with the pastry leaves, and brush everything carefully with an egg wash.
- Bake at 425°F for about 10 minutes. It is smart to bake the pie on a baking sheet in case it leaks filling. Pay attention to the edges of the crust, if it is browning too quickly, you may want to tent the edge.
- After the 10 minutes, reduce the heat to 365°F (185°C) and bake for another 30 minutes, removing once the pastry has browned properly and the filling has set.
- Once removed, allow the pie to rest for 1-2 hours. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream and enjoy!
Notes
if you don't have vodka you can just use 3 Tbsp of ice water, however the vodka is HIGHLY recommended to achieve a super flaky pie crust