What a sweetheart of a pie! Thin slices of apples are enveloped by creamy, delicately flavored custard. Sour cream makes it slightly tangy, contrasting with the sweet, crunchy cinnamon streusel topping.
I don’t remember where I got this recipe, but I know I’ve been making it for at least thirty years—and I don’t even like apple pie.
At least, I don’t like the kind with sticky, sugary, gooey filling that has so much cinnamon in it you can’t even taste the apples. Pies were not served in my household when I was growing up (with the exception of pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving), so the closest thing I remember was that nasty apple dessert in the TV dinners. Oh, and Hostess fruit pies. (I ate the glazed pastry and discarded the fruit filling.)
I’m sure there are good traditional apple pies out there. Your grandma probably makes a beauty! But give me this sour cream version any day.
The type of apples you use can make a big difference. I put some Granny Smith apples in this pie, but wasn’t crazy about how firm the apples were. If you want to use them, try steaming or simmering them briefly before adding to the sour cream mixture. If you have access to Honeycrisp, they’re wonderful in pie. Braeburn and Golden Delicious are very good too.
My recipe makes enough filling for a large deep-dish pie. If you are using a standard pie pan, you’ll have filling left over. You can bake it in lightly buttered ramekins, topping each with streusel mixture. (Make another half batch of streusel, if necessary.) Or you can toss in another cup of apple slices and make two pies.
| Sour Cream Apple Pie | Print |
- PIE CRUST:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup shortening, chilled
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 tablespoon vodka (or vinegar, if preferred)
- PIE FILLING:
- 1½ cups sour cream
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 cups thinly sliced apples (best: Honeycrisp, Braeburn, Golden Delicious. A mixture is good!)
- CINNAMON STREUSEL TOPPING:
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup flour
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon (reduce if you want a light-colored topping)
- Pinch of salt
- ¼ cup butter, melted
- PIE CRUST: Combine flour and salt in a medium bowl. Cut in shortening until it looks like coarse crumbs.
- Mix milk and vodka (or vinegar) together and pour all at once into flour mixture. Toss lightly with a fork just until it forms a ball.
- Roll out between two sheets of parchment, lightly dusted with flour.. Roll from the center out, Remove top sheet of parchment. Lay pie pan upside down on dough. With a pastry cutter or sharp knife, cut a circle of dough at least 1½ inch bigger than the pan, all the way around. Place pan right side up and move dough to pan, carefully easing it in. (Hint: slide a flat baking sheet under the parchment. Gently place the pie pan upside down, centered on top of the dough. With one hand on the pie pan and one under the baking sheet, flip it all over. So easy!)
- Fold excess dough under and crimp or flute the edges. Place in the refrigerator to stay cool.
- PIE FILLING: In a large bowl, stir together the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon until well combined..
- Stir in the sugar, flour, and salt.
- Heat oven to 400 F.
- Peel and quarter apples. (Approximately 4 large apples or 6 medium). Remove the cores and slice thin—less than ¼ inch. When you have about 6 cups, stir into sour cream mixture.
- Remove pie pan from refrigerator and pour apple filling into crust, all the way to the top.
- Place pan in the oven with a baking sheet on the rack below, just in case of drips. Bake for 15 minutes. Without opening oven, reduce heat to 350 F and bake for an additional 45 minutes.
- CINNAMON STREUSEL TOPPING: Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, melted butter and salt.
- Remove pie from oven and crumble the topping over it, covering the entire surface. (Add piecrust cutouts here, if desired.)
- Return pie to oven and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes, or until crust is light brown and topping is firm.
- Allow pie to cool on a rack until just barely warm. Wonderful when topped with vanilla ice cream!
- Store covered in the refrigerator.
Adding a little vodka (or vinegar) to the liquid makes a flakier pie crust.
Work the shortening into the flour mixture, using a pastry blender. Cold fingers work, too.
Add liquid and toss lightly with a fork until dough can be gathered into a ball.
Ease the dough into the pan, folding over edge and crimping.
Slice the apples thin (less than 1/4 inch), especially if you’re using Granny Smiths; they take forever to get soft! Stir into sour cream mixture.
Fill up that pie! The filling will puff up in the oven, but I’ve never had it drip. Just in case, put a baking sheet on the rack under it. (This will still allow air flow.)
After an hour of baking, remove pie and add topping. (I added some Valentine’s Day hearts too.) Return to oven until crust is toasty brown and topping is firm.
I made an extra half batch of dough and filled these cutouts with cinnamon sugar and sprinkles.
Baked! Let it cool until it’s JUST warm enough to melt vanilla ice cream.
Happy Valentine’s Day! Hope it’s sweet.