Glazed Maple Apple Pie

Why you’ll love this Maple Apple Pie

Pie, pie, pie. I can’t get enough pie!

The only thing better than a perfect All American Apple Pie is an all American apple pie made with real maple syrup, and the only thing better than an all American apple pie made with maple syrup is an all American apple pie made with maple syrup and topped with a crackly thin maple glaze.

Ingredients

Ingredient Notes

• Pie Dough – Use the linked recipe in this post or use your favorite flaky pie dough. Store bought is fine if that’s your preference.
• Apples – A firm apple that doesn’t fall apart when baked works best. Granny Smith is a good option that is widely available. Depending on the type of apple you’re using, you may want to add just a smidge of lemon juice to the filling to spark the flavor.
• Corn Starch – This recipe uses just enough starch to thicken the juices without making it pasty. You want the fruit to be juicy under the flaky crust but you also need the slice to hold together on the plate.
• Maple Syrup – Yes, use real maple syrup since nothing else tastes the same.
• Salt – Don’t skip that little pinch of salt in the filling, it does wake up the flavors without leaving a salty taste.

• Combine the apples, maple syrup and sugar in a large bowl and set it aside for 2-3 hours.
• Drain the apples, reserving the juice
• Combine 1/4 cup of the juice with cornstarch.

• Bring the rest of the juice to a boil. Whisk the cornstarch slurry into the juice.
• Cook until the juice thickens and becomes translucent.
• Toss the thickened juice with the apples.

• Line a deep dish pie plate with your favorite flakey pie dough.
• Pour the apples into the pie shell.
• Roll the top crust. You can use a maple leaf cutter to cut a vent hole for a nice finish. Otherwise, just cut an “X” in the top of the pie to make a vent hole.

• Trim the excess dough from the pie.
• If you have a leaf cutter, cut leaves from the dough scraps to decorate the border.
• Brush the crust with egg white and attached the leaves the to edge. Otherwise, use a fork or your fingers to crimp the pie crust. Bake the pie until the juices in the center are bubbling.

• While the pie bakes combine the maple syrup and powdered sugar to make the glaze.
• Drizzle the glaze over the warm pie.
• Brush the glaze over the pie, leaving the leaf border clear. Allow extra glaze to go into the vent hole.
• Let the pie cool for at least 3 hours before slicing.

Pastry Chef tips for making great Apple Pie with Science!

Macerating the fruit is an important step for three reasons;

1. To reduce boil overs.
2. To allow pre-cooking of the starch and,
3. To help the fruit maintain its shape while baking.

Because the sugar draws excess water from the fruit the amount of boil over during baking is reduced. Once the juice is drawn out of the fruit you can pre-cook it with the corn starch to ensure that the starch will be fully activated (under cooking the starch could result in a runny pie filling).

When fruits and vegetables are heated (e.g., baked in pie) the cell walls weaken and the water contained in the plant leaks out. The fruit or vegetable looses its structure and becomes mushy. 

When uncooked fruit is tossed with sugar, the sugar is drawn into the fruit and reinforces the cell walls, allowing the fruit to maintain it’s shape while baking.

No mushy pie filling! It’s like magic, except that it’s science.