Homemade Apple Pie Filling Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the best thickener for apple pie filling? ›

All-purpose flour is an easy solution, as you're sure to have it in your pantry. Since it's lower in starch, you'll use more of it than you would higher-starch thickeners. Quick-cooking tapioca makes filling bright and clear, but also gives it a stippled and somewhat sticky texture.

Crisp apples, rich butter, a blend of sugars, cinnamon and apple juice come together in perfect harmony to create the best apple pie filling of all time! There are so many reasons to make your own apple pie filling from scratch.

While commercial pie thickeners aid the naturally occurring pectin in your fruit filling, pectin from the added lemon, lime, or orange solidifies your pie's interior. Don't worry about the citrus fruit overpowering the flavor of your pie.

Corn starch lends a glossy thickness and adds sheen to the filling while flour adds opacity and some mouthfeel so that it has a sort-of creaminess. With all corn starch the filling reminds me too much of store-bought pies with that gloopy clear gel-like texture and with all flour it can get too lumpy and stodgy.

Go with Granny Smith apples. Known for its vibrant green color, this apple is tangy and tart and features firm flesh that won't get too mushy when cooked down. Braeburn: For a sweeter take on the spicy apple flavor, choose Braeburns for baking your pie.

To bring out the best apple flavor and texture, pre-cook the filling for about 5 minutes on the stove. Bake and cool the pie, and then top with vanilla ice cream for the ultimate homestyle dessert.

Another reason why adding acid to your pie may be beneficial is that it makes for a more well-rounded flavor. The dominant taste of apple pie is sweet. But adding a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice to your pie can help balance out the flavor a bit and add tartness.

There are a few apples that don't make the cut. While great for snacking, Gala, Fuji and Red Delicious are the most common apples that won't hold up in the oven and will give you a watery-mushy pie, tart or cake.

You do not need to pre-bake a pie crust for an apple pie or any baked fruit pie really, but we do freeze the dough to help it stay put. Pre-baking the pie crust is only required when making a custard pie OR when making a fresh fruit pie. you should probably get: Pie weights are super helpful to have for pre-baking.

Why isn't my apple pie filling thickening? ›

Bake the pie fully.

If you don't leave the pie in the oven long enough your thickener doesn't get to the necessary temperature and time to thicken your filling. You want to see thick bubbling! The bubbling of the filling is activating the natural gelatin of your fruit as well as your thickeners.

There is no need to add lemon juice to prevent discoloration when baking with apples. It won't hurt the filling to have the lemon juice in there, but tossing the apples in juice isn't necessarily benefiting the dessert, either.

Lemon juice contains citric acid, which is a natural anti-oxidant. Therefore, when you apply lemon juice to apple slices, it helps to prevent the oxidation process.

A: Dotting the top of a fruit pie filling with butter is an old habit but one that is called for in only about half of the pie recipes out there. Some maintain that the butter is for taste; others claim that it helps the filling set up, particularly when using flour as a thickener.

Thickening properties: Cornstarch thickens more effectively than flour but needs higher temperatures to thicken. Toss it with sugar first to help it disperse better when it hits liquid.

All-purpose flour is an easy substitute for cornstarch; in fact you may see recipes for thickening pie fillings or soups with either. You'll need 2 tablespoons of flour for every 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in a recipe.

Apple Filling for Pies. "After just making this again I think some may find the filling too thick so I am changing the instructions to say 2-4 tablespoons of cornstarch. We like our apples diced so it takes 3-4 large apples to achieve 4 cups.

Clear Jel powder {the cooking type} is simply modified corn starch and works well to keep fillings nice and thick whether you are going to cook them right away, or stash in the freezer for later. Clear Jel powder also works great to thicken up cream pies too.