Brown-Butter Apple Pie Recipe (With Video)

Prep Time:

1 hr

Cook Time:

1 hr 35 mins

Total Time:

10 hrs

Servings:

If you want to take your apple pie up a notch, Martha suggests you make her brown butter apple pie. She uses Granny Smith apples in this recipe, and the addition of browned butter and vanilla bean seeds gives the filling a rich, nutty vanilla flavor that’s a little different and altogether delicious. The crust is her go-to, an all-butter homemade pastry you can prep ahead of time. If you’re making this pie for a special meal, we suggest you bake it the morning of or a day ahead as it needs at least six hours to cool down before serving.

Making Brown Butter Apple Pie Ahead

Pie dough can be made ahead and frozen for up to three months; thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
The pie dough can be rolled out up to eight hours ahead.
Pie can be made one day ahead and stored at room temperature.

Directions

Make brown butter:

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and cook, swirling pan occasionally, until butter is golden brown and fragrant, about 8 minutes; let cool.
Toss apples and lemon juice; combine flour, sugars, and vanilla:

Toss together apples and lemon juice in a large bowl. Combine flour, salt, granulated and brown sugars, and vanilla bean seeds in another bowl, breaking up clumps and combining with a fork or fingers.
Add brown butter to apples;

Mix browned butter into apples. Stir in flour mixture.
Roll out dough and fit bottom crust into pie plate:

Roll out 1 disk of dough to just under 1/4-inch thick on a lightly floured surface and fit into a 9-inch glass pie plate. Roll out remaining disk of dough to a 13-inch round.

Rolled-out dough can be refrigerated up to 8 hours. (Be sure to let the 13-inch round sit at room temperature until pliable before topping pie, or it will break.)
Assemble pie and freeze:

Place apples in pie shell, brush edges with water, and cover pie with top crust. Trim excess, leaving a 1-inch overhang. Fold top edge over bottom crust to seal, and crimp as desired. Cut steam vents in top crust. Freeze pie 30 minutes.
Preheat oven, egg wash pie and sprinkle with sugar and bake:

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425°F with rack in lowest position. Brush pie with egg wash and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Place a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet on floor of oven to catch any drips. Bake pie on lowest rack 15 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature and bake:

Reduce oven temperature to 375°F and bake until well browned, about 1 hour.
Tent with foil and continue baking:

Tent pie with foil and continue to bake until bubbling through vents, about 20 minutes more. Let cool completely on a wire rack, at least 6 hours.

Brown-Butter Apple Pie

Making Brown Butter Apple Pie Ahead

Directions

Make brown butter:

Toss apples and lemon juice; combine flour, sugars, and vanilla:

Add brown butter to apples;

Roll out dough and fit bottom crust into pie plate:

Assemble pie and freeze:

Preheat oven, egg wash pie and sprinkle with sugar and bake:

Reduce oven temperature and bake:

Tent with foil and continue baking:

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