Dutch Apple Pie Recipe

Dutch apple pie is a single crust apple pie with a sweet, buttery crumb topping in place of a top crust. This one uses a 9 inch deep-dish crust, 6 cups of sliced Granny Smith or Honeycrisp apples and a brown sugar and cinnamon crumb, bakes at 375°F for 50 to 60 minutes and cuts into 8 slices.

The crumb only works with cold butter, rubbed in until it looks like damp sand with a few larger clumps. The other thing to plan for is time: the pie needs at least 2 hours on the counter before you slice it, or the filling runs. Plan around it. It is the version that stays in my recipe binder.

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What Makes an Apple Pie Dutch

In American baking, “Dutch” means the crumb. The pie has a bottom crust and a thick streusel of flour, sugar, cinnamon and butter over the apples, a style linked to Pennsylvania Dutch and Amish home baking. That is why you will also see it called Dutch apple crumb pie or Dutch crunch apple pie.

It is not the apple pie of the Netherlands. A Dutch appeltaart is baked in a springform pan, stands much taller and usually has a lattice top, so it eats more like a cake than a pie.

Dutch Apple Pie vs Double Crust Apple Pie

A double crust apple pie closes the apples under a second sheet of pastry, which has to be rolled, vented and crimped. A Dutch apple pie uses one crust and replaces the lid with crumbs you scatter on by hand. The top bakes crunchier and sweeter, the edges caramelize a little, and there is no lattice to weave. It also travels well and cools without the top sagging, which makes it my choice when I am baking for a crowd.

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The Apples and the Filling

Pick apples that soften without collapsing. The card calls for Granny Smith or Honeycrisp, and I like a mix of both: Granny Smith for tartness and shape, Honeycrisp for sweetness. Soft, mealy apples such as Red Delicious turn to sauce under the crumb.

Peel and slice the apples thinly, about 6 cups, and toss them right away with the lemon juice. Add the 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 cup light brown sugar, 1/4 cup flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt, and mix until every slice is coated. Then wait 10 minutes. The sugar pulls juice out of the apples, and the flour turns that juice into a thick sauce once it bubbles in the oven.

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Choosing the Crust

Use a 9 inch deep-dish crust, store-bought or homemade. That depth matters. Six cups of apples mounded above the rim will overflow a standard shell and the juices end up on the oven floor. Keep the crust in the fridge until the filling is ready, because cold pastry holds its shape against the heavy filling and bakes up flakier than a shell that has gone soft on the counter.

Spoon the filling into the crust, press it down gently to pack the slices, and mound them a little higher in the middle than at the rim. Apples shrink in the oven. A flat filling leaves a gap under the topping.

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Making the Crumb Topping

The topping is 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup light brown sugar, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon salt, whisked together, then 1/2 cup (1 stick) of cold unsalted butter cut into cubes. That is equal parts flour and sugar by volume, held together by the butter.

Cold butter is the whole trick. Rub it in with your fingers or a pastry cutter until the mixture looks like damp sand with some pea size lumps. Melted or soft butter makes a greasy, flat lid instead of crumbs, so if your kitchen is warm, chill the bowl for 10 minutes. For bigger, crunchier clusters, squeeze a few handfuls together and break them into pieces over the pie.

I have mixed it by hand and in a food processor. My fingers win. They are slower, but you can feel when to stop, while a machine turns it into paste in a few pulses. The topping can be made a day ahead and kept in a sealed bag in the fridge.

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Baking Until the Filling Bubbles

Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C) with a baking sheet on the lower rack, scatter the crumb evenly over the apples so the whole surface is covered, and set the pie on the hot sheet. The sheet catches drips and sends heat straight into the bottom crust, which is what keeps it from turning soggy.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Watch the edges, not the top. The top should be golden brown, but the real sign is at the edges: thick juices bubbling slowly up through the crumb. Flour only thickens once it bubbles. Pull the pie early and it stays runny. A thin knife pushed into the center should meet soft apples with little resistance.

If the topping is browning before the juices bubble, lay a loose sheet of foil over the pie for the last 15 minutes.

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Cooling and Clean Slices

Leave the pie on a rack for at least 2 hours. Do not rush this. The filling keeps setting as it cools, and cutting it hot gives you a soupy center and a crumb that slides off. Use a serrated knife and lift each slice with a pie server.

Serve it at room temperature or slightly warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, or with a spoon of caramel sauce. Some bakers add chopped walnuts to the topping or use apple pie spice in place of cinnamon, but I keep the plain cinnamon crumb so the apples stay in front.

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Keeping and Reheating Leftovers

Once it is completely cool, cover the pie with foil or move it to an airtight container, and it keeps at room temperature for 2 days or in the fridge for up to 4. For a holiday table I often bake it the night before and leave it loosely covered on the counter.

Reheat slices in a 300°F oven for about 10 minutes to crisp the topping again. The microwave is faster but softens the crumb. You can also freeze slices wrapped in plastic and foil, thaw them overnight and warm them in the oven before serving.

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Dutch Apple Pie Questions

Can I make Dutch apple pie with canned apple pie filling?

Yes, and it works well. Spread canned or homemade apple pie filling in the deep-dish crust and skip the filling sugar, flour and spices, then add the same crumb topping. The apples are already cooked, so it is ready as soon as the crumb is golden and the filling bubbles at the edges.

Should the apples be cooked first?

Not for this recipe. The raw apples rest in the sugar mixture for 10 minutes and cook through in the oven, and mounding them above the rim makes up for the way they shrink as they soften.

Why is my crumb topping sandy instead of crunchy?

The butter was not fully rubbed in, or there were no clumps. Work it until the mix holds together when squeezed, and press some into larger clusters before scattering.

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For more fall pies, try the caramel apple pie when you want something richer, sour cream apple pie for a creamy filling, or double crust apple pie bars to feed a crowd. On the Thanksgiving table it sits well next to a pecan pie or pumpkin pie.

Pin this Dutch apple pie to your apple dessert board. If you bake it with a different apple mix or a twist on the topping, tell me about it in the comments.