Cinnamon Bun Apple Pie

I first saw this Cinnamon Bun Apple Pie on King Arthur's site and was intrigued by the top crust.  It’s a fun way to finish an apple pie. Unfortunately, when I checked it was no longer there.

I used my American Pie Crust from Scratch and filled it with three pounds of apples, cinnamon, nutmeg and a touch of brandy.

Which Apples to Use

When making apple pies, sweet as well as tart apples make the most interesting combination taste-wise.  Firm apples are best since they keep their sliced shape and look great when the pie is cut.

There are many different kinds of apples, and grocery stores seem to carry a lot of them.  But in my area, I still can’t get Northern Spy Apples, which I think makes one of the best apple pies ever.  We used them at the bakery.  They’re not too sweet and not as tart as Granny Smiths.  They take to the long baking without getting mushy.

So, lacking my fav, I have moved on to a combination of apples.  I always use Granny Smith adding Pink Ladies, and/or Galas when making the Cinnamon Bun Apple Pie.  All of these produce a pie with distinct but softly baked sliced apples.

Other apples that fare well are Braeburn, Honey Crisp which are only available in the Fall, Jonagold which are a mix of Jonathan and Golden Delicious, Jazz and Ginger Gold.

The Cinnamon Bun Top Crust

I’m using my tried and true American Pie Crust.  The Cinnamon Bun top crust is made by rolling out the top crust, sprinkling it with cinnamon and sugar, then rolling it up jellyroll style.  After chilling, the roll is sliced and rolled between wax paper to flatten it,  forming the top crust.

The Sugar

This is the trickiest part of making apple pies.  Many things affect the sweetness of apples, including how long they have been in storage, whether white granulated sugar or brown sugar is used, additional items in the filling and personal taste.  I give a range of sugar and suggest you start with the lowest amount. After the apples, spices, thickener and sugar have been sitting for 20 or so minutes, taste a slice or two.   While not conclusive, it will give you an idea of whether to add a bit more sugar or not.

Remember this pie has sugar and cinnamon in the top crust.

Preparing the Filling for the Cinnamon Bun Apple Pie

I have seen a couple of suggestions for keeping the apples from turning brown while rolling out the crusts.  Some people use lemon juice, and the worst suggestion I have seen is covering them with water.  Water will leach out some of the apple flavor.  It can also help mush the apples.

I have never understood this obsession with keeping the apples from discoloring in a pie.  It doesn’t change the taste of the apple, although I will admit it doesn’t look great in a salad, but for a pie that will be brown when fully baked, who cares if they start out that way.  Besides, if you mix the spices, thickener, and sugar together, add them to the sliced apples letting them sit while rolling out the crust, they will be brown anyway from the spices.

I don’t know about you, but I have never baked an apple pie, nor seen one, where the apples are white after baking.

If you have ever baked or seen a pie where the top crust is domed up with a big empty space before you get to the filling, the reason may be how the apples were sliced.  If they are big and chunky, the pie is most likely to have this dome.  However, by slicing the apples thinly, they compact better as they are baked, and the top crust adheres to the apples.

Thickener

Apples don’t exude a lot of juice like a berry pie.  I have always used flour to thicken my apple pies, but recently I taught a Perfect Pie class on Zoom.  One of the thickeners I used was Instant ClearJel which thickens without cooking as well as when cooked.  In King Arthur’s recipe, they used Instant ClearJel as part of their thickener.  Since I knew students probably had this, I tried it in my pie, and it worked really well.  So, as did they, I give you a choice of thickeners.  If you use ClearJel make sure it is the Instant variety.

Recipe Ingredients

American Pie Crust for a Double Crust

FRONT ROW: Salt, egg, lemon juice

MIDDLE ROW: Unsalted butter, shortening

BACK ROW: Cake flour, ice water, all-purpose flour

Apple Filling

GOING COUNTER CLOCKWISE: Cinnamon, nutmeg, brandy, apples, brown sugar, brandy, vanilla, all-purpose flour in the middle

Step by Step Instructions

Please see The American Pie Crust from Scratch for step by step photos.

Step 1. Peel and slice the apples. Step 2. Combine the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl. Step 3. Mix the together. Step 4. Add them to the apples in a the bowl.

Step 5. Combine the apple juice concentrate, brandy and vanilla in small bow. Step 6. Stir it into the apples. Step 7. Draw an 11" circle on a piece of parchment paper. Turn the paper over and set aside. Step 8. Divide the pie crust into two pieces one about 2/3 and the other 1/3. Roll the smaller of the two into a 12 x12" rectangle. Roll it up jelly roll style and refrigerate until cold throughout.

Step 9. Cut the cinnamon roll into 3/4" pieces. Place them evenly inside the circle drawn on parchment. Step 10. Place waxed paper over the rolls. Step 11. Roll the crust to fit within the circle. Refrigerate. Step 12. Roll the bottom crust into a 12" circle and place it evenly in the 9" pie plate.

Step 13. Remove the top crust from the fridge. Let it warm slightly so it will bend. Place it evenly over the filled pie. Wet the bottom over hang slightly and press the crusts together. Step 14. Flute the edges. Step 15. Tear strips of flour about 4" wide. Step 16. Cover the edges of the crust with the foil. We used this method at the bakery as it is easier to cover them now and remove them half way through baking than to coer them when everything is piping hot. Bake as directed.