I was inspired to make this pie after seeing an Epic photo by @lifebymikeG. He made a beautiful deep dish pie and I attempted to do the same. I thought I overdid the apples, but I think I could have added a few more to get a real deep dish effect. This was some good Friday night baking because that’s what weekends are in the pandemic! lol

I like the addition of coconut sugar instead of white sugar in this recipe. I’m in the process of trying to switch out some refined foods for more wholesome ones. Substitutes don’t always work out, but in this case it worked really well. Of all the apples you see, there was only ¼ cup sugar sweetening them which is the smallest amount I’ve ever used! The result was a less sweet pie- more like European style. It’s still dessert and you have the butter crust, but it seems somewhat lighter and makes the apples the real stars. (Use margarine for a vegan pie dough) Thanks @imperfectfoods for these organic apples!

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Deep Dish Apple Pie

Adapted recipe from @lifebymikeg

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Ingredients:

1 pie dough, enough for double crusted pie (made 2x from my Sweet short pastry recipe with butter)
15 small apples, sliced thin
¼ cup coconut sugar
zest of one whole lemon
juice of half a lemon
1 tsp. fine sea salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cornstarch
1 Egg + 1 tsp. water for egg wash

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Directions:

Roll out pie dough and place it in pie pan. trim off excess. Place in fridge and get to chopping apples.
In a large saucepan, combine thinly sliced apples, ¼ cup coconut sugar, lemon zest and juice, salt, cinnamon and cornstarch.
Cook until the juices release (about 10-15 minutes). Cool apples down on a large baking tray for at least 10 minutes.
Roll out the other pie dough and cut it into strips (or don’t cut strips and cover the whole pie if you don’t want to lattice it).
Place lattice strips on top. Brush some egg wash and sprinkle with raw sugar and cinnamon. (I added ⅛ tsp. nutmeg and cloves.) Place in the oven at 425 F for 30 minutes. Then, lower and cook another 45 minutes at 350 F. Cover loosely with foil if it browns too quickly.