Brown Butter Apple Pie
Ingredients
For the Double Crust Pie Dough:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp. coarse salt
- 2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1 large egg
- 2 tbsp. ice water, plus more if needed
- 1 tbsp. distilled white vinegar
For the Pie Filling:
- 1/2 stick unsalted butter
- 6 -7 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into eighths
- 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
- 1/2 tsp. coarse salt
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light-brown sugar, packed
- 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
- Water, for brushing
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- Coarse sanding sugar, for sprinkling
Instructions
To prepare the pie dough:
- Place flour and salt in a food processor.
- Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal with some blueberry-size clumps.
- Beat together egg, ice water, and vinegar in a small bowl.
- Add to flour mixture and pulse just until incorporated, about 10 times more.
- Squeeze a small amount of dough to make sure it holds together.
- If dough is too dry, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap, forming each into 1 disk.
- Refrigerate at least 30 minutes and up to 2 days.
To prepare the pie:
- In a small saucepan, melt butter, over medium-low heat, and cook, swirling pan occasionally, until butter is golden brown and fragrant, about 8 minutes; let cool.
- 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 browned butter to apples.
- Stir in flour mixture.
- Rollout 1 disk of dough to just under ¼-inch thick on a lightly floured surface and fit into a 9-inch glass pie plate.
- Rollout 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.
- 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.
- Meanwhile ,pre-heat 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 to 375°F and bake until well browned, about 1 hour.
- Tent pie with foil and continue to bake until bubbling through vents, about 20 minutes more.
- Remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack, at least 6 hours.
- Pie can be made 1 day ahead and stored at room temperature.
Notes
Dough can be frozen up to 1 month.