I was a little intimidated when I first decided to make an apple pie. This is Eyes Closed Cooking after all and you all know I like to keep things simple. Traditional apple pie looked anything but simple to me. Homemade crust and fancy designs on top just didn’t sound like my forte. But with a huge bag of apples sitting in my kitchen that no one wanted to eat, I knew I had no choice but to turn those apples into a sweet, sweet dessert.
I love taking major time-saving shortcuts when it comes to baked pies. I decided to take a page out of my Easy Pumpkin Pie recipe and use graham cracker crust for this apple pie as well. It adds such a sweet complimentary flavor and a little extra crunch. And it definitely helped in truly keeping this an EASY Apple Pie recipe.
After buying your ready-made graham cracker crust (or making your own if you have the time) you’ll then start preparing the apple pie filling. Luckily, apple pie filling is pretty standard and easy to put together. You can use any combination of apples you like such as Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, or Gala. We usually only eat Granny Smith around here so that’s what I used in my pie. They’re more sour than other apples but when mixed with the brown sugar, they have the perfect balance of sweet and tart.
It’s important that you peel your apples first and then slice them into thin pieces about 2-inches long. Thinner slices are preferable because they soften a lot quicker while baking. After slicing, you’ll stir in the apple pieces with your mixture of cinnamon, brown sugar and flour creating your official apple pie filling.
Okay, this is the part where it gets a little weird but bear with me because the result is actually amazing. I went a completely different route when it came to the top of the pie. Apple pies usually have a regular top crust sometimes with a fancy design. Or if keeping things simple they might even have a sweet crumbly top. I didn’t use any of these methods and instead decided to make a soft “cookie-like” top to my pie.
I literally used ALMOST the exact same ingredients I use when making chocolate chip cookies (sans chocolate chips of course). The batter was pretty much identical to cookie-dough. And all I did was spread it over the top of the pie using a butter knife. The final product yields a beautifully baked top-crust that tastes like a large, soft cookie. And you’ll still see some apple slices poking out for that apple pie feel.
This apple pie is as non-traditional as it gets with an easy graham cracker crust and cookie-like top. But it proves that different can still be scrumptious. I’m very happy with how this apple pie turned out especially because of how EASY it was to make. I hope you all put it on your holiday menu this year for a simple dessert that will still wow. Read on to see the full Easy Apple Pie recipe!
CHECK OUT THESE OTHER SWEET PIE RECIPES NEXT!
Easy Apple Pie Recipe (with Graham Cracker Crust)
Course: DessertDifficulty: Easy8
slices15
minutes55
minutes371
kcalThis Easy Apple Pie Recipe includes a graham cracker crust and a sweet, cookie-like top. It’s a non-traditional twist on a classic dessert!
Ingredients
- FOR PIE
5 apples, peeled and thinly sliced
¾ cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbs flour
6 oz ready-made graham cracker crust
- FOR TOP CRUST
½ cup flour
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup softened butter
1 egg
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- In a large bowl, mix the brown sugar, cinnamon and flour. Add the sliced apples and mix until they are coated well
- Pour the apple mixture into the graham cracker crust and spread evenly
- In a separate bowl, add the ingredients for the top crust which include the flour, brown sugar, softened butter and egg. Mix until smooth. It should have a thick cookie-batter consistency
- Pour the batter over the top of the apple pie filling, spreading evenly with the back of a spoon. Try to cover as much of the top of the pie as you can
- Place pie in the oven and bake for 55 minutes
- Slice and serve with your favorite vanilla ice cream if desired!
Notes
- Calories & Nutritional Info may vary based on different brands and ingredients used. Nutritional Info below was calculated using Very Fit Well’s Nutrition Calculator.
Nutrition Facts
8 servings per container
Calories371
- Amount Per Serving% Daily Value *
- Total Fat
12.4g
20%
- Saturated Fat 7.6g 38%
- Cholesterol 51mg 17%
- Sodium 117mg 5%
- Amount Per Serving% Daily Value *
- Potassium 221mg 7%
- Total Carbohydrate
64.2g
22%
- Dietary Fiber 4g 16%
- Sugars 48.7g
- Protein 2.6g 6%
- Calcium 3%
- Iron 9%
- Vitamin D 49%
* The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
This looks so good. And yet it was a complete disaster. The topping, which was supposed to make the nicely browned fluffy crust in the photograph, completely melted into the pie and left a sort of sticky, flaccid sheen on top of my otherwise delicious pie. I expect that it will taste fine, but it looks like some thing the cat brought in.
Hi Alan! Sorry to hear that! The only thing I can think of is maybe the batter for the topping was too runny. It’s best to keep the butter slightly softened but not completely melted when you mix the batter. Just as if you’re making cookie dough. It might even help to keep the butter cold and use a food processor to mix the ingredients. This should yield a sturdy batter that won’t melt into your pie. Hopefully that helps for next time. Thanks for the feedback!
I tried this recipe. The bottom crust ended up like crystalized sugar. I did add about 3/4 cup chpd walnuts to the topping. The outer edge where the cookie puffed a bit was the best part. The center was mushy. I did bake for the 55 minutes. I have been searching for a cookie topped apple pie recipe that I made 30 years ago. This was worth trying but wondered if you can try a few suggestions. First, the original pie put the plain sliced apples in a buttered glass pie pan- no bottom crust. Then the cookie topping was more of an oatmeal cookie with nuts. The cookie dough sunk into the apples just enough. Should there be baking soda in the cookie dough to help it puff and stay on top?
Hi Kay! Thank you for the feedback! I personally like the extra flavor added by the graham cracker crust so I always use it. For the topping, I’ve never tried it with baking soda but that is a great suggestion. I will definitely do some experimenting. 🙂
I am just baking mine with 4 minutes left and it looks great and smells great. I put 1/2 cup of brown sugar in apples and a 1/4 cup in batter. Added just a little extra flour and softened my butter in microwave. It was not liquid but kind of stiff.