The holidays are right around the corner, and what’s better than an apple pie that everyone can enjoy?

For the crust, you will need:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour
• 1/2 cup sour cream (full fat, preferably), chilled
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, roughly chopped and chilled
• 3/4 teaspoon cornstarch 
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• Ice water by the teaspoonful, as necessary

For the filling, you will need:

• 4 medium apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into ~3 mm thick slices 
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 tbsp cornstarch or another thickener of choice – you can use gluten-free flour
• 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• pinch of salt

To start, make your pie crust dough. In a large bowl, place the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt, and whisk to combine well. Add the chopped and chilled butter, and toss to coat it in the dry ingredients. Flatten each chunk of butter between your thumb and forefinger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add the sour cream, and mix to moisten the dry ingredients The dough should be shaggy and somewhat crumbly. Knead the dough together with clean hands until it begins to come together. Add ice water by the teaspoon only if necessary for the dough to hold together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turn the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap, and press into a disk as you close the plastic wrap around the dough. It will still seem rough. Place the dough in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.

Now while the crust is cooling, let’s start the filling in a bowl: mix together the sliced apples, lemon juice, powder sugar, spices, and salt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mix well and place into a strainer above a bowl. Allow the excess liquid from the filling to drip into the bowl for at least 1 hour. Transfer the drained liquid into a small saucepan, and add the butter. Cook on medium-high heat until caramelized and syrupy (about five minutes). Set aside. Sprinkle the cornstarch on top of the pie filling and toss everything together until the cornstarch is evenly distributed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To put the pie together, get an 8-inch round pie dish ready to have on hand.

Remove one pie dough disc from the fridge and roll it out into a roughly circular shape about 3 mm thick. The pie dough circle should be at least 2 1/2 – 3 inches larger than the pie dish.

Transfer the rolled out pie dough into the pie dish, and shape it so that it’s snug against the pie dish sides. Leave a bit of pie dough hanging over the edge – this will be used for crimping later.

Transfer the apple pie filling into the pie dish, and drizzle the caramelized syrup evenly on top. If the syrup has thickened up too much, reheat it briefly until runny.

Roll out the other pie dough disc, and use it to form a lattice or a pie crust lid on top of the filling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preheat the oven to 390ºF with a baking sheet inside.

Bake the pie in the preheated oven for 15 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 375ºF and bake for another 25 minutes or until golden on top. Take your pie out of the oven, allow it to cool, and enjoy! (Or eat it warm with a scoop of ice cream on top – YUM!)