Brown Butter Apple Pie

**Brown Butter Apple Pie**
Source: [Southern Living](https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/ultimate-apple-pie)
This apple pie recipe is from **Buxton Hall Barbecue** in Asheville, North Carolina. It uses browned butter in the crust. Before anyone says it, yes, this is a lot of effort for a pie. If you are daunted, you can use your preferred pie crust recipe, or a prepared crust if you like—but the brown butter and buttermilk give the crust a really nice flavor and it’s kind of a neat trick.
**Pie Dough**
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (85g)
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting (280g)
2/3 cup whole-wheat pastry flour (80g)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
10 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces (140g)
1/2 cup cold whole buttermilk, plus 2 to 3 Tbsp. more, if needed (120ml)
**Filling**
3 pounds mixed apples (such as Winesap, Mutsu, Granny Smith, and Honeycrisp), cored, peeled, and cut into 1⁄2-inch-thick slices (about 6 apples)
4 ounces dried apples, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup apple butter
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 2 lemons)
1 teaspoon orange zest (from 1 orange)
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
2 cups packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
**Additional Ingredients**
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 tablespoons demerara sugar
Prepare the Flaky Pie Dough: Line a small metal or plastic bowl with aluminum foil. Place 6 tablespoons butter in a small heavy saucepan; cook over medium, stirring constantly, until butter begins to turn golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat; immediately pour butter into prepared bowl. Freeze until butter has solidified, about 1 hour. Lift foil from bowl; remove foil from butter, and cut into small pieces.
Stir together flours and salt in a medium bowl. Sprinkle browned butter pieces and cold butter pieces over flour mixture. (Do not mix into flour.) Place bowl in freezer 10 minutes.
Remove from freezer. Using your hands, pinch and smear butter pieces into the flour mixture to evenly distribute. (Return bowl to freezer for 10 minutes if butters begin to soften.) Add 1⁄2 cup cold buttermilk, and stir just until dough begins to come together, stirring in more buttermilk, 1 tablespoon at a time, if needed. Dough should be dry and formed into a mass; pieces of butter should be visible.
Divide dough in half. Press each half into a round, flat disk; wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 1 hour. Remove 1 dough disk from refrigerator and unwrap. Roll dough into a 13-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Fit dough into a 9-inch pie plate, making sure dough is evenly draped with no stretching or pockets. Place pie plate in refrigerator.
Remove remaining dough disk from refrigerator and unwrap. Roll dough to 1⁄8-inch thickness on lightly floured parchment paper. Cut into about 8 (1-inch-wide) strips. Transfer dough strips, with parchment paper, onto a large plate or baking sheet, and chill until ready.
Prepare the Filling: Stir together apple slices, dried apples, butter, and apple butter in a large skillet. Cook apple mixture over medium-high, stirring often, until apples are tender-crisp, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Add lemon juice, orange zest, grated ginger, and vanilla. Gently stir to combine. Sprinkle cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and cardamom over apple mixture, and gently stir to combine. Sprinkle with brown sugar, flour, and salt, and gently stir to combine.
Spoon Filling into chilled pie shell. Arrange dough strips in a lattice pattern on top. Trim excess dough, and discard. Press edges with a fork or crimp by pinching with your fingers to make a decorative pattern. Freeze 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425ºF. Brush crust with beaten egg, and sprinkle lightly with demerara sugar. Bake in preheated oven 15 minutes; reduce oven temperature to 350°F, and bake until Filling is bubbly and crust is golden brown, about 45 more minutes. Cover pie with aluminum foil after 30 minutes to prevent overbrowning. Let cool completely (4 to 6 hours) before slicing.
**Notes:** The **Demerara** is not required here but it gives the pie a nice crunch. It’s large-grained, coarse sugar with a hint of molasses flavor due to being less refined than pure white sugar. It’s similar to turbinado sugar but is just slightly stickier and is often even larger grained than turbinado is. It has a more subtle glavor than brown sugar and is dryer than brown sugar.
A little Calvados or bourbon goes really nicely in the filling—just a tablespoon or so. In addition, they use flour as a thickener here, which will work fine, but another option is tapioca starch. I love tapioca starch as a pie thickener because it tastes less gluey to me.
If you don’t want to use your hands you can use a **pastry cutter** or **food processor** (but be careful not to overprocess, you want noticeable bits of butter in your dough)
 
 

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