Leaf Topped Homemade Apple Pie
An out-of-the-ordinary pie crust makes this Leaf Topped Homemade Apple Pie a showstopper! The cinnamon-spiced filling takes like an old-fashioned apple pie and will tantalize you with the aroma as it bakes!
This is one of the Best Apple Pie Recipes, and you can always top it with a plain top crust to streamline the recipe process!
Why You Must Make
- The leaf topping makes for an out-of-the-ordinary presentation!
- Filling a pie with precooked apples enables you to add a topping that’s level!
- Though you can find a wider of varieties of apples in the fall, there is really no season for apple pie so you can make it anytime you get a craving!
I spied a picture of a Shingle Leaf Apple Brandy Pie in a Martha Stewart Cookbook. Seriously a work of art. I knew it would be nearly impossible to replicate her shingled crust, but my apple pie-loving family care about the taste, not the look of the dessert.
Ingredient Notes:
- Kitchen Staples – Butter, Sugar, Cinnamon
- Pie Crust – for a double crust, homemade or store-bought (My favorite pie crust recipe is below the pie recipe).
- Baking Apples -I used golden delicious, Granny Smith, and Jonagold, peeled, cored, and each cut into 8 slices
- Fresh Lemon Juice – Don’t use bottled juice.
- Cream – to glaze the crust.
Tips for Making a Decorative Crust
- Use a good, tried, and true pie crust recipe. If your dough starts to crumble, you’ll be in trouble!
- Cook your filling. There will be less evaporation from the fruit as it bakes, keeping the decorative topping level.
- Take the time to level out the filling before adding the leaves or whatever special topping you’re adding.
- I like using the plastic plunger leaf cutters for this recipe. (affiliate link)
- Roll out your crust on a lightly floured surface. A large Silpat is nice as it is nonstick and will help with cleanup.
Frequently Asked Questions
Using more than one type of baking apple makes for tastier pies. An easy-to-find combination is tart, firm Granny Smith apples paired with softer, sweeter Golden Delicious. Northern Spy apples are my favorite pie apples but are often hard to find outside of Minnesota and New York areas.
Ask your produce manager for advice, but steer away from Red Delicious.
Precooking the filling allows the excess water in the apples to evaporate before baking instead of during baking. Ever baked a double-crust pie and have the top crust sink in numerous spots? That’s because as the apples cook and steam, they get smaller and take up less space under the crust.
If you’re artistic, you can cut out leaf shapes from your dough and score them to make veins. Other small cookie or biscuit cutters will also work. Small circles of dough would make an attractive topping. Or make a Dutch Apple Pie that has a crumb topping.
You May Also Like:
- Double Crust Apple Pie Recipe from Saving Room for Dessert
- Fresh Apple Pie Dip from Wishes and Dishes
- Apple Pie Bars
- Classic Apple Pie
- And don’t forget to check out all my 100+ Best Pie Recipes
Leaf Topped Apple Pie Recipe
A classic apple pie with a leaf cut-out crust.
Ingredients
- One double pie crust, homemade or store-bought
- 3 ½ pounds apples (I used golden delicious, Granny Smith, and Jonagold), peeled and each cut into 8 slices
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- Cream, to glaze pie
- Sugar, to sprinkle over glaze if desired
Instructions
- Melt butter in a large saucepan. Saute the apples for about a minute, gently stirring to coat apples with butter.
- Add lemon juice and sugar and cook till apples are just tender about 5 more minutes. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
- Allow to cool while rolling out the bottom crust.
- Preheat oven to 400º.
- Place the bottom crust into a 9-inch pie plate. Trim the pastry, leaving about a ¾ inch overhang. Fold the overhanging pastry under to form an unfluted edge.
- Carefully fill the crust with apples, tucking apples into any open spaces to make the top level.
- Roll out the top crust, then cut out leaves one at a time, placing them around the edge first, then repeat keeping the leaves touching from side to side, and overlapping slightly as you layer towards the center.
- Brush the crust with cream and sprinkle with sugar, if desired.
- Place the pie plate on a sheet pan to catch any drips. Immediately reduce oven temperature to 375º, and bake for about 40 minutes, or till the top is brown, the apples are tender, and the filling is bubbling.
- Cool on a rack. Serve with vanilla ice cream if desired.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 386Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 160mgCarbohydrates: 68gFiber: 6gSugar: 48gProtein: 2g
Best Pie Crust Recipe
This is the best pie crust for decorative toppings. The egg and combination of butter and shortening make it easy to work with.
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flur
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
- ¼ cup cold shortening, cut into pieces
- 1 egg, slightly beaten
- 5 tablespoons ice cold water
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
Instructions
- In a food processor, pulse together the flour salt, and sugar.
- Add the butter and shortening and pulse until the mixture resembles cornmeal.
- Whisk together the egg, water, and vinegar
- Add the egg mixture to the food processor and pulse until the mixture just comes together, pulling away from the sides.
- Divide the dough into two discs, wrap them in plastic, and refrigerate for about an hour.
- When chilled, use as directed.
Notes
Keep a stick of shortening in the freezer to always have ready for making pie crust.
If you like lard in your pie crust, replace the shortening for lard.
This recipe makes 2 crusts. It's enough for one double-crust pie or two single-crust pies.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 277Total Fat: 30gSaturated Fat: 17gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 88mgSodium: 457mgCarbohydrates: 2gFiber: 0gSugar: 2gProtein: 1g
Thatskinnychickcanbake.com occasionally offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although thatskinnychickcanbake.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased can change the nutritional information in any given recipe. Also, many recipes on thatskinnychickcanbake.com recommend toppings, which may or may not be listed as optional and nutritional information for these added toppings is not listed. Other factors may change the nutritional information such as when the salt amount is listed “to taste,” it is not calculated into the recipe as the amount will vary. Also, different online calculators can provide different results. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information obtained is accurate.
43 Comments on “Leaf Topped Homemade Apple Pie”
This is really gorgeous and fun to make! thanks for the recipe!
Such a beautiful pie! That leaf top crust is work of art, Liz. p.s Again haven’t got any of your update since Dec.28.
Shoot! I bet it’s because I’m updating a bunch instead of posting new. Wish I had an answer!! xo
You can’t beat a classic apple pie! This one is beautiful, Liz. I love those leaves! Now I’m craving a big slice topped with ice cream!
What a gorgeous pie! Wishing you all the best for the coming year, dear Liz.
What a beautiful pie and apple is my favorite. Here’s to a very happy and healthy new year to you and yours, Liz!
I’m so surprised that you find a lattice crust daunting – not because i think it’s not, but because I think you’re such a highly skilled baker that I just assumed you’d have a perfect way of making one! That makes me feel more human, because I seriously doubt I could pull one off, either! Regardless, I love the leaves. So attractive.
What a stunning pie. Those super cute leaves are a show stopper. Beautiful dish to pass around the holidays.
This pie looks absolutely beautiful – these dough leaves elevate the presentation to a different level. So festive and elegant!
Just beautiful!!! I learned from you to use a variety of apples for the very best taste. Merry Christmas to you and yours Liz. Stay well and be blessed.
Absolutely gorgeous! Just love the leaves.
Thank you for this site and its so good for us.
Liz this pie looks beautiful! I totally understand the self critiques and I appreciate you sharing your thoughts. We would devour this pie in a heartbeat!
GORGEOUS pie!! It’s rich and full of apples and the leaf-pattern is super unique! It really turned out amazing
Perfect pie all around!
Beautiful! Those leaves are gorgeous.
You are so right that your pie is a show-stopper. Fancy crust, an apple filling that holds its shape. This is THE apple pie to make.
This is stunning Liz. It has been so long since I’ve had apple pie. Now I NEED some!
So beautiful! Your effort definitely didn’t go unnoticed.
I don’t think I could pull off this gorgeous pie crust! Wow. I am in awe!
What a gorgeous apple pie Liz, it’s a “ouvre d’art” !
Hubs favorite pie is apple, just showed him yours and we both swooned, love the look of the leaf pattern, it is gorgeous! Nettie
What a beautiful crust! This brings back memories…warm apple pie and ice cream. There is nothing better!
I admired this pie on FB quite some time ago, the end result isn’t nearly that bad! I often have to wrap foil around the pie crust edge for more even baking, I always figured it was the oven! It sure looks like it tasted good anyway!
What are you talking about? I reckon the leaf topping is perfect!! And definitely better than anything I could do. This looks amazing!
Don’t know what the Martha pie looked like. But yours definitely looks like it is out of a Martha Stewart cookbook! Bravo!
Oh wow, I love how you’ve inspired us with your work of art, Liz! xoxo
This is just so pretty Liz! Nice job!
How gorgeous is this! Looks like it took a lot of work, I’d never want to dig in!
This pie is gorgeous, Liz! All that work was worth the effort when you get results like this! I’d dying for a big slice of it!
that is a beautiful pie
So so gorgeous, Liz! I think your pie is perfect! I love the leaves and can just imagine how amazing this tastes too! 🙂
Hi Liz, it’s amazing how hard we all our on ourselves, your pie looks like a masterpiece, it’s beautiful. Love that you served this with vanilla ice cream.
I have crust issues too! So happy to know I’m not the only one. You did an amazing job and I love all the tips for not having the leaves move around. Thank you for sharing!
Liz
You are the Queen of pies! This is the prettiest apple pie I have ever seen!
So pretty, Liz! That leaf topping is glorious!
Liz, this is lovely. When I first saw the title in the preview, I was thinking you topped the pie with APPLE tree leaves. Silly me. This looks much more appetizing than my mental image.
I happen to think your pie is lovely and would be very happy if a slice was served to me. I have that cookbook and can’t imagine what goes on behind the scenes to accomplish those beautiful photos.
Sunday supper? YES, please!! 🙂
Your leaf-patterned top looks lovely, and I’m sure it tasted good too.
Liz, your pie is so beautiful! I never do anything other than traditional crust so this is super impressive.
I think your pie turned out quite nicely, Liz! I love the leaf pattern and like you have a lot of fun with pie tops, yet never know how the dough is going to act during the baking process. And yes,in the end it’s all about flavor and family tummy happiness!
Very pretty! Now this is a theme I’m loving-gonna spend some time seeing what everyone made:@)