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Dessert French Fusion Recipes

French Apple Pie

Apples, raisins, cherries and cinnamon are baked into this deep dish pie. Save time using a store-bought shell then finish with a home-made crumbly topping.

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French vs Dutch or American apple pie

How can you tell the difference between a French, Dutch or American apple pie? Well, the short answer is the crust. The American has the flaking pie crust on bottom and top. The Dutch typically has a sweet crumbly topping. The French usually has exposed fruit with no top crust. While the filings of Dutch and American or normally just apples, sugar and spice, the French may contain raisins and cherries. So, what we’ll bake today is actually a hybrid or fusion of Dutch and French. And if you make it with American grown apples then you’re all over the map.

How do you like them apples?

Did you know that there are over 7,500 varieties of apples grown globally. For thousands of years, apples have been part of food culture. The once “forbidden fruit” of Eden was later considered a remedy “to keep the doctor away”. Prior to (alcohol) prohibition between 1920 and1933, a major portion of the US apple crop was used to produce hard cider. Nowadays, apple growers select breeds for a variety of purposes. This includes hard and non-alcoholic cider, wine, juice, butter, cooking apples and raw eating apples.

An apple orchard against vivid fall folliage in Rockburn, Quebec, Canada. Photo: K.R. Lamoureux
Choosing the right apples

Select some cooking or baking apples from among an extensive list of varieties available, depending on where you live. Apples vary from sweet to tart and will either soften or keep their shape after baking. Choose your apples accordingly. Popular choices are Granny Smiths, McIntosh or Honeycrisps.

My preference is for apples that are soft and sweet after baking. I found that Courtland and Spartan are two varieties that gave me the desired result. But there are so many more that I haven’t tried yet.

Raisins and cherries

For the cherries, use a sweet, pitted variety. For the raisins, plumper is better. The trick is to soak them in a bowl of water first. Do this while prepping the apples. Then drain them before mixing them in with the other ingredients.

French apple pie just out of the oven
The pie shell and crumbly topping

If you’re not a huge fan of making pie crusts, this recipe lets you off the hook by using a crumbly topping and a store-bought shell. Because most store-bought shells come in flimsy tins that are not really deep enough for this recipe, I prefer to remove the pie tin and fit the crust into a cake tin. I first apply a non-stick spray, then fit the crust to the sides, add the filling then top with the crumbly crust. You might want to put a cookie sheet on the rack below the pie just in case any juices run over during baking. That’s a lesson that I learned the hard way.

french apple pie slice

French Apple Pie

Kevin Lamoureux
Apples, raisins cherries and cinnamon are baked into this crumbly crust pie. Makes one deep-dish pie.
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Servings 6
Calories 551 kcal

Ingredients
  

Filling

  • 1 9-inch deep dish pie crust
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • 4 cups apples peeled, cored, sliced (about 5 medium)
  • ¼ cup flour
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • ¼ cup pitted cherries
  • ¼ cup raisins

Topping

  • cups flour
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 8 tbsp softened butter
  • ½ tsp cinnamon

Instructions
 

Filling

  • Preheat oven to 425° F
  • Mix white sugar, flour, nutmeg and cinnamon in a large bowl.
  • Stir in apples, cherries and raisins.
  • Add filling to the pastry shell.

Topping

  • Combine the remaining flour, butter, brown sugar and remaining cinnamon to form a crumbly mixture
  • Cover the pie filling with the crumble mixture topping.
  • Cover the pie with tin foil.
  • Bake 50 minutes, removing foil 10 minutes before done.

Notes

Serve warm or at room temperature with a side of French vanilla ice cream. 
Nutrition
Per serving
Calories: 551kcal | Carbohydrates: 85g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 22g | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 42g | Iron: 1mg
Keyword apple, cherries, crumble, French, pie, raisins

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