Our Favorite Apple Pie

When you’re cooking the classics, simpler is usually better. This apple pie recipe is the embodiment of that idea. The age-old combination of a flaky, buttery pie crust and tender sliced apples is perfect as it is, without any added bells and whistles (except maybe a scoop of vanilla ice cream). It’s an essential dessert to cap off a holiday meal—alongside pumpkin pie or pecan pie as the occasion demands—but it’s also great anytime as a comforting treat to enjoy with coffee.

The key to the best apple pie recipe, though, lies in the techniques: To make a flaky pie crust, you need to ensure your ingredients stay cold; so, before you get started, you’ll want to freeze the butter. Once you’ve made the dough, you’ll refrigerate it to chill everything again, both before you roll it out and after you’ve placed the bottom crust in a pie plate. You’ll also want to take care when selecting your apples. The best apples for pie are firm varieties that hold up to baking and don’t lose their shape; Honeycrisps, Braeburns, and Golden Delicious all work well and are readily available. (While some recipes call for precooking the apples, it’s best to leave them raw and let the fruit cook in the pie itself; this will keep the apple pie filling from getting mushy and keep the bottom crust from being soggy.) Once you have these elements down, you can’t go wrong with this beloved dessert.