Honey Lemon Apple Pie
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This Honey Lemon Apple Pie is probably my absolute new favorite pie recipe, it is that good! I use a mix of honey, apple, and lemon in the filling and this baby is brushed with honey (instead of eggs) making it a naturally eggless pie recipe with perfectly golden brown crust!
If you love apple pies, be sure to check out my other favorite apple pies like my Orange Blossom Honey Apple Pie, Vanilla Bean Apple Pie, or my Caramel Apple Pie.
Table of Contents
This is one of my all time favorite apple pie recipes! And that's saying a lot! I have made thousands of pies during my time as a bake shop owner, so to say this is a favorite, it truly is! I combine lemon juice, zest, and sweet Honeycrisp apples along with honey for a sweet and zesty apple pie filling.
This organic pie is finished with a lattice top crust so you can see the beautiful filling shine through. And, it's topped with my favorite eggless pie wash – a mixture of honey and water. This combination ensures a perfectly golden brown curst every time, and it gives this organic pie a naturally sweetened, crispy, flaky crust that I am obsessed with! If you are a fan of apple pie, this is an elevated twist on a classic recipe that is simply bursting with flavor!
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Eggless Pie: Making eggless pie is very easy, but it also yields in a more golden brown crust! I brush the crust of this Honey Lemon Apple Pie with my favorite eggless pie wash, which is just honey and water. I use equal parts honey and water and you just melt them together for a few seconds in the microwave and brush it on like egg wash. The result is a beautiful golden brown, slightly sweet, eggless pie!
Elevated Classic: This is just like a traditional apple pie recipe, but I add in lemon juice, honey, and lemon zest. I also cook the filling to reduce the lemon juice, because you don't want liquid in a fruit pie, but you do want the flavor of the lemon. So, this Honey Lemon Apple Pie tastes like a classic apple pie, but just better!
Lattice Top: This Honey Lemon Pie has a lattice top, which makes it look extra beautiful. You can see the apple filling showing through, which is something I love! If you are new to organic pie baking be sure to check out some of my tutorials like All Butter Pie Crust and How to Lattice a Pie Crust for step by step instructions and tips for pie baking.
Ingredients
- Butter: I use Organic Valley Salted Butter, you can use your favorite. Just be sure it's cold, straight from the fridge as cold butter will give you flaky pie crust.
- All Purpose Flour: I use Cairnspring Mills, it's my favorite!
- Cane Sugar: I use organic cane sugar, which is less processed than granulated white sugar. This gives this apple pie a more natural sweetness, without being overly sweet.
- Apples: I use Honeycrisp apples, but any other sweet variety like Fuji, Gala, or Pink Lady would also have the same flavor.
- Honey: I use organic raw honey both inside the pie and for the pie wash. I use a 1 to 1 ratio of honey to water for pie wash (in place of eggs!). That makes this an eggless pie and it gives the crust a really perfect golden brown color and a little sweetness that I am obsessed with!
- Lemons: I use organic lemons for flavor in the filling, both the juice and the zest.
- Cornstarch: Organic cornstarch really is essential for fruit pies as it thickens the filling to ensure you don't get a soggy crust and so fruit juices don't run out when the pie is sliced.
- Cinnamon: I use organic Korintje cinnamon, which is my favorite variety. Be sure to check out my post the Best Cinnamon to Bake With for more info on the different kinds of cinnamon.
Tools Needed
- Scale: Always use a digital food scale for the best results.
- Stand Mixer: I use my stand mixer for ease, but you can also make pie dough by hand if you prefer.
- Rolling Pin: You'll need a rolling pin to roll out the pie dough.
- 9-inch Pie Pan: I use my USA Pie Pan here, as aluminum is a great choice for getting a really flaky, crisp pie crust. Check out my post The Best Pie Pans to Bake With.
- Mixing Bowl: You'll need a large mixing bowl to mix up the filling.
- Pastry Brush: I use a silicone pastry brush to brush on the pie wash.
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Step by Step Instructions
Step 1
To make the crust: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the flour and cane sugar. Turn the mixer on low for two to three rotations to combine the dry ingredients.
Remove the butter from the fridge and chop into small cubes. The smaller the cubes, the flakier the crust. Cut the stick of butter into four and then chop into small cubes from there. Add the cold, cubed butter to the flour mixture. Measure out the cold water and have it ready.
Turn the mixer on low and slowly start to incorporate the ingredients. Gradually turn the mixer to medium speed. Once the butter mixture looks like wet sand, immediately add in all the water. As soon as the dough comes together, stop the mixer. Do not over mix.
Divide the dough into two portions, one should be almost double the size of the other. I prefer to weigh them, the large one should weigh 312 grams and the small should weigh 170 grams. Form them both into disks and wrap separately in plastic wrap. Allow to cool in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Step 2
To make the filling: In a small saucepan, add the apples, cane sugar, honey, lemon juice, flour, cornstarch, and cinnamon and mix together. Put over medium heat, and continue to stir occasionally. The sugar will start to melt and coat the apples. The juices will start to bubble. Continue to cook until the liquid has thickened, you’ll know when you scrape the bottom of the pot and you can visibly see that it doesn’t fill in the open space immediately. This should take 8 to 14 minutes. Place the mixture in the fridge to cool, or allow to cool until room temperature.
Step 3
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Step 4
To make the topping: Add the honey and water to a small dish. Microwave it for 10 seconds or so to melt the honey so you can completely stir it together. Set aside.
Step 5
Grease the pie pan well with butter. Remove the pie dough from the fridge. Remove the plastic wrap and place on a floured surface. First, roll out the large disk to ¼-inch thick, it should be about 11-inches in diameter. Place the pie dough into the pie pan, and press lightly to form against the pan. It should be large enough that the dough folds right over the top. Roll out the smaller disk to ¼-inch thick, it should be about 9-inches in diameter. Set aside.
Step 6
Add the filling into the pie pan and spread evenly.
I like to use a pizza cutter for this next step, but a sharp knife will work as well. Cut the rolled out dough into 1-inch wide strips. Place the strips on top of the apples going horizontal leaving 1-inch between strips. Use the smaller strips towards the sides of the pie and use the longer strips for the middle. Next, add the remaining dough strips going vertical, alternating each strip over and under the horizontal ones. Once the lattice top is complete, crimp and fold over the edges of the dough to seal the top and bottom together. Flute the edges. Using a pastry brush, brush the dough with the water and honey topping.
Step 7
Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
Baker's Tips
- Use cold butter for the pie crust. If you are new to making pie crust, or want a step by step and tricks, check out my All Butter Pie Crust post for a lot more info!
- I use Honeycrisp apples in this recipe. But, if you can't find them, you can also use Fuji or Gala as they are very similar and a lot more easily found in stores.
- Cooking the filling is super important in this recipe, as I mentioned above. The lemon juice will add flavor, but it needs to be cooked and reduced down so that the pie isn't soggy and juicy.
- This an eggless pie recipe, because I am using honey and water to brush the crust. This is also why this pie has such a pretty color, the honey really browns the crust, and it tastes amazing. I use organic raw honey, which I would advise using here as well. But you can use any kind of variety of honey that you like.
- If you don't want to lattice the top, you can totally skip that step! Just roll out the top portion of the dough and place it on top, you can roll and flute it just like a normal pie. If you go this route, be sure to make a couple vent holes in the top.
- Pie shouldn't be covered or in an airtight container, so don't cover it or put in Tupperware if you are saving it. Putting it in an airtight container will cause the pie to become soggy. Pie is best when left out on the counter at room temperature.
FAQ's
I cook the filling in this recipe so the lemon juice can evaporate, but the flavor will remain. When baking fruit pies, you don't want the filling to be too runny as it will run and leak out of the pie. So cooking it down can help that and this is what I'm doing in this recipe.
Yes, if you prefer, you can use egg wash on top. But, this honey topping is my favorite, I hope you try it!
Yes, feel free to make this pie the day before. Just leave it out on the counter (do not cover).
Craving More?
Honey Lemon Apple Pie
Ingredients
Crust
- 226 grams all purpose flour (plus extra for rolling)
- 1 teaspoon cane sugar
- 170 grams salted butter (cold)
- 7 tablespoons cold water
Filling
- 3 large Honeycrisp apples (sliced)
- 113 grams cane sugar
- 43 grams raw honey
- ½ lemon (juiced)
- 21 grams all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Zest of 1 lemon
Topping
- 1 tablespoon raw honey
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- To make the crust: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the flour and cane sugar. Turn the mixer on low for two to three rotations to combine the dry ingredients.
- Remove the butter from the fridge and chop into small cubes. The smaller the cubes, the flakier the crust. Cut the stick of butter into four and then chop into small cubes from there. Add the cold, cubed butter to the flour mixture. Measure out the cold water and have it ready.
- Turn the mixer on low and slowly start to incorporate the ingredients. Gradually turn the mixer to medium speed. Once the butter mixture looks like wet sand, immediately add in all the water. As soon as the dough comes together, stop the mixer. Do not over mix.
- Divide the dough into two portions, one should be almost double the size of the other. I prefer to weigh them, the large one should weigh 312 grams and the small should weigh 170 grams. Form them both into disks and wrap separately in plastic wrap. Allow to cool in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight.
- To make the filling: In a small saucepan, add the apples, cane sugar, honey, lemon juice, flour, cornstarch, and cinnamon and mix together. Put over medium heat, and continue to stir occasionally. The sugar will start to melt and coat the apples. The juices will start to bubble. Continue to cook until the liquid has thickened, you’ll know when you scrape the bottom of the pot and you can visibly see that it doesn’t fill in the open space immediately. This should take 8 to 14 minutes. Place the mixture in the fridge to cool, or allow to cool until room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- To make the topping: Add the honey and water to a small dish. Microwave it for 10 seconds or so to melt the honey so you can completely stir it together. Set aside.
- Grease the pie pan well with butter. Remove the pie dough from the fridge. Remove the plastic wrap and place on a floured surface. First, roll out the large disk to ¼-inch thick, it should be about 11-inches in diameter. Place the pie dough into the pie pan, and press lightly to form against the pan. It should be large enough that the dough folds right over the top. Roll out the smaller disk to ¼-inch thick, it should be about 9-inches in diameter. Set aside.
- Add the filling into the pie pan and spread evenly.
- I like to use a pizza cutter for this next step, but a sharp knife will work as well. Cut the rolled out dough into 1-inch wide strips. Place the strips on top of the apples going horizontal leaving 1-inch between strips. Use the smaller strips towards the sides of the pie and use the longer strips for the middle. Next, add the remaining dough strips going vertical, alternating each strip over and under the horizontal ones.
- Once the lattice top is complete, crimp and fold over the edges of the dough to seal the top and bottom together. Flute the edges. Using a pastry brush, brush the dough with the water and honey topping.
- Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Store at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Notes
Nutrition
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