In 2004, I discovered this wonderful recipe! Made some adjustments, and ever since, I’ve “mega-cooked” my apple pie fillings. The following recipe truly does store in the freezer for up to a year…in fact, just the other day I thawed one that I’d put up last September and the resulting pie was super!
Apple Pie Filling
- 24 cups sliced peeled baking apples (6-7 lbs)
- 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 4 ½ cups sugar (I use half brown sugar, half white)
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 10 cups water
In a large bowl, toss apples with lemon juice; set aside. In a Dutch oven (large kettle works) over medium heat, combine sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Add water; bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add apples; return to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until apples are tender, about 6-8 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes. Ladle into freezer containers, leaving ½ inch headspace. Cool at room temperature no longer than 1 ½ hours. Seal and freeze; store for up to 12 months. Yield: 5 ½ quarts (enough for about five 9-inch pies).
Okay, here are my tips. Instead of quart jars, I use gallon-sized freezer bags. Let the filling cool a bit before filling the bags (one quart per bag) and then flatten the bag to freeze it. This way, you can stack the “boards” of filling in your freezer and slide one out when needed. Less space needed, and the thawing time is shorter. After thawing, I heat mine up on the stove or in the microwave before putting it in my pie crust, and dot it with butter before sealing the top crust.
Along the same lines, you can stack and freeze your pie crusts. Roll them in your 8 or 9″ circles between wax paper, and stack them together in one of those two gallon freezer bags. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before using!
For a whole lot of fascinating information on making pie crust, and several recipes for “the perfect pie crust” go to Simply Recipes.
My pastry recipe is an old family one–tried and true–that uses butter-flavored Crisco. In light of that, here’s something I learned, that I’ll pass on, from the above site:
“The problem with shortening is that until recently, Crisco shortening contained a lot of transfats. Fortunately, they’ve come out with a new version, in a green can, that has 0 grams of trans fats.”
Now go make some pie!
Hi Paula,
This recipe is enough to make five 9″ pies. I thaw mine overnight before I bake, and I do reheat it a bit on the stovetop before putting it in my pie crusts.
Hope this helps!
Mary
How long do I cook the pies for and at what tempatures?
Good question! I always reheat my filling after it thaws, and then bake it at least 30-45 minutes in a 350 degree oven, or till crust is golden and pie filling bubbly. Hope this helps, Kelley!
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Wondering if this recipe would make a good apple crisp?
Yes, Marcia, it’s great with a crumb or crisp topping! :O)
This, also, sounds quite a bit like the filling for my apple pandowdy that my family loves.
I just tried to make this pie filling. I ended up with applesauce. I measured everything carefully and followed the recipe carefully. I added more cornstarch and that wouldn’t even thicken it up. I have no idea what went wrong. I’ll never use it again. Sorry to sound mad, but honestly, I’m a tried and true baker from way back, not a newbie. This recipe should be removed from the site. I’d do that anyway. It cost me a whole bunch of apples. It’s too sweet for applesauce because I put honey or just a tad of sugar in mine, not cups. Oh well. The apples were donated by my church for me to make several pies for a function. Now I’ll have to buy them to replace what I lost.
Do you recommend to pre-bake the crust before baking with the filling?
Hi KTN, no, don’t prebake the crust, just add your warmed up filling to the unbaked pie dough lined pie plate and top with crust, as usual! Sorry I didn’t see this sooner!
I’m so sorry Joan! I’ve never had any trouble with this recipe and use it every year. That is strange, and I am so sorry for all the trouble and time you lost trying this recipe. This is a recipe I originally got from Taste of Home, and we all know that they test all their recipes in their test kitchens before putting their name on them. I would chalk it up to a fluke, maybe the type of apples, or some other anomaly. Very sorry it didn’t turn out for you.
–Mary
Hi Becky, I haven’t made apple pandowdy in SO long! I forgot about it…will have to dig up that recipe, we are inundated with apples right now! Thanks for the comment!
I think this works great!
Just made this apple pie filling. Delicious, thanks so much
I made this recipe in October, 2012 and just now got around to making a pie with it – it turned out fabulous! Thanks for sharing!