Christmas Apple Pie

Apple Pie is a holiday classic. This recipe takes it to the next level with decorations on the pie crust!

Apple Pie is such a classic holiday recipe. I cannot imagine celebrating Christmas without an apple pie on the table. This recipe definitely kicks it up a notch.

Welcome to day #5 of Christmas Week, a multi-blogger event co-hosted by yours truly, and Jen of Juanita’s Cocina. Today’s theme for Christmas Week is “Christmas Pies and Pastries”. Make sure you visit all the participating bloggers today to see what special dish they whipped up for you.

Today is the final day of Christmas Week. While it has been a ton of work to post every day I am going to miss doing this. It's been so much fun sharing Christmas ideas with you all. I've also really enjoyed working with all the wonderful bloggers who were involved. There is nothing like blogger bonding. I adore these ladies and am so proud to count them among my friends. To me that's what holidays are all about. Celebrating with people you love and adore. There's nothing better than that.

I made apple pie in true Lunatic Christmas style. A normal pie would be too well, normal for me. So I turned to Family Feedbag for pie inspiration. Amy's site never lets me down for pie ideas. The woman is a pie wizard. A pie guru. A pie genius. Seriously make sure you stop by and see how she decorates her pies. You will be blown away by her creativity.

For the pie recipe I turned to the one and only Paula Deen for inspiration. I wanted to try a new recipe. I tend to make my own often but wanted to step outside my normal and try something new. So the recipe for the dough and the filling is inspired by Paula, the queen of cooking and baking. This woman's recipes rarely fail me. When I'm tired and not feeling my own creative juices flowing Paula is the one I turn to for help. She brings it every time. The woman is a dynamo. I am determined I will meet her one day. It's likely I'll pass out when she says "y'all". Just warning you now in case any of you are standing in the line of fire as I hit the ground.

So there's a fun twist to today's #ChristmasWeek post. We're giving stuff away. Not just any stuff. Cool stuff. Stuff you get to pick yourself. How freaking awesomely fantastic is that! Are you ready for it? Are you sure? Okay you might want to sit down now.

Freund Container & Supply has generously donated $100 gift certificates for each #ChristmasWeek blogger to give away!

Giveaway is now CLOSED! Congratulation to Ann, our Freund Winner!

Freund Container & Supply is the largest distributor of glass bottles, containers and wholesale packaging supplies online. Freund offers over 5000 items in stock every day, 98% same day shipping and low-price guarantees. Take a look at Freund’s wide selection of jars, tins, bottles and vials for all your crafting and food related needs!

Be sure to visit today's blog posts from each of the other #ChristmasWeek bloggers!

• Pumpkin Cheesecake Fried Pies from Jen of Juanita's Cocina
• Chocolate Angel Pie from Liz of That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Nutella Swirled Pumpkin Pie from Anuradha of Baker Street
• Bakewell Tarts from Isabelle of Crumb
• Grasshopper Pie from Erin of Dinners, Dishes and Desserts
• Cranberry Fritters from Erin of The Spiffy Cookie
• Cinnamon Pecan Crescent Rolls from Ramona of Curry and Comfort
• Banketstaaf (Dutch Christmas Log) from Heather of Girlichef
• Eggnog and Cranberry Christmas Braid from Cathy of The Dutch Baker's Daughter
• Raspberry Galette from Chung-Ah of Damn Delicious

***Disclaimer: This giveaway is being provided by Freund Container & Supply. #ChristmasWeek bloggers have not been compensated as part of this giveaway.***

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5 from 5 votes

Christmas Apple Pie

A festive apple pie perfect for Christmas!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Kim Beaulieu

Ingredients

For the Dough:

• 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla salt
• 2 sticks of butter cold and cubed
• ¼ - ½ cup ice water I used ½
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg

For the Wash for the top of the Pie:

• 1 egg beaten
• cinnamon to taste
• nutmeg to taste
• sparkly sugar

For the Filling:

• 8 apples - peeled and sliced I used 6 granny smith and 2 gala
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter – chilled and sliced
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 1 ½ tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
• 3 tablespoons flour

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
• In a food processor or stand mixer (my method of choice) combine the flour, salt, sugar and mix.
• Add the butter.
• Slowly add the ice water a little at a time to get the desired consistency you want.
• Mix just until dough comes together. Do not overwork the dough, it makes tough crust.
• Remove the dough from your mixer. Separate into two pieces. Wrap in plastic wrap and pop in the fridge for about 1 hour.
• In a large mixing bowl combine cinnamon, nutmeg, sugars and the flour and give it a quick mix. Then add the apples, then toss them to coat with dry ingredients. Set aside.
• Remove dough from fridge and roll out first one. Lay in a pie plate you've sprayed with non stick spray. Cut off excess from edges.
• Pour apple mixture into the pie plate over top the first piece of dough.
• Roll out second piece of dough. Cut out a tree. Lay that piece of dough over top of the pie plate. Crimp your edges.
• Place pie in the preheated oven for about 50-55 minutes.
• Remove and let cool, if you can. I usually demolish it before it gets a chance to cool.
• If you've allowed it to cool you can dress it up by rolling little pieces of coloured pie dough or fondant over top for the ornaments, star and prezzies.
• Serve with a big old "I'm a pie geek and I like it" smile!

You can make your own vanilla salt or just use regular salt. I have a weakness for all things vanilla.

Normally I would not use fondant on pie since fondant belongs on cake but I wanted the colour to pop and doing it with the pie dough just was not doing it for me. The colours were not vibrant enough. I figured no one really eats fondant any way so people would just pop them off. It's just there for the "purty" factor, not for taste. Geez us food bloggers are a weird bunch aren't we. Who dresses up pie with fondant. Clearly I need my head examined. But first I want to add some fondant to my roast beast m'kay.

I hope you enjoyed Christmas Week as much as I did. It was a whirlwind but so worth it. I'll be having a recap tomorrow for anyone who found us late. So make sure you tune it. I'll also be sharing my Mixed experience with you all this weekend. Look forward to sharing the chaos and antics with you.

Toodles and smoochies! xx