What's Captain America's favorite dessert? An American Apple Pie, of course! And this one has a red, white, and blue piecrust shield.
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I first made this Captain America Pie to bring to a friend's house for dessert. The Captain America movie had already been out for three years at that point but I was still obsessed.
It's a perfect origin story movie that stands strongly on its own, and also as part of the overall Marvel saga. It remains one of my favorites from Marvel.
In trying to create a pie worthy of Captain America, this American Apple Pie went through many iterations, including a version with a fully red crust, top and bottom. Ultimately though, this version with Captain America's iconic shield on top was the winning design!
What are the best apples for classic apple pie?
Being from New England, I think of McIntosh apples as being one of the best pie apples—and I throw it into other apple recipes, too! McIntosh apples are tart and also break down quite a bit once baked. In this recipe, I do a blend of McIntosh and the sweeter Honeycrisp, which tends to hold its shape better once baked.
Other apples that are best for a traditional apple pie are Granny Smith, Cortland, Northern Spy, and Russett. A mix of different apple types will help give your pie a distinct flavor as well as a blend of textures.
Why you'll love this recipe
There are several steps to create the Captain America shield crust for the top of this pie, but other than that it is, for all intents and purposes, a classic apple pie recipe—full of cinnamon, brown sugar, and with a touch of sweetened condensed milk.
I spell out the steps to create the red, white, and blue crust in detail—adding color to the pie dough, creating templates for the rings, and cutting out the rings from the dough. The result is a really fun pie that's striking and delicious!
The red, white, and blue color scheme is perfect, of course for any Avengers movie nights you might be planning, but it's also a lovely dessert for patriotic holidays like the 4th of July and Memorial Day.
Pie holiday!
March 14th is Pi Day!
A perfect excuse to make an All-American Apple Pie or any favorite pie.
🔪 How to make an American Apple Pie
Ingredients:
- Apples: I use a blend of tart McIntosh and sweet Honeycrisp apple slices in this pie.
- Brown sugar: The pie filling is sweetened with light brown sugar.
- Cinnamon: A classic American apple pie just has to have cinnamon! I use the stronger-flavored Vietnamese cinnamon varieties.
- Sweetened condensed milk: Just a little added to the pie filling brings caramel notes to the apples and brown sugar.
- Flour: Use all-purpose flour for the pie crust dough. My go-to brand is Vermont's King Arthur Baking.
- Butter: Yes—an all-butter pie crust recipe! It gives this pie even more delectable flavor. Use a good quality butter like Cabot or Kate's.
- Salt: Just a little salt in the pie crust helps boost the flavor of the whole pie.
- Food coloring: You'll need red and blue food coloring to make the Captain America shield top crust. I use Wilton concentrated colors.
- Ice water: Have this on hand to bring the pie dough together and to mix the colors.
- Egg: It's beaten with a little water to make a wash, which gives the top crust some shine.
Make the templates
Cut out pieces from parchment paper, following the size directions below, to make the concentric rings, circle, and star.
Make the dough
Cut butter into the flour mixture, then divide the mixture between four bowls.
Add ice water and food coloring to two of the bowls. Bring all the doughs together, label, and refrigerate them.
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Make the apple filling
Peel, core, and slice the apples. Toss them with the spices and sugar.
Shape and fill the bottom crust
Roll out the dough for the bottom crust.
Fit it into your pie dish, crimping the edges. Fill the crust with the apples and drizzle them with sweetened condensed milk.
Make Captain America's shield for the top
Roll out the red dough and cut out two circles. Place them on the pie.
Roll out the white crust and cut out a circle and a star. Place the white ring on the pie.
Roll out the blue dough and cut out a circle. Place it in the center of the pie with the white star on top. Chill the pie for a short time.
Bake the pie
Brush the top crust design with egg wash, and pop the pie into a hot oven. Bake, then let it cool. Let your hungry fans "Marvel" at how talented you are, and then slice and serve the pie!
Pie dough 101
All-Butter Pie Crust
Learn more about the ingredients and technique of the best-tasting pie crust there ever was.
FAQs
That old saying, "as American as apple pie" has been around a long time! Smithsonian Magazine shares that a 1920s newspaper adverstisement for mens' suits was one of the first to coin the phrase. By the time World War II began, the sentiment was so popular and engrained that American soldiers liked to say they were going off to fight "for mom and apple pie."
Though we think of apple pie as a traditional American dish, the truth is that the recipe is much older than our country. Pies made with apples blended with other fruits, meats, and spices were popular across Europe, where apples grew plentifully. The earliest recorded recipe for apple pie dates to England in the 1300s. Pilgrims from Europe brought apple seeds and cuttings from their home countries to plant in the colonies. (Only crabapples are native to North America.)
John Chapman, aka Johnny Appleseed, was a real person from Leominster, Massachusetts who traveled across the country in the early 1800s. With his bag of apple seeds, he planted orchards as far west as Iowa. His work and popular folk tales about his life can be credited in large part for establishing apples as an American crop and part of our national identity.
Tips:
- The sizes for the pie crust templates are all listed in the recipe. Cut them out from flat paper or card stock.
- Keep the pie crust ingredients cold as you work. If they're getting too warm, pop them or the dough into the fridge to chill. Cold pie dough becomes a tender and flaky pie crust once baked.
- When adding the food coloring, squeeze it into the dough just a few times—it's okay if it's splotchy; you'll be able to work the color in more when you roll the dough.
- Some food color may get on your hands or rolling pin; wash both as soon as possible to prevent staining.
Have fun with this pie! If you're worried about perfection, remember: Steve Rogers was not perfect. The army rejected him for service five times before he became Captain America. And besides, your hungry fans will love your star-spangled, old-fashioned American apple pie, no matter what.
Captain America's American Pie recipe is below. Try more Avengers-themed treats:
💬 Did you make and devour this recipe? Leave a comment below.
📖 Recipe
Captain America's American Apple Pie
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Ingredients
For the crust:
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter (It should be very cold.)
- Ice water
- Red food coloring
- Blue food coloring
For the filling:
- 3 pounds apples (I like to use a combination of McIntosh & Honyecrisp)
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup sweetened condensed milk
- 1 large egg
Instructions
Make the templates:
- These are the templates for the concentric rings of Captain America's shield that will go on top of the pie. The ring colors are in this order: red, white, red, and then a blue circle with a white star in the center.
- Find a piece of flat paper to draw the templates, such as card stock. The templates you need are:—8-inch ring with a 6-inch hole in the middle—6-inch ring with a 4-inch hole in the middle—4-inch ring with a 2-inch hole in the middle—2-inch solid circle—2-inch sized star template or cookie cutter
- Draw an 8-inch circle on paper, then draw a 6-inch circle in the center of this. Fold your paper in half so that the fold goes through the middle of the circles. Cut out both circles: this will give you your 8-inch ring. The 6-inch circle can be used for your next template, and so on until you get down to the 2-inch center circle.
- Have ready a 2-inch star cookie cutter, or draw a star on another piece of paper and cut it out as a template. Also, have a large cup of ice water ready.
Make the dough for the bottom crust and shield topper:
- Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Slice the cold butter into ¼-inch sized cubes. Work these into the flour using a pastry blender until the mixture is coarse and shaggy.
- Move half of this flour mixture into another bowl, labeled Bowl 1—this is for the bottom crust.
- The rest of the mixture is for the top crust and should be divided as follows:—Place half of the remaining mixture in one medium bowl, labeled Bowl 2. (This is for the red dough.)—Divide the remaining mixture equally between two small bowls: label one as Bowl 3 (white dough) and the other as Bowl 4 (blue dough.)
- Take Bowl 1—add 3 tablespoons of ice water to it. Use a spoon to toss the mixture together until it looks shaggy. Squeeze some dough together with your hand: if it sticks together easily it's ready. If it is still dry and crumbly, add a little more water, stir, and test the dough again.
- When it is moist enough, turn the dough out onto a work surface; use your hands to squeeze the dough together into a ball. Pieces of butter will still be visible. Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic, label it as "bottom crust" and put it in the fridge.
- Take Bowl 3—add a tablespoon of water to it. Follow the same steps as above to mix the water into the dry mixture, then squeeze it into a ball. Flatten it, wrap it in plastic, label it as "white top crust", and refrigerate it.
- Pour ½ cup of ice water into a small bowl and add a few drops of red food coloring to it—I use 5 drops of concentrated gel coloring; you may need more depending on your food coloring.) Stir the water and color together.
- Take Bowl 2—add 2 tablespoons of the red water to the dry mixture. Toss it together with a spoon, give it the squeeze test, and add more water if needed. When it's moist enough squeeze the dough into a ball: the color will be splotchy but that's ok. It will get worked in further when the dough gets rolled. Flatten it, wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate it.
- Pour ½ cup of ice water into another small bowl, add a few drops of blue food color, and stir it in.
- Take Bowl 4—Add 1 tablespoon of blue water the mixture and stir it together. Test the dough, and when it's moist enough squeeze it together into a ball. (Splotchy color is okay.) Flatten it, wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate it.
- Refrigerate all the doughs for at least 30 minutes.
Make the filling:
- Peel and core the apples and then slice them into chunks. Toss them with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Hold the bowl aside.
Add filling to the bottom crust:
- Have a 9-inch pie plate ready. Roll out the dough labeled "bottom crust" to a 12-inch circle, about ¼-inch thick. Carefully lift the dough circle into the pie plate, and gently move it to fit it into the pan. Press it over the bottom and to the sides. Fold the edge of the crust under and crimp it all the way around.
- Take the apple mixture; drain off any liquid that has formed, then pour the apples into the pie shell. Spread the apples to an even thickness. Drizzle the apples with the sweetened condensed milk.
Create the shield topper and chill:
- Take out the red pie dough and roll it out on a lightly floured surface to a ¼-inch thickness. Place your 8-inch ring template on the dough and slice out the ring. Lay your 4-inch ring template on the circle of red dough in the center and slice out the ring. Discard the scraps.
- Carefully lift the 8-inch ring (you can use a spatula to help or grab someone in the house to assist) and place the ring over the apples, centering it. There will be a gap between the crimped edge and the red ring. Then, place the 4-inch red ring inside the larger ring, centering it.
- Take the "white top crust" dough from the fridge and roll it out to a ¼-inch thickness. Use the 6-inch ring template to slice out a white ring. From the scraps, use your template or cookie cutter to cut out a white star. Hold the star aside.
- Carefully lift the white ring and place it on the pie, between the two red rings.
- Take the blue dough and roll it out to a ¼-inch thickness. Use the template to cut out a 2-inch blue circle. Place the blue circle in the very center of the pie; place the white star in the center of the blue circle.
- Drape a piece of plastic over the pie and refrigerate it for 15 minutes.
Bake:
- Preheat the oven to 400° F. Move an oven rack down one notch, and place a large baking sheet on the rack to get hot as the oven heats up.
- Take the chilled pie from the fridge. Whisk the egg together with 2 tablespoons of water in a small dish. Use a pastry brush to brush the top crust and crimped edges with this egg wash. When the oven is ready, place the pie on the hot baking sheet.
- Bake the pie for 20 minutes: after 20 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 350° F and bake for 35 minutes longer. The filling will be just bubbling and the crust lightly browned.
- Remove the pie to a cooling rack. Allow the pie to cool before slicing.
- Serves 8.
Notes
- The sizes for the pie crust templates are all listed in the recipe. Cut them out from flat paper or card stock.
- Keep the pie crust ingredients cold as you work. If they're getting too warm, pop them or the dough into the fridge to chill. Cold pie dough becomes a tender and flaky pie crust once baked.
- When adding the food coloring, squeeze it into the dough just a few times—it's okay if it's splotchy; you'll be able to work the color in more when you roll the dough.
- Some food color may get on your hands or rolling pin; wash both as soon as possible to prevent staining.
- Have fun with it! If you're worried about perfection, remember: Steve Rogers was not perfect. The army rejected him for service five times before he became Captain America. Your hungry fans will love your All-American Apple Pie, no matter what.
Nutrition
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