A fitting pie for the leader of the Avengers: classic apple with the colors of his mighty 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 is a perfect origin story movie that stands strongly on its own as well as fitting in nicely with the Avengers series. It remains my favorite Avengers movie of all the Marvel movies. (Although Guardians of the Galaxy is a close second.)
This All American Apple Pie went through many iterations, including a completely red crust top and bottom. Ultimately, a top crust modeled after the iconic Captain America shield was the winning design!
Why you'll love this pie
Though there are many steps to get the Captain America crust on the top of this pie, it is, for all intents and purposes, a classic, delicious apple pie. It's full of cinnamon, brown sugar, and sweetened condensed milk.
Make this pie to celebrate Pi Day in March!
The steps to creating the red, white, and blue crust are spelled out in detail, from guiding you through adding color to the pie dough to cutting out the concentric rings. The result is a really fun pie that is striking and versatile. And delicious!
The red, white, and blue color scheme works not just for Avengers movie nights, but for patriotic holidays too: like the 4th of July and Memorial Day.
🔪 How to make this recipe
Step 1: Make the templates
Cut out pieces from parchment paper, following the size directions below, to make the concentric rings, circle, and star.
Step 2: Make the dough
Cut butter into the flour mixture, then divide the mixture between four bowls.
Following the directions below, add ice water to the bowls, and food coloring to two of the bowls. Bring all the doughs together, label them, and refrigerate them.
Step 3: Make the filling
Peel, core, and slice the apples. Toss them with the spices and sugar.
Step 4: Shape and fill the bottom crust
Roll out the dough for the bottom crust and fit it into your pie plate, crimping the edges. Fill the crust with the apples and drizzle them with sweetened condensed milk.
Step 5: 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 on a circle. Place it in the center of the pie with the white star on top. Chill the pie for a short time.
Step 6: Bake the pie
Brush the top crust design with half and half and pop the pie into the hot oven. Bake it for just under an hour. Let it cool. Let your hungry fans "marvel" at how talented you are, and then slice and serve the pie!
Notes:
- The sizes for the pie crust templates are all listed below in the recipe card. Use parchment paper or card stock - card stock will be a little sturdier.
- The goal with the pie dough is to start with cold ingredients and handle the dough as little as possible. This will give you tender and flaky pie crust.
- When adding the food coloring, squeeze it into the dough just a few times - it's okay if it looks splotchy because you'll be able to work the color in more when you roll it out.
- Some of the food color may get on your hands or rolling pin, so wash both as soon as possible to prevent staining.
- Try this pie and have fun with it! If you are worried that it won't be perfect remember: Steve Rogers was not perfect either. The army rejected him for service five times! Captain America, and all your hungry fans will love your All-American Apple Pie, no matter what.
🧾 The recipe is below, and believe it or not I have even more Avengers themed treats for you!
💬 What do you think of this pie? Do you think Cap' would like it? Leave a comment below!
📖 Recipe
Captain America's All-American Apple Pie
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup of butter, unsalted and very cold
- Ice water
- Red food coloring
- Blue food coloring
- 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
- 2 tablespoons half and half
Instructions
Make the templates:
- The templates are 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. (Don't use something rolled like parchment: the rings will roll up on you and be very annoying. I found out the hard way!) 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 middle
4-inch ring with a 2-inch hole in middle
2-inch solid circle
2-inch sized star template or cookie cutter
- Begin by drawing an 8-inch circle on the flat paper, and then draw a 6-inch circle in the middle of this. Fold your paper in half with the fold going through the middle of the circles. Cut out both circles: this will give you your 8-inch ring and then 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.
Make the pie dough:
- Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Slice the cold butter into very small cubes, about ¼-inch sized. Work these into the flour using a pastry blender until the mixture is coarse.
- Move half of this flour mixture into another bowl. The first half of the mixture will be for your bottom crust. (Bowl 1.) The rest of the mixture is for the top crust and should be divided as follows:Half of it in one medium bowl (Bowl 2, will be red dough)
The rest divided equally between two small bowls. (One will be white dough - Bowl 3. One will be blue dough, Bowl 4.)
- Take Bowl 1: add 3 tablespoons of ice water to it. Use a spoon to toss the mixture together until it looks shaggy. Try squeezing 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 it out onto a work surface and use your hands to squeeze the dough together into a ball. This should only take a few squeezes and folds of the dough, and lumps 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: and add a tablespoon of water to it. Follow the same steps as above to mix the water into the dry mixture, test to see if it's moist enough, and when it's ready squeeze it into a ball. Flatten it, wrap it in plastic, label it as "white top crust", and refrigerate it.
- For Bowl 2: pour about ½ cup of ice water into a small bowl and add a few drops of red food coloring to it. (I use Wilton color System which as concentrated food coloring, and I used 5 drops. You may need a few drops more depending on your color.) Stir the water and color together. 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.
- Finally for Bowl 4: pour ½ cup of ice water into another small bowl, add a few drops of blue food color and stir it in. 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 ok.) 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.
- 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. Lay a piece of plastic wrap over the pie shell and refrigerate it for 15 minutes.
Assemble the pie.
- Take the pie shell from the fridge and discard the plastic. Take the apple mixture, drain off any liquid that has formed, and pour the apples into the shell. Spread the apples to an even thickness, and then drizzle the apples with the sweetened condensed milk.
- 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 or wrap them in plastic and refrigerate for another use.
- 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 on the apples 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 you have, 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: the ring will be between the two red rings.
- Take the blue dough and roll it out to a ¼-inch thickness. Use the template for the 2-inch circle to cut out a blue circle. Place the blue circle in the very center of the pie, and then 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.
- Preheat the oven to 400° F. Move an oven rack to the lower half of the oven, and place a large baking sheet on the rack to get hot as the oven heats up.
- Take the chilled pie from the fridge and use a pastry brush to brush the top crust and crimped edges with half and half. If any puddles of half and half form on the crust, use the corner of a paper towel to soak these up. 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 below in the recipe card. Use parchment paper or card stock - card stock will be a little sturdier.
- The goal with the pie dough is to start with cold ingredients and handle the dough as little as possible. This will give you tender and flaky pie crust.
- When adding the food coloring, squeeze it into the dough just a few times - it's okay if it looks splotchy because you'll be able to work the color in more when you roll it out.
- Some of the food color may get on your hands or rolling pin, so wash both as soon as possible to prevent staining.
- Try this pie and have fun with it! If you are worried that it won't be perfect remember: Steve Rogers was not perfect either. The army rejected him for service five times! Captain America, and all your hungry fans will love your All-American Apple Pie, no matter what.
Nutrition
Recipe originally published in 2018. Post and recipe updated in September 2020.
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