Captain America's American Apple Pie

Apple pie with a blue, white, and red top crust.

5 from 2 votes. Tap stars to vote

What's Captain America's favorite dessert? An American Apple Pie! And this one has Cap's red, white, and blue piecrust shield.

Prep Time1

Cook Time55

Chilling time1

Total Time2 55

Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Pies/Tarts, Summer Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 527kcal

Author: Nancy Mock

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

US Customary - Metric

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