If you want to learn how to make a show-stopping pie, then you’ll need to make this recipe because it’s the best apple streusel pie with a bourbon glaze!! With 20 step-by-step photos and grids, you’ll be able to recreate this apple streusel pie from scratch like a PRO.
Why this Apple Streusel Pie is awesome
- It has a buttery flaky pastry pie crust
- A streusel topping with oats
- A not-too-sweet filling to balance the sweetness of the streusel topping
- Plus it comes with a luscious Bourbon glaze
- And a secret ingredient (apple butter ) added to the glaze to give even more concentrated apple flavor
I can say with all honesty that this is one of the best apple desserts I have ever had!!!!
The deep caramel-y flavors of the bourbon glaze, brown sugar, and apple butter pair beautifully with the green apples and buttery crust.
If you want to impress a crowd, bookmark this recipe and serve it for Thanksgiving.
Or if you’re like me, make it on a Wednesday morning just because you are in the mood:)
How to make pie dough by hand
Our grandmothers never used anything but their bare hands (or maybe a fork) to make flaky, buttery pie crust. Below I have step-by-step photos of how to make pie crust without any equipment.
Can I use a pre-made pie crust for this recipe?
Sure thing! However, I only recommend a frozen unbaked pie crust.
The golden rules of making pie crust
- Keep everything cold, the butter, the water, even the flour and the bowl you’re using
- Mix the dough quickly to keep everything cold and don’t over mix the dough
- Let it rest covered in the fridge to allow the gluten to relax and keep it cold before rolling it out
- After rolling it out and placing in the pie pan, put it in the freezer while you’re making the glaze and slicing the apples
Making pie crust is simple yet it’s easy to screw up. A lot of the problems occur when you mix the dough or roll it out. Basically, whenever you touch it, ha!
However, I’ve created some easy hacks for rolling the dough out and flipping it over into the pie crust, see below!
Mixing the dough
- Cut your butter into chunks then place them in the freezer to get nice and cold.
- Add your dry ingredients into a bowl (flour, salt, sugar) and place that bowl in the fridge or freezer
- Pour your water and vodka into a glass with ice and place in fridge to keep cold
- You don’t have to use vodka. You can sub water with vodka if you don’t have it or want to use it.
- Once your butter is cold, add it to the bowl of dry ingredients and use your fingers to rub the butter into the dry ingredients. The dough should be crumbly
Finish mixing the dough (see below)
- Grab the water and ice out of the fridge
- Add most of the water and mix with your hands. You can squeeze clumps of the dough to make the water absorb together
- Chances are you’ll need all of the water, but there should some left because you added ice to the water which is mostly melted at this point
- Dump the dough out onto your kitchen counter and press it together to form into a ball. You can wet your hands if the dough isn’t coming together
- Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to cool
Make the Bourbon Glaze
Make the glaze for the apple streusel pie while your pie crust is resting in the fridge.
Simply mix all of the ingredients for the glaze together in a small or medium saucepan. Simmer until it thickens for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Roll out your pie crust
Now this can be the tricky part. It’s the step I’ve struggled most with over the years.
If you place parchment or wax paper under your crust and cover it with either plastic wrap or parchment or wax paper, you can roll it out in between these two layers and it will stay together much easier.
It’s easy to roll out this way and even easier to place in the pie pan. Gently remove the top layer when it’s rolled out and flip the pie crust over into a buttered pie pan. Get the crust situated in the right spot and gently form the dough into the pie pan.
Once it’s in the right spot gently and slowly remove the wax paper or parchment from the dough.
You may need to trim the ends of parts of the crust to make it even all the way around. There will be overhand (which is a good thing).
Tuck the edges of the crust underneath itself to keep the edges secure. I like to leave it simple without a design because the edges inevitably tear in parts.
Poke the crust with a fork throughout to allow the crust to vent while baking. Cover the pie crust in the pan with plastic wrap and place in the freezer while cutting the apples.
How to make the oat crumble
Simply melt the butter first in the microwave or on the stove in a small saucepan.
Mix the butter, flour, oats, and brown sugar together in a small bowl.
Slicing the apples for the pie
This should be the last thing you do so the apples stay fresh. Before you start peeling and slicing the apples, get a large bowl and squeeze one whole lemon in the bowl.
As soon as you slice each section of apples, toss them in the lemon to keep from browning.
Filling the pie crust
Place the sliced apples in the pie crust. Evenly drizzle half of the bourbon glaze over all of the apples. Reserve the rest of the glaze for drizzling over the pie before serving.
Use a pastry brush to evenly coat the apples on top.
Place the remaining glaze in a bowl, cover, and place in the fridge to thicken while the pie is baking.
Sprinkle the oat crumble over the apples.
The last important step
With a pastry brush, brush the edges of the pie crust with an egg wash to keep the crust from drying out in the oven and to give the crust a nice color.
Now bake at 375 degrees for 43-47 minutes or until the pie is golden brown but not too dark.
Just look at that beauty!!!!!!!
More delicious pie recipes on Bessie Bakes
Peach Crostata with spiced crumble
Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie with Gingersnap Crust
French Beer Quiche with All Butter Crust
Click here to pin this image on Pinterest
Bon Appetit Ya’ll,
Leslie O.
The Best Apple Streusel Pie & Bourbon Glaze
Ingredients
For the pie crust:
- 2 cups All purpose flour 290 grams
- 8 Tbsp Butter 1 stick or 113 grams
- 1 Tbsp Sugar 15 grams
- 3 Tbsp Cold Water 42 grams
- 3 Tbsp Cold Vodka (optional) 30 grams, if not using replace with water
- 3/4 tsp Salt 4 grams
- 1 egg, whisked for egg washing the crust
For the Bourbon Glaze
- ½ lemon juiced for sauce see additional lemon below for apples
- 3/4 cup Brown sugar 114 grams
- 3 Tbsp Butter 44 grams
- 1/4 cup Bourbon 55 grams
- 2 Tbsp Apple butter 40 grams
- 1/4 tsp Baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla
For the crumble:
- 6 Tbsp Melted butter about 82 grams
- 6 Tbsp All purpose flour about 60 grams
- 6 Tbsp Oats about 45 grams
- 6 Tbsp Brown Sugar about 77 grams
For the Pie filling
- 5 Green apples skinned, cored, and sliced
- 1 lemon juiced (to keep apples from browning after slicing)
Instructions
For the Pie Crust
- Cut cold butter into small chunks and place in the freezer for ten minutes. Mix the water, vodka, and some ice cubes together and place in the freezer too. If you can fit it, place your mixing bowl in the freezer too. If not, place the mixing bowl in the fridge to keep it cool.
- Mix the 2 cups of flour, 1 Tbsp sugar, and 3/4 tsp salt until combined.
- Add the cold butter with your fingers or a fork until they are broken into tiny chunks. Press the butter and dry ingredients together with your fingertips to create a sandy texture of the dough.
- Add in most of the water and vodka mixture and mix your hands until the dough just starts to come together. Add in the rest of the water and mix. You should have a touch left over as your ice will have likely melted at this point. Dump the dough onto your counter and press together with your hands into a disk. You can wet your hands if the dough is crumbling and isn't coming together.
- Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 30 minutes or in the fridge for one hour. The dough can be made up to one month in advance and frozen, or up to three days in advance when stored in the fridge.
For the Bourbon Glaze
- Heat a small saucepan over medium heat and add the 3 Tbsp butter, ¾ cup brown sugar, 2 Tbsp apple butter, ¼ cup bourbon, 1 tsp vanilla, and ¼ tsp baking powder. Whisk the ingredients together and allow to melt. Simmer until thickened slightly for about two minutes.Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
Rolling out the pie crust
- Butter the pie pan all the way around.Place a piece of wax paper or parchment paper on the counter. Take the pie dough out of the fridge or freezer and unwrap. Cover the top of the dough with the plastic wrap or use another sheet of wax paper or parchment paper. Roll out the dough in between these two sheets to help keep the dough intact. Gently remove the top layer of plastic wrap or parchment. Flip the dough over into the pie pan and gently put it into place, making sure to flatten any pockets of air under the dough. Gently remove the wax or parchment paper from the dough. You may need to trim the dough so that it's an even length all the way around. You want to keep some of the overhang. Tuck the edges of the dough under itself to secure it. Puncture holes on the bottom of the shell with a fork to allow steam to escape. I prefer using a glass pie pan so you can check the color of the bottom of the crust to ensure it's baked.Cover and place in the freezer while chopping the apples.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place a sheet pan on the lower third rack to preheat.
For the Crumble
- For the crumble, melt the remaining butter 6 Tbsp. butter. Combine the butter, flour, brown sugar, and oats together.
For the apple filling
- Squeeze the lemon juice into a bowl. While the dough is resting, peel, core, and slice the apples. Add the apples to the bowl and toss with the lemon juice as you go to prevent the apples from browning.
- Whisk the egg for the egg wash in a small bowl. Brush the sides of the pie dough with the egg wash.
- Add the apples in the inside of the pie shell.
- Pour half of the glaze evenly over the apples and spread evenly with a pastry brush.Refrigerate the remaining glaze to firm it up and serve over slices of the pie.
- Distribute the crumble over the apples. It will not cover it completely. That is ok, we want the steam to escape.
- Place the pie on the preheated sheet pan to ensure the bottom of the crust bakes through. Cover the top of the pie loosely with aluminum foil to protect the crust and streusel from getting too dark. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes then remove the foil until the crust and crumble are golden brown, but not too dark, about 20 more minutes.If you are using a glass pie pan you can check the crust underneath to make sure it's baked through. If it needs more time, cover the loosely with foil again to ensure the crust and streusel don't burn.
- Let cool at least 1 hour before serving to let the interior firm up.
- Serve with unsweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of the remaining bourbon glaze.
Notes
Oh my, this tart looks wonderful. I am trying to practice girth control but this will have to be tried. Nice post.
The Old Fat Guy
Girth control, genius! Best comment ever:)
This will be absolutely perfect for our Thanksgiving Dessert. Beautiful and delicious sounding. Thank you for sharing.
I am not a bourbon person except when its used in dessert..this tart looks fantastic.
I’m not a hard liquor person either, but the aroma of bourbon is incredible and adds such great flavor:)
I can’t believe how good this look! I’m a huge bourbon fan and LOVE apple desserts. I need to try soon! Pinning 🙂
Excellent Whitney, thank you!
You had me at bourbon apple, but then you added brown sugar crumble and now I’m in love
This looks so very delicious. I love this time of year!
Any recipe of Bourbon is a friend of mine.
…I think that’s how it goes, right?
Nom nom nom…
Bourbon in dessert tastes fantastic and I’m literally drooling ….Love your recipe.
That crust looks spot on!
Wow, this looks delicious…and easy to make too! Love the combo of bourbon and apples…yum 🙂
What a fabulous combo of fall flavors. Looks SO good!
This beauty is yummed and pinned. I want to make this. It looks just fabulous!
Oh what a beautiful tart. In the UK we nearly always use Bramleys for cooking, but I think that they really are not at all common overseas?
I’m not familiar with Bramleys but that doesn’t mean much. I don’t do the liquor buying myself, but I sure do love to cook with it!
Brown sugar crumble, I could never pass on you. Come to mama lol
This is such a beautiful tart and sounds delicious with the apple butter and brown sugar crumble, yum!
This is a perfect Holiday dessert. Looks absolutely beautiful.
Perfect fall dessert recipe! Cannot get any better than apple tart, bourbon and brown sugar crumble! Looks amazing
Beautiful tart, wish I had a slice now!!
Oh my! Bourbon, apples AND a crumble topping? This is the most perfect dessert… ever!!!
This recipe sounds delicious but I believe tog forgot to include how much butter goes in the crust. You only listed the flour, sugar, salt, vodka and water.
You were so right Sammy! Even after triple checking all of my recipes, I still missed this one. It’s been updated. There is one stick of butter in the crust. Thank you so much for catching this oversight!!!!! I hope you try this apple tart, it’s awesome:)
What do you do with the other half of the bourbon glaze?
You serve it over the top with the pie and ice cream! I forgot to add that note in the end. I’ll update that right now. Thank you!
I love this recipe, and have enjoyed it with friends and family for many years now! I’m trying to spread out my Thanksgiving prep over the next few weeks. Would I be able to make the glaze ahead of time and freeze it?
Hello Anne, I’m so glad to hear you’ve made this pie several times!! I’m getting ready to start prepping for Thanksgiving as soon as possible myself. Although I’ve never tried it, I would imagine you could freeze the glaze as long as you cool it completely before freezing. You can definitely make it up to three days in advance and place in the fridge which will help it set up.
You can also make the pie crust now, shape it in your pie pan, and put it in a large ziploc bag to ensure it’s completely covered and freeze it. When you are ready to bake your pie (which you can do the day before if you’d like to free up oven space) let it thaw in the fridge so it stays cold but isn’t frozen. Then you can fill and bake your pie. Let me know how it turns out!