The Best Apple Pie with Bourbon Cheddar Cheese Crust

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This apple pie with a cheddar cheese pie crust is the best apple pie ever! Apple pie with cheddar cheese is a classic sweet and savory combination that is delicious and surprising!

This spin on the traditional pie is perfect for you want a less sweet and slightly more savory dessert option. The crust tastes like a cross between a cheez-it and a pastry!

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:

This cheddar apple pie works on so many levels and is my all-time favorite pie; it is on the table every Thanksgiving. Great pies have to have both a good crust and an excellent filling. This apple pie filling recipe is deep, spicy, and elevated. The bourbon and honey really transform it!

The pie crust is loaded with butter, bourbon, and cheddar cheese, making it taste like a pie version of a fancy cheese cracker. Serving cheddar cheese with apple pie is a combination that can date back to 17th and 18th century England. It is so good it's still going strong today.

KEY INGREDIENTS:

Butter: Butter is incredibly important in pie crust. Butter not only adds fat and flavor, but it is what helps create all the flakey layers.
All-purpose flour: flour adds structure to the pie dough; it's what holds all the butter together.
Water: Water helps hydrate and bind the pie dough together
Bourbon: bourbon is used both in the pie crust and in the filling and it helps to make a really flakey crust. Part of the alcohol evaporates and makes a very flakey crust. The bourbon also adds a gorgeous flavor to the filling. You can use any bourbon but I used Woodford Reserve for this recipe.
Fresh Granny Smith Apples: fresh and tart Granny Smith apples are used to make this wonderful apple pie filling.
Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese: using high-quality, sharp cheddar cheese will really make the cheese notes pop! Buying pre-shredded cheese is fine, but you will get even more cheese flavor if you shred it yourself.

HOW TO MAKE THIS RECIPE:

This recipe is so easy to through together!

Time needed: 3 hours.

Start by making the pastry. Add the flour, salt, and sugar to a food processor and pulse and few times to blend everything together. Next, add in the butter, cheese, water, and bourbon; lightly pulse.
Lightly knead on a well-floured surface, and divide into two disks. Chill for 1 hour.
Next, make the filling by coring and thinly slice the apples. Mix the apples with lemon juice, bourbon, honey, cinnamon, ground, cloves, and allspice. Let sit and marinate for about an hour.
Roll out the dough, place one layer in a 9-inch pie pan, and pour in the apple pie filling. Cover with the other layer on top, secure, and cut air vents.
Cover with an egg wash and sugar and bake!

TIPS AND TRICKS FOR A PERFECT CHEDDAR APPLE PIE:

Use cold or frozen butter. Cold butter helps create air pockets in the dough, which helps creates flakey layers. Room temp butter will thoroughly blend into the dough and not make those layers.
I use a food processor to make my pie crust pastry; bakers much debate this method. Pie crust pastry gets its magic from adding just enough water for it to hold together, and it's easier to tell how much water is needed by mixing it by hand. It also is easier not to over-mix the dough when it's done by hand. But it is also a lot more work.
To make sure you don't over blend the dough, pulse the food processor a few times and check the butter crumbles' size. You are looking for lima bean size chunks. When it looks ready, grab and handful and squeeze it together; if it forms into a dough, it's ready!
Cover the cut apples with lemon juice immediately after cutting them; this will keep them from browning.
Let the filling sit for 1 hour so that it has plenty of time to soak all the glorious fall spices!
Let the cust get good and dark. What makes a pie delicious is the crisp pastry so don't underbake.

FAQ's:

Is cheddar and apple pie a thing?

Yes, it is! This article from Pure Wow, says that "Cheese, specifically sharp cheddar, has been served with apple pie in the U.S. as early as the 1800s. But the combination was likely born in England in the 17th century; a tradition of using dairy-based sauces in pies evolved into an affinity for topping pie with cheese instead."

What are the best apples for apple pie?

While you can use any apple, Granny Smith apples are the ones traditionally used for apple pie. They are just a little bit tart and make a great apple pie slice.

How can you tell when a pie crust is done baking?

This bourbon cheddar apple pie takes a while to bake. You want to make sure that you give your pie crust enough time to bake the bottom thoroughly. No soggy bottoms here! Start baking it at 425 degrees for 20 minutes and then lower the temp to 375 and bake for about 80 more minutes. Start checking the pie at 60 minutes to make sure it doesn't start to burn. You are looking for a very brown crust, much darker than an average pie.

How to store this pie recipe?

This recipe can be left covered at room temperature for 2-3 days.

A slice of cheddar apple pie on a plate on a brown table

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THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING ABOUT THIS AWESOME PIE! IF YOU MAKE IT BE SURE TO LEAVE A COMMENT AND/OR GIVE THIS RECIPE A RATING! I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR EVERYONE’S THOUGHTS!