Dutch Apple Pie

Ingredients

• 1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust (store-bought or homemade)
• 6 cups peeled, sliced tart baking apples
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
• 1/4 tsp salt

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Fit the crust into a 9-inch pie dish and crimp the edges.
2. Toss the peeled, sliced tart baking apples with the sugar, thickener, spice, and lemon juice, then spread evenly in the crust.
3. For the crumb topping, rub the flour, brown sugar, butter, and salt together with your fingers until it forms coarse, pea-sized clumps.
4. Scatter the crumb topping evenly over the filling.
5. Bake for 50–60 minutes, tenting the edges with foil if the crust browns too quickly, until the topping is golden and the filling bubbles at the edges.
6. Cool on a wire rack at least 2 hours before slicing.

The Tale of Dutch Apple Pie

Story updated September 18, 2026

Despite its name, Dutch apple pie has little to do with the Netherlands: "Dutch" here is widely believed to be a corruption of "Deutsch," referring to the Pennsylvania Dutch, German-speaking immigrants who settled Pennsylvania starting in the 1600s and 1700s and brought their tradition of streusel, a buttery, crumbly topping of flour, sugar, and butter, to American baking. Rather than a full pastry top crust, Dutch apple pie swaps in this crumb topping over a standard apple filling, a style that food historians say became especially associated with the northeastern United States as it spread beyond Pennsylvania German communities in the 19th and 20th centuries. The exact origins of the pairing are genuinely a bit hazy; some point to limited butter for a top crust in early Pennsylvania Dutch kitchens as the practical reason streusel took over, while others simply credit it to German baking traditions transplanted wholesale to America. Either way, by the mid-20th century Dutch apple pie had become a fixture of American bakeries and diners nationwide.