Go to the Recipe: Super Apple Pie
YEAH! IM THE FIRST COMMENT! I hope you guys like this one, lots of great takeaways!
@Grant Lee Crilly I just broke down and bought a Rotovap for making true to fresh extracts for my ice cream business. Did you try making the Apple Concentrate with one? Do you know of any good resources for cooking with a Rotovap from your MC days - how does Grant Achatez and Aviary get their strawberry extract crystal clear with one?
Also,any recommendations for an affordableish freezer dryer cause now it looks like I am going to need one of those too!
Me: Take a look, they used over 100 apples to make the ultimate apple pie!
Wife: Why???
This reminds me of the corned beef you folks made years ago with a side of beef. Completely over the top, I never would have thought about it, and if anyone other than you had made it, I would have said "You're nuts!". I'm still saying "You're nuts!" but I have to try this. I will need to modify it, as I don't have any access to a freeze dryer, so I will have to make due with freeze dried apples, apple concentrate, and my crappy WalMart dehydrator, but I think this is more or less doable for the home cook. Thanks so much for this ridiculous but awesome recipe. I love you guys.
mililiters??? really?? please stick to grams/ounces as you have in the past!!! at least grams are easily converted in most scales
1 liter of water at sea level at 4°C= 1 kg. 1000 g in a kg and 1000 ml in a L....i.e. 1 ml = 1 g. Apple Concentrate is not exactly water but it is mostly water so this is a close enough approximation.
The differences in mass due to the added dissolved solids in the concentrate and between the temp of your concentrate will be so minute that it will be immaterial...
Any work around for getting the air out of the gel without the vacuum setup you guys have? Plus, I love it that Breville is cool enough to let you use other tools in the CS kitchen. And, I really want one of those Breville inductions burners!
ProHint: There should be a raffle or contest to win one.
How did you make the apple pie ice cream? I'm looking to make some for Thanksgiving and would love some inspiration.
Aside from the 2nd freeze dry, seems pretty doable. Will give it a shot.
I make an applied pie ice cream buy making an apple pie filling that I cook on the stove top and then puree and churn into a vanilla base. I also cook pie wheels and the break into small pieces and mix in.
Another great alternative, if you like a slice of cheddar with apple pie, is to make a cheddar cheese ice cream base and then swirl in the apple piepuree.
This should be carried further in a Super pie mini-series. Super strawberry, Super banana, Super blueberry, Super Peach. Please obige
Swift passes of a torch for surface bubbles.
Rockin recipe!!!
Hi Daniel, We added a slice of the Super Apple Pie (1/8 of the pie) to our Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. Add the slice of pie and the ice cream base to a blender, blend on high until the mixture reaches 180 °F, then strain and cool. Churn ice cream base using available equipment. The blending will cook the eggs in the ice cream base, so no need to cook it sous vide. Let us know how it comes out and let us know if you have additional questions.
Hi Daniel, We use a Harvest Right Freeze Dryer in the ChefSteps kitchen.
Let us know how it turns out, Joe!
Made it today... it was gone in 5 minutes. Best apple pie I've ever made. Thanks for the recipe!
That is gorgeous, @Rachel A Holt! Thanks for sharing photos—that apple pie looks SUPER!
Holy smokes, Rachel!
Looking good!
Looking Good!
Hypothetically (but also my real situation) if the freeze dried apples could only be used in one of the recipe's two applications, would they provide the most impact ground & mixed into the crust or rehydrated as part of the apple filling?
Rehydrated as part of the apple filling is the way to go, @exploitoholic. Let us know how it turns out!
What kind of freeze dryer pump does ChefSteps use? Oil / oil-free? Maintenance seems like it might make oil-free pump worth the investment but I'm not certain.
We use the harvest right with the oil pump, we do have to change the oil after every use...if you want to spend the extra money, definitely go for the oil free. It is also much quieter.
Could you assemble the pie the night before, refrigerate it, and bake it in the morning? I’m planning to make this for Christmas and won’t have time to assemble the pie in the morning or fully bake it the day before. Would it be better to bake on Monday and serve on Wednesday or assemble everything Tuesday night and bake Wednesday morning? (I’m making the filling on Monday either way).
I assembled the pie the night before (without egg wash) and wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated over night. Turned out great!
Made it over a couple of days with the steam oven, loved the flavor and texture.
YESSSSS
Can you use xantham gum instead of the gellan gum to make the gel?
Sorry Matthew, that just won't work the same. You can try agar agar, instant clear gel, or cornstarch.
Thank you. One other question. Will using only dehydrated apples still yield a good filling?
Instead of the freeze dried? or 100% of the apples?
My favorite part of this ridiculous over the top culinary feat of a pie is that the team can’t make their own apple juice 😂
I finally made this beast and wanted to give my overall review of the recipe and experience. If you’re a foodie, you most definitely need to make this pie. I love taking on food projects like this so It was a lot of fun. When you first watch the video it seemed super intimidating and nearly impossible for a home cook to pull off. However if you take the freeze dryer out of the question, it’s really not that challenging, just time consuming. I purchased freeze dried apples because like most of us I do not have a freeze dryer. They can be a bit pricey. For the amount I needed for this recipe, I needed about 4 bags at 6.99 a bag. I did dehydrate my own apples. I really didn’t want to spend $20 on the powder to make the gel. I don’t want to waste money on an expensive product I’m probably never going to use again. I experimented with guar gum and corn starch to make the gel and decided to go with the cornstarch. The guar gum was ok, but it left the gel with a snot like texture and it had an odd mouth feel. I’m terms of overall appearance this pie gets a 10/10. It came out looking amazing. This thing is a show stopper. It’s massive, the crust puffs up, gets dark and gorgeous. The filling looks amazing and holds up perfectly. It doesn’t fall all over like other pies. In terms of flavor I’ll go 9/10. I’m specifically talking about the filling since the crust, despite the small amount of grinder up apples, is essentially a separate recipe. The filling is incredibly flavorful, but to be honest it’s not for everybody. It’s insanely intense. The description, “apple candy,” they used in this video hits the nail on the head. I made this for my family for thanksgiving. It was well received and got a lot of compliments. However because the flavor is so intense, many could not each much. Some couldn’t finish it. Many others did though. I think it comes down to personal preference. When I soaked the apples to rehydrate them, I used 3 cans of concentrate instead of 2 because it didn’t seem like enough for that volume of apples. So perhaps that made the filling a little more intense. This is by no means a criticism of this pie. It’s an incredible recipe and very delicious. I encourage everyone to try it.
You CRUSHED it.
We did attempt a fresh reduction, how ever it just tasted too "baked" so we left it up to the pros that have the crazy machinery to get it done right. If we had a rotary evaporator in house it would work great.
Made this bad boy for Thanksgiving 2025.
Couldn't find TreeTop brand concentrate in St. Louis, so I used Walmart's version along with their freeze dried apples. This made me nervous, as I don't usually turn to Walmart for fine ingredients. But my fears turned out to be unwarranted. Everything else I was able to follow along pretty closely — I dehydrated Lady Alice apple slices in the oven, used a vacuum sealer for reconstituting the apples, and for removing the air bubbles in the gellan gum gel, etc...
I was skeptical about everything fitting in a 9 inch pie pan, so I used 9 1/2 inch. This didn't help though. At some point toward the end of the bake, it exploded. The seam all around the perimeter burst and filling erupted out the sides and down to the oven floor where it burned. D'oh!!!
Definitely not the prettiest pie I've made.
But it was spectacular. (Most of the filling stayed in and was phenomenal.)
Everyone asked what that big... thing was on the dessert table, and we all got a kick out of me explaining how there were 114 apples in it. (Even in the crust.) The taste and texture were fantastic, and I got lots of compliments. That Sweet Spice really gives this pie complexity and depth. (I only made enough for this one pie, but I'll definitely grind more next fall.)
Plus, I thought the gel process was really interesting. So I'll be browsing through the Liquid Gels section of your site to learn more soon.
I consider it a success. Though... perhaps not quite the aesthetic I was going for.
While cleaning my oven this week (UGH), I've been trying to think through what went wrong. The pie pan I have is glass, and I wonder if this wasn't a good enough conductor or something? Maybe I didn't seal the rim well enough?
Regardless, I enjoyed this. Mostly the process.
Seems like every cooking magazine on the shelves is dumbing down their recipes:
"This Holiday Issue - Desserts with 3 Ingredients or Less!!!"
I knew when I saw the word "Super" in the recipe title it was going to be ridiculously overcomplicated, and you did not disappoint. I had fun through the process, and though the results were messy, it was delicious.
Thank you.
