Honey Apple Pie With Thyme

- Total Time
- 1 hour 45 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 3Golden Delicious apples, peeled and cored (about 1¼ pounds)
- 4Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored (about 1½ pounds)
- ½cup honey
- 6thyme branches
- ¼cup unsalted butter (½ stick), cut into small pieces
- 2tablespoons instant tapioca
- ⅓cup light brown sugar
- ½teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼teaspoon salt
- Flour, for dusting
- Dough for 2 9-inch pie crusts (see recipe)
Preparation
- Step 1
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Slice Golden Delicious apples and 3 Granny Smith apples into sixths.
- Step 2
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, bring ¼ cup honey to a boil. Let simmer about 2 minutes, until honey is caramelized. Add 3 thyme branches. Arrange half the apples in a single layer in skillet. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons butter over apples. Cook apples, turning, until well caramelized on all sides (but not cooked through), about 10 minutes. Scrape apples and honey mixture into a bowl. Add tapioca and toss to combine. Repeat cooking process with remaining honey, thyme, butter and sliced apples. Add second batch of apples to bowl; combine. Discard all thyme branches.
- Step 3
Thinly slice remaining Granny Smith apple and add it to bowl. Stir in sugar, ginger and salt.
- Step 4
On a lightly floured surface, roll out both crusts to 12-inch circles. Place one crust in 9-inch pie plate. Scrape apple filling into crust and top with remaining crust. Pinch edges to seal. With a knife, slice 4 vents in top of crust. Place pie on a foil-lined, rimmed baking sheet.
- Step 5
Bake for 15 minutes; reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking until crust is dark golden and apples are tender when pricked with a fork, about 45 minutes more. Let cool for 30 minutes before slicing.
Private Notes
Comments
As a beekeeper I love new ways to use our honey. I turned this into 2 galettes. More elegant and less rich with so many other Thanksgiving desserts on our table. I followed the recipe generally using more thyme as suggested, but instead of dumping all cooked apples and sauce into bowl, I removed apples and reduced the honey butter mixture and used it as a glaze after galettes came out of oven. Used no sugar! Brushed galettes edges prior to baking with egg and a sprinkle of Malden sea salt. YUM.
Used probably 3x the thyme asked for, was delicious. Not sure that the tapioca is necessary.
This was the first pie I ever made. I used the pie crust tutorials and went to town. I've made it twice now and will continue to add more thyme. I haven't yet got the herby hit that I'm looking for.
Can anyone say why we'd not just make a butter caramel in a dutch oven or a 5-6 quart sauce and then cooking the apples all together with the caramel? This seems so fiddly! Also, my usual apple pie with 5 pounds of apples uses less sugar than what she's calling for with only 2 3/4 pounds. Is this recipe too sweet?? Thanks!
This was delicious and a nice change of pace in apple deserts. I added a little lemon zest but otherwise stuck to the recipe. Love the honey/thyme combination.
I have made this pie for every Thanksgiving since it was first published. Family and friends have asked (demanded) it. I use a lot of thyme in the honey and sprinkle some more over the apples before adding the top crust. Makes for a more interesting and flavorful pie. It takes more like 5” to caramelize the apples; 10” results in somewhat mushy apples. I also paint the bottom crust with thin coat of apricot preserves to help prevent soggy bottom. think it’s an excellent pie recipe.