The Easy Way To Upgrade Canned Pie Filling

The apple pie filling you buy pre-made from the store to help you quickly assemble a pie to serve after tonight's dinner isn't necessarily destined to be a lower quality dessert. Sometimes, busy schedules call for shortcuts, and even professional chefs recognize the importance of working with what you have when it comes to culinary undertakings.

Regardless of the kind of pie you have your heart set on, store-bought fillings can be spruced up in such a way that no one will ever know you didn't spend time creating the pie's filling from scratch. Instead of thinking that whatever you spoon out of a can is the final ingredient to be poured into your empty flaky pie crust, consider the filling as more of a foundational base. 

We're here to help you get creative with the many ways you can add your own culinary touch to the pie's flavor and produce a mouth-watering treat.

From drops of your favorite extract flavors, splashes of a carefully-chosen booze, to adding spices and herbs, basic pie fillings can be elevated by adding extra ingredients to provide more textured and nuanced flavors to the core of your baked goods. Choose from powdered spices like cinnamon and ginger or sprinkle in fresh herbs like rosemary and sage to the canned peaches you're preparing to spoon into an empty pie shell. Crunchy Himalayan salt can help offset the sweetness of the canned cherries you've brought home from the store. And while almond and vanilla extracts are standard flavor-enhancers for most pie recipes, other flavors like maple, lemon, and coconut can help turn up the volume of the pie you're preparing to bake.

With a bit of culinary creativity, cans of pumpkin, apple, and blueberry fillings never again need to be boring. After dressing up the filling and serving the first slices of the upgraded pie fresh out of the oven, get ready to cut second pieces for guests to gobble up.