The Critical Apple Pie Baking Mistake And How To Avoid It

A sweet, steamy, golden apple pie can take quite a while to finish baking in the oven (over an hour for some recipes). This is necessary for the filling to get nice and gooey and the crust to get brown and crispy, but there is a drawback to spending all that time in the heat. If you're not careful, your crust can burn before your delicious filling finishes baking because it's less dense than the apple and cornstarch mixture. That said, you don't want to make the critical mistake of taking your pie out of the oven before it's ready. Doing so will leave you with pale, soft dough and crunchy yet watery apples.

Here's what to do instead: Make a foil tent over the top of your pie. This will allow enough hot air to circulate so that the ingredients will still bake properly and you'll still get that crispy crust, but it will block just enough heat so that your pie won't burn on top. This way, you can let your dish sit in the oven for the full hour (or however long it takes to bake) while avoiding a charred crust, and you won't be tempted to pull it out early.

If you want to prevent your crust from burning, you have two options for when to apply the foil, either when your pie initially goes in the oven or about half an hour before it's done baking. The first choice may be the simplest, since you can just stick your foil tented pie in the oven when everything is cold, and you won't have to worry about finagling a tent over a hot dish. If you go with that option, just make sure to take your dessert out of the oven with about 30 minutes left of baking time and remove the foil before sticking it back in to finish. This will give your crust enough time to get golden brown and crispy without burning.

Making a tent out of aluminum foil can be as easy as placing a loose piece of foil over the top of your pie, and securing the edges around the sides. You'll want to make sure the foil stays over your dessert and doesn't fly away in the oven, but you'll also want to make sure it's not too tightly pinched onto the crust edges. An overly-tight squeeze can cause your crust to crumble, and your dessert might not be so aesthetically pleasing once it's done baking. As long as your foil is loose and stays in place, you'll end up with a golden crust and a fully-baked filling.