Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with an authentic Irish dish, Apple Amber. Pie crust filled with sweet apple filling and topped with an toasted meringue.
Allie Roomberg
Right around this time every year, I love to celebrate my heritage with an authentic Irish dish. I think it's such a great way to learn about the culture, and to try something new and different. Last year, it was Irish Apple Cake. This year, I'm marking St. Patrick's Day with this delicious Irish Apple Pie!
I discovered this unique recipe while researching Irish cuisine, and the minute I saw it, it spoke to me. It's home-y and old fashioned, yet so pretty and delicious! According to this article on HGTV, the apple tree has been an important source of food in Ireland for thousands of years (and most people think it was all about potatoes!). Apple trees are one of the few that grow well in the difficult Irish climate, and while crabapples are the only native apple to the country, other varieties have been cultivated for centuries. Desserts like cakes, stewed apples and tarts remain popular in Irish cuisine, and apples have long been used as food and in the production of alcohol in Ireland.
Apple Amber Pie is little more than grated apples cooked down into a sweet, silky puree and topped with meringue but it all begins with a pie crust. You can use store bought, or use my favorite recipe for homemade pie crust from scratch. Just roll it out to a little larger than your pie dish, trim off the excess, crimp the edge, and give it a head start in the oven.
Fill it with a sweet apple filling that's made with Granny Smith apples, egg yolks, sugar, and lemon juice. Once it's baked and cooled you can top it with an airy toasted meringue. I think you'll love the combination of buttery pastry, sweet apples, and light-as-a-cloud meringue.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Check out the recipe below and let us know what you think in the comments!
Ingredients:
- 1/2 batch Simply Perfect Pie Crust*
- 8 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and grated
- 1/4 cup water
- 6 large egg yolks
- 1 cup granulated sugar, divided
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 6 large egg whites
Recipe: Traditional Irish Apple Pie
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(4 votes, average: 3.50 out of 5)
Loading...Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Roll out the pie dough to a few inches larger than your pie dish.
- Transfer the dough to the pie dish, trim off any excess, and crimp the edge.
- Par-bake the pie crust for 10 minutes.
- Place the grated apples and water in a large pot, cover, and cook over medium-low heat until tender (about 15 minutes).
- Whisk the yolks, 3/4 cup of the sugar, and lemon juice together in a small bowl, and stir the mixture into the cooked apples (off the heat).
- Transfer the apple filling to the prepared crust, and bake for an additional 30 minutes, or until the filling is set and the edges of the crust are golden.
- Cool completely.
- Whip the egg whites and remaining 1/4 cup of sugar together until the meringue holds stiff peaks.
- Spoon the meringue onto the cooled pie and brown with a brulee torch, or under the broiler for 3 to 5 minutes.
*https://bakingamoment.com/simply-perfect-homemade-pie-crust/
Allie Roomberg
As a former pastry chef and writer of Baking A Moment, Allie loves to spend time in her kitchen almost as much as she enjoys feeding people delicious treats! With her easy-to-follow recipe ideas, you’ll be able to transform the most basic ingredients into show-stopping desserts. Allie’s favorite Stemilt fruit are their World Famous Cherries.