Apple Pie + Leaf Cutouts

Is there anything more Thanksgiving than apple pie? Well, besides turkey obviously. And maybe pumpkin and sweet potato pie, but apple is more up my alley, plus apple is pretty much an American staple.

I’ve been making apple pie for years now. Last year I started making the lattice tops instead of simply covering the entire top with the top crust. This year, I really wanted to make the leaf cutouts to cover the top of the pie. So on my last trip to the mall I stopped in Williams-Sonoma and bought a fall set of pie cutters. I made my apple pie as usual using store bought dough, slicing my apples and mixing them with flour, cinnamon, brown sugar, and lemon juice and then pouring it into the pie plate above the bottom crust. Then, I used the leaf pie cutters, dipped them into flour so they wouldn’t stick to the dough and made enough leaf cutouts to cover the top of the pie.

I chose to only use the leaves and not the acorn, pumpkin or apple because I wanted a uniform theme to the pie and not just random fall objects. The great thing about these pie cutters is that they have a spring so besides cutting the dough into the shape of the leaf you press down on the spring and the inner piece of the pie cutter will also leave the imprint on the dough of the detailing and veining of the leaf.

I absolutely love the way the pie turned out. Not to toot my own horn but I think it looks professionally done! And it was incredibly easy which makes it even better. Your guests will think you did a lot of work to make this pie and it really was a pretty simple, straightforward process. I’m so happy that it turned out the way it did. So often we (or at least I) get these ideas or see something that looks cool and people claim it is easy to do and then it turns out horrible. Sorta like those Pinterest fails. But luckily, these pie cutters really did work and now I can make my pies even more interesting!

All in all a success in my opinion and made all the sweeter with a scoop of ice cream for apple pie a la mode!