Dutch Apple Pie

Name: Dutch Apple Pie
Prep time: 13 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 38 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Netherlands
Ingredients: 175g Butter; 2 Egg Yolks; 300g Flour; 200g Sugar; Pinch Salt; 1 Cinnamon; 100g Raisins; 6 Apples; 1 tablespoon Cold Water

By The Spice & Simmer Kitchen · Published May 3, 2026

A one-pot Dessert recipe with Netherlands flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 61 minutes, serves about 4, and uses ingredients you can find at any normal grocery store. The technique is simple: build a base in your pot, layer in the main ingredients, simmer until everything has had time to talk to each other, and serve straight from the pan. If you're cooking for picky eaters, this one tends to land — the flavors are recognizable, the texture is comforting, and there's nothing weird hiding in the ingredient list. Perfect for the kind of evening where you want dinner on the table by 7pm and the kitchen empty by 7:30.

Step-by-step instructions

Add the flour, 150 gr of the sugar, pinch of salt and 1 egg yolk in the bowl of a food processor. Cut the butter into small cubes and add to the bowl. Turn this into a firm dough. Don't over process, you do not want the dough to turn warm. Check if it sticks by pinching it between your fingers.
Turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Make a round ball of it by using your hands and roll it into the plastic. Place into the fridge for half an hour to cool.
Take a round baking tin of 22 cm diameter and cover this with baking paper. Brush the sides with butter.
Preheat the oven to 170˚C (340˚F) Cut the apple into cubes and mix this with the raisins, the left over sugar and the cinnamon.
Place the cooled dough on a flat surface sprinkled with flour and roll out into a thin sheet. Place this into the baking tin and cover the bottom and the sides well. I usually just press it into the tin without rolling it out. I find that the easiest way but it is less smooth. Just do whatever works for you.
Make sure you keep 1/4 of the dough separate to form the strips on the top.
Once the bottom and sides are covered with the dough, take the rusks and crumble them over the bottom. You can use breadcrumbs for this as well. Shake it a bit so it is divided equally across the bottom.
Add the apple mixture and divide well over the tin. Rol out the rest of the dough and cut into strips. Place that over the top of the pie in a diamond shaped pattern. Brush the strokes and sides with the other egg yolk and place in the preaheated oven.
Bake the apple pie for about 1 hour or until golden and cooked through. Leave to cool in the tin and make sure the sides are loose before opening the tin.

Why this works on a weeknight

Dutch Apple Pie lands at about 38 minutes total — a little longer than our 30-minute target, but most of that time is hands-off simmering, which is why it earned a spot in our Sweet Finishes collection. The technique is forgiving, the ingredient list is grocery-store standard, and the active cooking time is short enough that you can answer a text message in the middle without ruining dinner.

Cleanup notes

This is a single-pan recipe, so the cleanup is exactly one pan, one cutting board, and one knife. While the dish rests, fill the pan with hot soapy water — by the time you are done eating, the residue lifts off with a single pass of a sponge. Skip the steel wool on cast iron; a stiff brush and warm water are all you need to keep the seasoning intact.

Make-ahead and leftovers

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat in a dry pan over medium-low with a splash of water or stock to loosen the sauce. Dutch Apple Pie actually improves overnight as the flavors keep talking to each other, so doubling the recipe and packing tomorrow's lunch is a high-leverage weeknight move.

Filed under 🍮 Sweet Finishes Dessert Netherlands