Spelt Apple Pie with Heart Cutouts

• Servings 8
• Time About 2 hours active + 1 hour chill + 2 hours cool

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 1/4 cups (150g) spelt flour
• 1 1/4 cups (140g) cake flour
• 1 tsp (6g) salt
• 1 cup (227g) cold butter
• about 6 Tbsp (~90g if fully used) ice water (add by feel)

Filling

• 6 cups (~900g) sliced pink-fleshed apples (Hidden Rose, Pink Pearl, or Lucy Glo), peeled
• 3/4 cup (150g) sugar
• 2 Tbsp (16g) flour
• 1 tsp (3g) cinnamon
• a squeeze of lemon juice

Topping

• 1 egg (~50g) beaten, for egg wash
• Sugar, for sprinkling

Instructions

1. Whisk spelt flour, cake flour, and salt. Cut in cold butter until coarse crumbs. Add ice water 1 Tbsp at a time just until dough holds. Chill 1 hour.
2. Toss apples with sugar, flour, cinnamon, and lemon juice.
3. Roll bottom crust into a 9-inch pie plate and fill.
4. Roll top crust; cut hearts with a small cookie cutter; lay over filling.
5. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.
6. Bake at 400°F for 15 minutes, then 325°F for 40–45 minutes until filling bubbles through the hearts. Tent with foil if browning too fast.
7. Cool at least 2 hours before slicing.

Levers and swaps

• Flour blend: Buckwheat/cake flour 50/50 — earthier, more crumbly; Oat flour + cake flour — milder, more tender
• Butter: Cold butter (standard) — flakiest layers; Browned butter, chilled solid — nuttier, deeper flavor, slightly less flaky
• Ice water: Plain ice water — standard; Add 1 spoonful vinegar — more tender, less gluten
• Filling sugar: Granulated — clean, bright apple; Half light brown sugar — caramel notes, softer filling
• Apples: Pink-fleshed — rosy, tart-sweet; Honeycrisp + Granny Smith — holds shape, tangier

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