# Apple pie filling is too soft



## tallgal (Dec 27, 2012)

I made an apple pie and the crust was good but the filling was more like applesauce than pie filling.  I used good-sized Granny Smith apples.  Cut them into quarters and the quarters into thirds.  The filling is tasty but mushy.  I did not add any butter to the filling.  Just sugar, flour, and spices with about 1T each lemon and orange juice.  this is a perennial problem.  I've tried different filling recipes and always seem to end up with mush.


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

Mushy is a bit ambiguous, but "applesauce" is pretty specific.

Putting your problem another way, the apple pieces in your filling come out too soft. That means the filling is overcooking in the time it takes to cook the crusts.

There are three things you should try:

More and better venting of the top crust (the apples might be over-steaming inside the crust);
Cut your apple slices thicker; and/or
Mound the apples higher in the pie (more mass cooks slower). There's no reason the top of the pie shouldn't be much higher than the rim of the pan.
Between two and three, both things are good things. Try both of them, but try them one at a time before combining them so you have a better idea of what's going on.

If your filling is too juicy... You might want to try more flour, or using tapioca instead of flour.

Hope this helps,

BDL


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