Fresh Apricot Pie Recipe

Apricots are a pretty underrated fruit in the baking and cooking world. You may be surprised to hear that one of the tastiest pies you might ever sink your teeth into just so happens to be an apricot pie. This beautiful golden-hued fruit yields so much deliciousness and sweetness that works wonderfully in many of the same recipes you'd use apples in, like a cobbler, fruit bars, scones, tarts, coffee cake, pinwheel cookies, and even as a jam. 

Recipe developer Jennine Bryant of The Marshside Pantry describes the baked apricots used in this pie as soft, tart, and a little sweet all at the same time. "Then the sugar, flour, and cinnamon mix creates the most divinely sweet syrup with the apricot juices. The pastry adds great texture and a gentle sweetness to complement the tart apricots. It's really mouthwatering," she says.

Even sweeter than the taste of this pie happens to be how quickly you can pull it together. With just a little bit of prep time and 30 minutes of baking, this amazing fresh apricot pie will quickly become a seasonal favorite in your house.

To create this incredible pie that is just as beautiful as it is delicious, you'll need a shortcrust pie pastry, either store-bought or homemade. Either one works, just as long as it's big enough for a 9-inch pie dish. In addition, be sure to round up a bag of granulated sugar, plain flour, ground cinnamon, fresh apricots of decent size, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and butter.

Your mouth is probably watering right now just thinking about how these ingredients will come together to create a fresh apricot pie, and we can totally relate. "Fresh apricots are the key to this pie because they make it so sweet and delightfully tart at the same time," Bryant says.

Once you have all of your ingredients gathered, it's time to put them to good use and begin preparing this tasty apricot pie.

When using fresh fruit in a recipe, it's important that the fruit pieces are free of blemishes, free of pest holes, not bruised, and that they definitely do not have any soft spots. According to NPR, it's best if the apricots have a bold orange-gold hue — not a yellow or pale orange one. You'll also want to choose plump apricots that are a tad soft. Bryant says, "The apricots should not be really squishy, still quite firm to the touch. Not rock solid, though, either."

While the best fruit comes straight off the tree or vine, apricots selected at a farmers market or your local grocery store will suffice, since most people don't have an apricot tree readily available for picking in their backyard.

First, preheat your oven to 425 F. Roll out your shortcut pastry, then line a 9-inch pie dish with it. Press the crust into the corners to ensure the dough is flush with the pie dish, then trim the edges.

"The apricot pie is really easy to make — especially if you go with store-bought pastry. It practically makes itself. Oftentimes, I gravitate toward store-bought ready-rolled pastry, because it just makes everything so quick, but when I'm feeling fancy, I'll make homemade dough. For a pie dough like this, I'd just use a simple recipe using flour, butter, and a little water," Bryant says.

Combine 1 cup of granulated sugar, ¼ cup of plain flour, and ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon in a bowl. Take out a second bowl, and add to it 2 teaspoons of lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and 5 cups worth of fresh apricots that have been washed, cut in half, and the stones have been removed. Mix them together until the apricots are completely coated. Then, add in the sugar, flour, and cinnamon mixture to the apricots, and blend completely. Scoop the apricots out of the bowl, and place them inside the pie dish on top of the pastry shell. Chop up 3 teaspoons of butter, and sprinkle it on top of the fruit.

Use the rest of the pastry shell, and cut it into strips approximately an inch thick. Then, weave them on top of the apricots to create a lattice pattern. "The lattice top looks more complicated than it is," Bryant says. "I used to think it seemed really complicated, but then when I first gave it a go, I had an 'Oh! This is actually really simple!' moment!"

When creating the lattice top, lay down the strips approximately ½ to ¾-inch of space between them. Fold back every other strip, then place one long strip of dough perpendicular to the parallel strips, and unfold the folded strips over the perpendicular strip. Repeat this process by folding back the strips that run under the parallel strip, and lay down another strip perpendicular to the others. Unfold the folded parallel strips over the second strip. Continue these steps until the lattice top is complete.

Slide the beautiful pie into the oven, and bake it for 30 to 40 minutes until the pastry is golden and the apricot filling is bubbling up through the lattice pattern. As soon as you remove the pie from the oven, be sure to sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar across the top. Let it cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving with a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream atop.

Every forkful of slightly melted ice cream or whipped cream blanketing your slice of fresh apricot pie with be a bite of heaven. This pie would be perfect to nosh on over the weekend as a yummy treat or for a special occasion.