For Richer-Tasting Apple Pie, Add One Ingredient To The Mixture

The best apple pies are extraordinarily rich, with a flavor so impactful, you're left wondering if the ambrosias of Greek myth were actually just apples rather than the food of the gods. If you've tried every spice combination or tirelessly compared apple varieties only to fall short, you don't have to ascend to the heavens to better the dessert. For delicious apple pie, all you need is a splash of booze.

Of course, quality fruits and good nutmeg or cinnamon are key for apple pies, but there's a depth of flavor that can only come from alcohol like rum or whiskey. Aged in oak casks for years, the booze develops a unique flavor rich with spices, woods, caramel and vanilla, and nuts and grains. A few tablespoons (or more) of your preferred alcohol infuses the apple pie with the warm, enveloping flavor that no pantry item can replicate. We love using bourbon — and other liquors — to make pumpkin pie bolder, and it can do the exact same thing for apple pie.

The deeper flavors of booze heighten apples' tart, fruity flavors, and it all comes together before you place the pie in the oven. With your apples peeled and chopped, put them in a saucepan along with the alcohol, some butter, sugar, and spices to coax out their juices and transform the booze into a syrupy reduction. Once the sauce has thickened, pile the filling into the pie tin and bake at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for about 45 minutes.

Like we mentioned earlier, boozes rich with baking spices, such as rum or whiskey, were made for apple pie. They deliver all the components needed for a delicious dessert, along with flavorful perks like dried fruits and herbs or toffee with hints of smoke. There are various types of rum that are ideal for baking, and you can choose based on how rich you want your pie to taste. Gold, also known as amber rum, has the delicate sweetness of white rum, but with bolder accents like light spices and a more prominent vanilla taste.

If you like pies made of apples that are buttery and citrusy — such as a Golden Delicious or Granny Smith — amber rum's unassuming flavor is your best bet. For something intense and heady to pair with Jonathan or McIntosh apples, dark rum's notes of molasses and woods or whiskey's spicy, oak-tinged taste are classic choices. When going with the latter, the best bourbons for baking are smooth and uncomplicated, with notes of maple, oak, and vanilla that mesh with every type of apple.

Brown liquor may seem like the obvious choice for apple pie, but wine works well with the dessert, too. If you want to get really meta with your dessert, opt for a splash of brandy, particularly Calvados or Applejack. Both amplify the fruit's natural flavors, with Calvados delivering floral hints of pears and apricots while Applejack infuses pie with bourbon-like woods and spices.