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Fully baked Apple Rhubarb Pie on a cooling rack.

Apple Rhubarb Pie

Springtime rhubarb joins crisp apples in this delightful filling, enhanced with cinnamon, ginger and cardamom. The aroma as it bakes will make your kitchen smell like a dream. Perfect with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Course Dessert
Cuisine North American
Keyword apple pie, pie crust, rhubarb
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Resting 4 hours
Servings 8

Ingredients

  • Full amount of my Perfect Pie Crust recipe, or use store-bought pastry, enough to cover the pie as well; see Notes
  • 5 cups peeled and 1/6 inch-thick sliced apples, about 4 medium apples, or a total of 575 grams; see Notes
  • 2 1/2 cups 1/4 inch thick-sliced rhubarb, about 240 grams
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 4 tbsp arrowroot starch or all purpose flour, or gluten free cup for cup blend
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ginger
  • 1/2 tsp cardamom
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp ground almonds
  • 1 egg for egg wash
  • 2 tbsp turbinado sugar

Instructions

  1. Prepare the pie shell by lining a pie plate with one half of the pastry. Trim the outside edge to have a 1/2 inch overhang past the pie plate. Chill till needed. Have the remaining pastry ready, but wrapped in plastic waiting in the fridge till needed.
  2. Combine the apple slices and chopped rhubarb in a large bowl.
  3. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, arrowroot starch, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and salt till well blended.
  4. Pour this over the fruit in the large bowl. Toss gently to ensure that everything is well coated with the sugar mixture. Let it sit to start releasing the juices from the fruit.
  5. Pre-heat the oven to 425F and place a rack at the lower third level in the oven. Take the chilled pie shell out, as well as the remaining pastry.
  6. Spread the ground almonds evenly over the bottom of the chilled pie shell. Spoon the filling over the almonds, pressing the apples and rhubarb into the shell to eliminate any air pockets. Pack it all firmly, mounding the final amount so that the middle of the filling is higher than the outer edges.
  7. Roll out the remaining pastry and cover as you desire. If you end up just placing the entire pastry over the filling, trim it so that the edges of the lower pastry can come over and cover the top layer. Then crimp or use a fork to finish the edges. Make sure that you cut vent holes in the pastry.
  8. See the blog post for more details and other suggestions for preparing the pie.
  9. Bake on the lower rack for 35 minutes, till just turning golden brown. Move the pie to the centre rack and drop the temperature to 375 and continue to bake. Once the juices are bubbling, and the crust is golden brown, about another 30 minutes, it is ready to come out of the oven.
  10. If the crust or edges are browning too much, cover with a pie guard or foil and continue baking.
  11. Cool for at least 3 to 4 hours, or overnight to allow the juices to settle and the filling to firm up.
  12. Serve with ice cream, whipped cream or Creme Anglaise.

Recipe Notes

Here is my Perfect Pie Crust recipe link. Feel free to use a store-bought pie crust, just make sure you have enough for the top and bottom of a standard pie plate.
The best apples for a pie like this are Gala, Honeycrisp, Red Prince or other firm, crispy sweet apple. Avoid apples that will melt too much as they bake up.

Here is my recipe for Creme Anglaise.