Our best apple pie recipes (and a few tarts for good measure)

The short answer is, yes, apples should be cooked before making pie. Baking or stewing your apples before filling your pie ensures an even texture across your apple pie filling. Filling your pie with raw apples can cause an uneven cook across your filling, meaning some slices may be undercooked and crunchy whereas others could be overcooked and mushy. Filling your pie crust with raw filling may also leave gaping gaps in your pastry lid or lattice as the apples shrink as they cook.

The thickener in an apple pie filling is generally starch that comes from stewing your apples before baking them into your crust. This ensures a lovely, thick sauce and complex filling flavour in your appie pie (and tart) recipes.

The secret to a perfect apple pie lies in getting the basics right, beginning with the two components that make a really great apple pie: the filling and and of course, the pastry. Use fresh seasonal apples (we like a mixture of tart and sweet) and aim for either a flaky pastry (this is along the lines of an American pie style) or a sweet pastry (this is more typical of Australian pies).