Homemade Gift Idea – Apple Pie in a Jar
Everyone loves food in a jar and this Apple Pie in a Jar recipe will help you make delicious homemade gifts for friends and family.
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It’s the gift giving season and we’ve been baking up a storm. Bob’s Red Mill recently sent us some of their Organic Unbleached All Purpose White Flour and we put it to good use with our apple pie in a jar recipe. We love making homemade gifts for our friends and family, especially edible gifts, and if that gift is served in a jar…BONUS! I really don’t know why I love food served in jars so much. Maybe it is because it’s such an simple way to package homemade recipes that aren’t usually easy to wrap up as a gift, or maybe I just like being able to unscrew the lid, grab a spoon and dig in.
We used Bob’s Red Mill Organic Unbleached All Purpose White Flour to make our pie crust (along with a little in the pie filling to help it thicken). I know a lot of people buy their pie crusts, and there is nothing wrong with that, but I like to make my own, especially when I’m baking a gift. Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose flour is great because it is the same high protein flour used by professional bakers and produces high, well-textured loaves of bread equally as well as it produces light, airy baked goods. We used one of Bob’s Red Mill’s pie crust recipes and it turned out perfect. This was Melinda’s first time making her own pie crust and she couldn’t believe how easy it was.
The filling was easy too. We diced up our Granny Smith apples and tossed them with sugar and cinnamon and a little bit of flour. Then we used our fingers to press the pie crust into the wide mouth jars. Wide mouth jars are a must for this recipe. You need to be able to get your hand down in them and coat the whole inside with dough. We took little chunks of the pie crust and pressed it into the bottom and up the sides until the jar was completely lined in crust. We stopped just before the part of the jar that the lid screws onto but next time I would take it up higher, the crust shrinks a little as it cooks. Once the crust was in we scooped our pie filling in until the jar was full (fill to the same height as the crust). The add your butter to each jar. 
Next is the lattice top. It was definitely not the easiest thing I’ve done, weaving the pieces over and under each other in that small space was a little difficult, but it is totally worth it. When your friends and family take the lid off they are going to be amazed at how pretty it looks, not to mention totally impressed you were able to do that ;). Just roll your dough out onto my non-stick mat to about 1/4″ and cut it into thin strip (we used a pizza cutter). Then weave the pieces together to make the top crust. Here’s a good tutorial.
After that you just put your jars on a baking sheet and pop them in the oven to bake. When they are done let them cool and then decorate them however you like. We used twine to go with our rustic pie tags but you can use ribbon instead, or put fabric under the lid. There are so many ways to dress up food in a jar but honestly it’s pretty darn cute all on it’s own. 
We’ve included our pie tags here for you to download and use if you would like. One less thing for you to worry about this holiday season! We’ve also got a coupon for Bob’s Red Mill products for you.
If you like this idea but you have friends who are gluten free (like we do) Bob’s Red Mill also makes a Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour. It is perfectly formulated for baked goods with terrific taste and texture – no additional specialty ingredients or custom recipes required.
Homemade Gift Idea - Apple Pie in a Jar
Ingredients
Pie Crust Dough
- 1/4 c Water, (ice cold)
- 1 tsp Sea salt
- 1 c Shortening, , chilled
- 2 c Flour, , unbleached
Apple Pies
- 4 c Granny Smith apples, , peeled and diced (approx. 6 medium apples)
- 1/2 c Sugar
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 4 tsp Butter
- 2 tbsp Bob's Red Mill Organic All Purpose Flour
Instructions
Pie Crust Dough
- Place flour and salt in medium-size, chilled bowl.
- Break up chilled vegetable shortening and cut into flour with a fork or a pastry blender until there are pea-sized pieces of dough.
- Slowly add ice water and blend with fork. Do not overwork; blend until just mixed and dough holds together.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 12 hours.
- Remove from refrigerator at least 1 hour before handling.
Apple Pies
- Pre-heat oven to 350°F
- Use your pie crust dough to coat the inside of the mason jars. Pull off small pieces and mold them together on the inside of the glass keeping the thickness of the crust to about ¼ inch.
- In bowl mix together apples, sugar, cinnamon, and flour. Making sure apples are completely coated in the dry mixture.
- Fill jars with apple mixture until just below the lower rim where the threads for the lid start.
- Add 1 pat of butter to the top of the mixture (about 1 tbsp).
- Roll out your remaining pie crust to ¼ inch thick and cut ½" strips and weave a lattice top for the pie.
- Place jars on a baking sheet and cover them with foil.
- Bake for 20 minutes covered and 25-35 minutes uncovered.
- When the crust is golden brown remove and let cool before packaging or eating.
- *Note: We used wide mouth pint jars and this recipe made 4 pies.
Nutrition
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
Looks like a yummy gluten free gift idea.
Love it! Such a creative gift idea!
That is a really nice idea!
I want one made for me! Love apple pie; this is so cute.
This looks amazing!!! I’m soo gonna make this as soon as possible! Keep up the good work, I love reading your posts!
You’re going to laugh but this comment totally made my Sunday morning. Love your blog!
These are just adorable! They’d make a great addition to Christmas dinner and could even be given as gifts. I love it!
Apple pie in a jar, now your talking! I’m not sure they would make it as gifts tho….I would probably eat them all…lol.
Thanks for linking up to Marvelous Monday on Smart Party Planning.
YUM. These look sooo good. Such a cute idea putting them in a mason jar!! I love the tags, too! Pinned! 🙂
Yes, please! How pretty are those & I like the packaging too. You did a great job. Email me & I’ll give ya my address so you can ship me one! Haha! Happy Wednesday!
You just can’t beat a good apple pie! Thanks for linking to Show Me Saturday.
Oh yum! Pinned and tweeted. Lou Lou Girls
This is a very good idea!. What kind of paper do you use to print out the label?
White card stock 🙂
Hi Weni, actually we used Kraft paper card stock for those labels.
What isn’t the shelf life for apple pie in a jar. Would I have to make them the same or. Day before before giving as gifts?
That is a great question and honestly I’m not sure. I know if I make a regular apple pie it is good for several days even at room temp. I know they are fine if you make them a day ahead of time. I think they would be fine 2-3 days ahead of time as long as you tightly seal the lid on once they have cooled.
Do you grease the glass jar inside? And someone said they break unless you put them in water.
We did not grease the jars and had no issue with crust sticking. We put the jars right in pan, no water. Never heard of them breaking, maybe it is the quality of glass jar? Glass should not break at 350 degrees.
Can they be made and not cooked till later or next day? Also, I was asked if, when covering with foil to bake, is that covering just the top and not the whole jar?
I have never tried baking them the next day but I don’t think that would be a problem. You only need to cover the top with foil.
I love the tag!!!!! Would you share it?
Hi Sabrina, if you click on the download tags image you can get the PDF.
Would I be able to freeze these pies if I don’t want to bake them today? I’d like to be able to take them out i the winter, pop them into the oven (after they reach room temp so the jars don’t break from the temp change) and enjoy them. What do you think? Should I do anything different to them in order to do this? Thanks so much!!
I think that should work as long as the jars are oven proof. Baking time may vary if the center is colder than the outer part of the jar.
I would love to send them in the mail not sure how long the shelf life is . I need to send birthday gifts to CA
What are the instructions to give the recipient? Do they zap the jar in the microwave? Turn it out into a small baking dish and reheat or just eat at room temperature straight from the jar? I’m not understanding how the gift part of this works. Sounds yummy and thank you 😊
Hi Lesley, the pie in the jar is fully baked so the recipient can’t eat it in any of the ways you listed. One thing our friends never have trouble with is figuring out how to eat something 😁 You could certainly make a cute card with instructions to go with the gift though
Hi- looks so cute. How would I gift this? Meaning, should I freeze it with instructions on how to bake? Or do I gift it and tell them to eat it in the next couple of days?
I tell friends to eat it in the next 2-3 days. In the past I’ve made these as party favors so I would worry that if I froze it and handed it out as a gift people wouldn’t get it home and in the freezer before it thawed out.