(upbeat music)
- Hey, everyone, it is Jesse from the Tasty Team,
and today, I'm gonna be testing out
four famous celebrity apple pie recipes
to see which one is actually the best.
On today's lineup, we have recipes from Michelle Obama,
Gordon Ramsay, Martha Stewart, and Michael Symon.
I've read all the recipes,
measured everything out exactly as stated
to make sure it's fair,
and I got three of my friends to taste them
in a blind taste test.
So, which celebrity has the best apple pie recipe?
Let's find out.
Up first is the queen of Thanksgiving herself,
Martha Stewart.
She makes a pretty standard crust in a food processor
by combining flour, salt, sugar, and butter,
and then she mixes up eggs and water, drizzles that in,
and blitzes it a few more times so a dough forms together.
You're gonna take that, transfer it onto a work surface,
and kind of push it together into a big dough ball.
Cut that in half, wrap each one in plastic wrap,
and pop that in the fridge.
While that's chilling,
get a pot over high heat and melt some butter.
You're gonna want it to start browning
and form these little speckles on the bottom.
It'll look burnt, but don't worry,
it's what we're going for.
Then you're gonna take Granny Smith apples, peel them,
and you're gonna cut them into eighths.
They're gonna be pretty big chunks,
but that's what Martha says.
Put some lemon juice on 'em, toss so they don't brown,
and get another bowl.
You're gonna combine some flour, sugar,
brown sugar, salt, and vanilla bean.
Mix that up so it's not really clumpy,
and you're gonna toss that with the cut apples
and pour your brown butter right on top.
Toss, toss, toss,
and you're gonna take one half of your dough,
roll it out into a disc with a bit of flour
so it doesn't stick,
and you want it about the size of your pie pan.
To make things easier,
you can roll it right on your rolling pin
then put it right on the disc.
Take those apples and pour 'em right in the bottom.
And then while that's happening,
you're gonna roll out your other dough
and put that right on top as well.
Go around, pinch it so it doesn't come open,
and crimp it so it looks nice and fancy.
Poke some holes in the top to let the steam out,
brush the top with a bit of egg to help it brown,
and sprinkle the top with sugar
so it looks nice and glistening.
Pop it in the oven, bake until brown, and there you have it,
Martha Stewart brown butter apple pie.
- It's too much apple.
It's too much healthy.
- It's super dry.
- I was kinda expecting it to have cinnamon flavor.
There's no cinnamon at all.
- It's just a basic apple pie.
This is as basic as you can get.
- [Jesse] Up next is my First Lady, Michelle Obama.
She combines Granny Smith apples, brown sugar,
cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and flour
and pops them in her fridge overnight.
The next day,
you're gonna butter and flour
a large rectangular baking dish so your pie doesn't stick
and you're gonna grab three rolls of store bought pie crust.
Roll those out.
You want the edges touching just a little bit,
and you're gonna cut that in half
so you have one and a half of those.
Pop that right in the bottom and poke a few holes in it.
And then bring in your apples, juice and all,
and put 'em right in.
Top it with a few more pieces of butter,
take your other one and a half pieces of pie crust,
place that on top, and pinch it closed.
Poke a few holes right on top to let the steam out
and brush with butter
and put it in a 300 degree oven for three hours.
Yup, there you have it, three hour apple pie.
- This is an apple pie bar.
This is like a brownie, but apple pie.
- The crust is definitely very flaky,
but it's definitely not buttery.
- It's so sad.
This filling is so good,
but it tastes like store bought crust to be honest.
- Mm, I'm into it.
- [Jesse] Up next is Michael Symon.
He starts fairly standard by combining flour,
sugar, and salt in a food processor
and blitzes that until combined.
Bring in some cold butter, pretty standard,
blitz it one more time.
But here's a crazy part.
He brings in sharp cheddar cheese
and blitzes that right into his dough.
You're gonna bring in some cold water,
pour it on top to help it come together,
and if it's still lookin' a bit dry,
you can add a little bit more
just to help it turn into a dough.
Take this, split it in half, wrap it up,
pop it in the fridge just like the other ones,
then meanwhile,
take some Granny Smith apples and toss 'em with sugar,
brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
Toss that together and bring in some heavy cream
and pour it right on top and toss it one more time.
Take half your dough that's already rolled out,
pour those apples right on top,
dot with a few extra pieces of butter,
and bring in your last piece of dough right on top.
Crimp is closed just like the other ones, poke some holes,
and brush this with some egg
and sprinkle it with turbinado sugar
to make it nice and crunchy.
Pop it in the oven, bake until golden.
And there you have it, a cheesy apple pie.
- It has that nice, iconic crust sound to it, which I love.
- It's kinda dry.
It's like apple pie that's been sitting out for five days.
- This is as neutral as you get.
It's not too spicy, it's not too sweet.
The crust is (groans).
- Wait, there's cheese in the crust?
- It's so weird because there's this after note
of milkiness and mustiness.
- That makes no sense 'cause usually
whenever you add cheese to literally any food,
it tastes better.
But this is the one case in which it's made it worse.
- [Jesse] Up nest is Gordon Ramsay.
He takes a bit of a different approach with his crust
and combines softened, not cold,
butter with sugar and adds egg and blitz them 'til creamy.
You're gonna add flour, blitz it one more time,
and if it's lookin' dry,
you can add a few tablespoons of water.
With this dough, just like the others,
you're gonna smush it together, divide it in half,
wrap it up, and stick it in the fridge to chill.
While that's chilling, combine some sugar, cinnamon,
and nutmeg in a small bowl, toss that together,
and pour it right on top of some diced apples,
not sliced this time.
You wanna coat 'em 'cause we're gonna be cookin' 'em.
Melt some butter and add half of that mixture to it.
You wanna cook these until they're really nice
and caramelized on the outside.
Toss, toss, toss, put those in a bowl,
and do the same exact thing with the remaining apples.
Once those are cooked,
you're gonna pour them right into a pie pan
with half of your dough.
Put down the rest of the crust right on top,
crimp it closed, and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake and there you have it, Gordon Ramsay's pie.
- I kinda like it, but it doesn't taste like apple pie.
The crust tastes like a shortbread cookie.
- I really like this pie.
There's the right amount of sweetness,
the right amount of acidity.
- This is definitely one of the best crusts I've ever had.
- That is crunchy crust.
It's all I've been asking for all day.
- [Jesse] Which celebrity has the best apple pie?
It's time to find out.
- The second one, actually, is my favorite.
The really thick one that has the filling
that's super brown and caramely.
That's my favorite.
- My favorite apple pie is number four
because it has a really great crust.
It's definitely something that I'm always looking for
in an apple pie.
- After tasting all of these pies,
I think I've come to the conclusion
that number four is my favorite
because there was some dark caramelization going on there,
so I was really into that.
I don't know, the crust won me over.
- [Jesse] So, there you have it.
Gordon Ramsay has the best apple pie.
Which recipe should we test next?
Let us know in the comments.
(grand orchestral music)