Easily Upgrade Your Apple Pie With One Warm Spice

Apple pie is one of those perfect-for-fall-and-winter desserts that embodies the essence of the holiday season. Not only is it a delicious and comforting treat to share, but baking a high-quality apple pie doesn't require Michelin-star skills. Although a basic recipe is a good place to start for an easy-to-make apple pie, jazzing it up doesn't have to complicate the process. Chowhound spoke with Saura Kline, Pastry Chef at Denver bistro Local Jones, to get a spicy tip on how to introduce new layers of flavor into your favorite apple pie recipe without any extra elbow grease.

While it's tempting to experiment with ingredients to give an apple pie a bold flavor, Kline, like many of us, prefers simplicity, "I love the combination of chai and apple," she says, referencing the numerous spices that give the famed tea its alluring flavor. Chai spice blends, which originated in India, can be made with various ingredients, but their hallmark lineup typically includes cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and star anise — all spices that pair perfectly with apples.

Introducing chai spice to apple pie imbues the dessert with a certain complexity and balance, the notes of fragrant spiciness and hint of warming sweetness grounding the fruit's tart and sugary taste while enhancing the rich, buttery crust with its signature aromatics. You can add chai spice to your pie filling, bake it into the crust, use it as a garnish, or all of the above, making it versatile not just in flavor but in application to boot. Whether you're a baker with a penchant for making pie top to bottom from scratch or prefer relying on a roster of ready-to-bake goods, Saura Kline says, "You can either make your own chai spiced blend or buy a store-bought one," guaranteeing that, "either way, it will elevate your apple pie."

A chai spice blend is an easy and accessible way to remix the average apple pie. But why stop there? Consider incorporating additional low-effort ingredients that complement both chai and apples — like orange zest and cranberries for their freshly tart and fruity notes, salted caramel for festive sweetness, or crushed nuts for a rustic textural touch — to make it an even more robust dessert. Although there are many tricks for baking a superior apple pie, lacing it with wonderfully pungent chai spice is one of the easiest and most rewarding ways to give this iconic American dessert an upgrade.