National Apple Pie Day
Flaky crust, cinnamon-spiced apples, a scoop of vanilla ice cream melting on top. National Apple Pie Day on May 13 honors the dessert that became shorthand for America itself.
Why it matters
A SLICE OF AMERICA!
It’s National Apple Pie Day. On May 13, America honors the dessert that became the national metaphor — a flaky crust, spiced apples, vanilla ice cream, the simple perfection of a well-made pie. Bake one. Share it. Enjoy the day.
The Story
Apple pie isn’t American. Not originally. The earliest written recipe comes from England in 1381 — over 400 years before American independence.
The first apple pie recipe appears in a late-14th-century English cookbook called The Forme of Cury, written by the cooks of King Richard II. Pies themselves are much older — the Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians all made savory and sweet pies. But the apple-plus-pastry-plus-spices version that became famous is medieval English. Apples were native to Central Asia, spread across Europe by Roman times, and were a staple of British and European baking by the Middle Ages.
Apple pie came to America with British colonists. Apples weren’t native to the New World, so early American orchards were planted from English seedlings. By the 1700s, American colonists were eating apple pie daily — often at breakfast, often with cheese or cream. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and George Washington all had apple pie recipes in their household papers.
The phrase “as American as apple pie” is younger than you’d expect. It entered common American usage in the 1920s and 1930s, crystallized during World War II when soldiers wrote home about fighting “for mom and apple pie.” The pie was suddenly a patriotic metaphor — the comfort food that represented home itself. That association has stuck for 80+ years.
Today, Americans consume over 186 million apple pies per year. Apple is the single most popular pie filling in America, outselling pumpkin 2-to-1. National Apple Pie Day on May 13 is the late-spring counterpart to the fall pie-making season that begins around Thanksgiving. A great pie deserves a holiday; here it is.
No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.
The Science of a Great Pie
Four things that separate a perfect apple pie from a sad one:
Cold Butter
Butter must be frozen-cold when you cut it into the flour. Warm butter = soft dough = tough crust. Cold butter = flaky, layered crust. The most important rule in pie-making.
Multiple Apples
Mix 2-3 varieties. Tart (Granny Smith) + sweet (Honeycrisp) + aromatic (Golden Delicious or Pink Lady). A pie with one variety is flat; a pie with three is complex.
Rest the Dough
Wrap dough in plastic, refrigerate 30-60 minutes before rolling. Relaxes the gluten, keeps butter cold, makes the dough 10x easier to work with.
Vent It
Cut slits in the top crust, or use a lattice. Steam has to escape. A sealed pie becomes a soggy pie — the bottom crust drowns in apple juice.
Best Apples for Pie
Six varieties worth knowing. Mix and match for complexity:
Did You Know?!
America plants 2,500 apple varieties.
Only ~100 are commercially available; most are grown by small heritage orchards. The USDA’s Geneva, NY orchard maintains the world’s largest apple genetic library.
Johnny Appleseed was real.
John Chapman, 1774-1845, really did plant thousands of apple trees across Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. His apples were grown from seed (not grafted), producing tart, mostly-cider apples.
Apple pie à la mode was invented in 1896.
At the Cambridge Hotel in Cambridge, NY. Professor Charles Townsend asked for a slice of apple pie with ice cream; the chef obliged. “À la mode” caught on nationally.
The biggest apple pie ever: 39,000 pounds.
Baked in 1998 in Wenatchee, WA (apple country). 44 feet in diameter, required 16,000 pounds of apples. Guinness record that hasn’t been broken since.
Read & Bake
The Pie Book
Louis Szathmáry · 1997
The definitive encyclopedia of pie-baking in America. 500+ recipes, regional histories, the essential technique chapter. Every pie baker should own it.
The Book on Pie
Erin Jeanne McDowell · 2020
The best modern pie cookbook, hands down. Gorgeous photos, clear instructions, every technique question answered. The book a new baker should get first.
A History of Pie
Libby O’Connell · 2016
How pie became American. From colonial kitchens to Pennsylvania Dutch traditions to the national-myth version today. A surprisingly good read.
Pair It With
Vanilla ice cream, à la mode. No compromise on this.
Any classic rock. Pie is a kitchen-radio food, and the radio’s on.
American Pie (1999) — not actually about pie, but iconic title.
Coffee, black, alongside warm pie. Classic combination.
Show Us The Pie!
Tag us @celebrationnation with #NationalApplePieDay. Best slice wins a feature.
How to celebrate
Bake one, buy one, or go to the best pie shop in town:
- 🥧 Bake one from scratch. It takes 2 hours but costs $8. A homemade pie is almost always better than a store-bought one.
- 🏪 Support a local bakery. Independent bakeries often make superior pies. Ask what kind of apples they use — the good ones know.
- 🍎 Try different apples. Mix tart and sweet varieties in one pie. Granny Smith + Honeycrisp + Golden Delicious is a classic trio.
- 🍦 Serve with vanilla ice cream. A la mode. The physics of warm pie + cold ice cream = magic.
- 🍂 Share it. Pie is too much for one person. Cut it in advance; drop off slices at neighbors.
Celebration ideas by audience
For families
Kids roll out the dough. Adults handle the oven. Family-pie-baking day is a perfect Sunday afternoon; the house smells like a pie shop.
For kids
Make mini hand pies in muffin tins. One apple makes 6 mini pies. Kids love them in lunch boxes.
For couples
Pie + wine + a movie. Better than most restaurants. Apple pie pairs with Riesling, Gewürztraminer, or a late-harvest wine.
At the office
Bring a pie to the break room. Don't cut it; leave a knife and a plate. Watch it vanish.
At school
Pie-making as a class project. Teaches fractions (double the recipe), chemistry (dough temperature), and patience (resting the dough). Everyone eats the result.
In your community
Pie potluck fundraiser. Charge $5 a slice. Most community events involving pie are well-attended, profitable, and memorable.
On your own
Make a mini pie in a cast-iron skillet. Feeds 2-3 for the week. Heat slices with a little cream in the microwave for breakfast.
More to celebrate
