To this day, scrolling through Lauren Conrad's Instagram can give you serious baking envy. Her pies look flawless—even the more rustic ones have that carefully undone "oh this? I just whipped it together in my spare time!" look that makes them endearingly homemade. You double-tap the photo, stare wistfully at the dessert you wish you had on your kitchen table right now, and move on, dismissing her image as "expectations" and a vision of a congealed, blobby pie your "reality" if you tried it, too.
But if you spoke to Conrad, she'd be pretty quick to assure you that you're all wrong—and you've totally got this. She's not a professionally trained pastry chef; she's just baked plenty of apple pies over the years—including more than 50 to serve to her wedding guests, in lieu of cake—to learn a thing or two about getting the recipe right. (Even still, she confesses, she's not immune to the occasional baking disaster.)
We turned to the fashion designer and lifestyle guru, whose book, Lauren Conrad Celebrate, is available now, to get her secrets—and ultimate recipe—for creating an unforgettable apple pie.
1. Give It the Shrink-Ray Treatment.
You know how people can't help but really ooh and ahh over anything miniature? The same definitely applies to pies—and the smaller scale means any imperfections are less noticeable. Plus, little pies or tarts mean less wrestling with dough to roll it out to the right size (read: fewer holes and uneven crusts), so they're often easier to make, too.
2. Don't Neglect the Crust.
People fixate on a pie's filling, but if you really want to create a treat that makes people's eyes roll to the back of their head in sheer bliss, try sprinkling herbs into the dough before rolling it out. Conrad recommends adding a little rosemary to her go-to recipe for another layer of flavor, as well as using shortening instead of butter for a flakier crust.
3. Make Peace with Starting Over.
"I've yet to master pie crust," Conrad admits. "I feel like every time I make it, it comes out a little different, so I fuss with it, and add a little water or flour to get it to the right texture."
If you've tried adding a few spoonfuls of flour to thicken it and it's still a gloppy mess that won't hold its shape, don't be afraid to start over. "Sometimes, for me, the easiest thing to do is throw it out and try again," she says.
Still struggling? We've tried this pie crust recipe out innumerable times and it's never failed us.
4. Put the Apples in Time Out.
Conrad's rosette-style mini tarts seem tricky to make, but there are two keys to mastering them: First, slice your apples as thinly as possible, and second, let them soak in water for an hour before you add them to the pie.
"If you don't soak the slices long enough, they'll break when you get to the center of the tart," she explains.
Conrad starts from the outer edge of the tart, layering apple slices so they overlap slightly to get that blooming-rose look. The thinner the slices, the more delicate and petal-like the tart appears.
You could use a mandolin for this, though Conrad warns to be extra careful with it. "I had an incident with one recently, and I've been scared to use it since," she says. "I typically use a really sharp knife that I only use for slicing citrus or making other delicate cuts."
5. Know When to Back Off the Heat.
Conrad swears by drizzling her apple pies and mini tarts with homemade caramel sauce before baking them. If the thought of homemade caramel makes you break out in a nervous sweat, grab a towel and take a deep breath.
As you follow Conrad's recipe, keep this advice in mind: "Consistently stir the sauce as you cook, and right when the sugar has melted and the sauce no longer looks gritty, take it off the heat so it doesn't burn."
The sauce will be a light caramel color, which is exactly what you want—if it gets too dark, the tarts can look scorched, even if the pie hasn't been overcooked.
Again, caramel can be tougher than one might think—we've got you.
6. Freeze The Pies Now So You Can Chill Out Later.
How did Conrad bake 50-plus pies for her wedding? Well, in addition to having the help of two friends—and access to a commercial kitchen—she prepared all of the pies beforehand and froze them until the big day, so all that was left to do was pop them in the oven (or ovens).
Also, about those wedding pies: Even Conrad had a moment of trepidation when she saw the size of the apple crate that arrived. "I just started doing math in my head, trying to figure out how long it'd take to slice and peel all of those apples," she says. "It took hours and hours."
7. Find a Recipe You Trust.
Conrad makes two pies for the most part—apple and pumpkin—mixing things up mostly with the flavoring of the crust or the overall look of the dessert (sometimes a lattice crust, sometimes cookie-cutter cutouts or the aforementioned rosette design).
Conrad shared her tried-and-true, all-time-favorite apple pie recipe with us, which you can find here.
Once you've tried it, you may find the hardest part is choosing the right Instagram caption to go with it.
Candace Braun Davison writes, edits, and produces lifestyle content that ranges from celebrity features to roll-up-your-sleeves DIYs, all while relentlessly pursuing the noblest of causes: the quest for the world's best chocolate chip cookie.
