The $70 apple pie baked in a paper bag is worth the hype, Delish editors say
Thanksgiving is weeks away, and if you'd rather outsource dessert than wrestle with a lattice crust, there's one pie with a cult following worth knowing about. The Elegant Farmer in Mukwonago, Wisconsin, sells an apple pie baked inside a paper bag, and Delish editors just confirmed it lives up to the $70 price tag.
The bag isn't a gimmick. Twenty-six years ago, former owners Dan and Karen Scheel wanted a dessert built around the apples from their orchard, and Karen found a paper-bag pie recipe in a cookbook. The sealed bag traps moisture so the Ida Red apples stay juicy while the crust avoids burning. Partway through baking, the bakery cuts a hole in the top of the bag so the crust still turns golden.
The signature cracked, crunchy topping was actually a happy accident. Bakers once doubled one of the topping ingredients by mistake, and the result was a rustic crust that tastes like a sugar cookie. The recipe stuck, and the pie went on to be named the best apple pie in America by Gourmet and The Wall Street Journal, even beating Bobby Flay in a 2008 episode of Throwdown.
What it tastes like
The pie arrives pre-baked and frozen. You warm it straight from the freezer at 325°F for about an hour, or thaw it and reheat at 425°F for 8 to 10 minutes. One tip from the test: line your tray with parchment, because caramelized sugar leaks out of the bag and can bake onto your oven.
The torn paper and cracked crust don't make for the prettiest pie, but the editors stopped caring after the first bite. Contributing writer Steven Morea said the apples taste like "they were just picked," while digital director Katelyn Lunders couldn't stop eating it and is already ordering another for her family's Thanksgiving. Senior editor Samantha MacAvoy put it bluntly: "I would buy this just for the crust."
Even self-proclaimed pie hater Taylor Worden came around, and test kitchen manager Alejandro Valdes Lora summed it up in four words: "I'm obsessed with this." For a special occasion, the editors agree, it's a showstopper that will upstage everything else on the table.