This Is What Makes Dutch Apple Pie Different From American

Have you ever wondered why it's called "Dutch apple pie"? Those of you who haven't been to the land of tulips, canals, and coffee shops that sell a very specific product (ahem) may not know what makes Dutch apple pie uniquely Dutch. Is it a pie you deliver by bicycle? Or is it like German chocolate cake, where the pie is just named after a guy named Dutch? Well, no: in America, Dutch apple pie is just apple pie that's topped with streusel instead of a crust.

You may know what streusel is, even if you've never heard the word before. It's that dense, crumbly mixture you see on top of coffee cakes and apple crisps — a mix of sugar, flour, salt, and butter that gets sprinkled over whatever it is you want streusel-ed. (We know "streusel" isn't a verb, but we're using it like one anyway.) With that in mind, a Dutch apple pie (in America, anyway) is just an apple crisp that has a bottom crust. An American apple pie, meanwhile, has both a top and a bottom crust. Whether you're making the Dutch or American version, however, it's always important to macerate your apples for the best apple pie.

While Americans have reserved the name "Dutch apple pie" for the crumb-topped version, the Dutch themselves enjoy two kinds of apple pie. The appeltaart (not to be confused with the American apple tart, which the Dutch call an appelvlaai) is made with a lovely latticed top crust, a style that closely resembles the traditional apple pie we are familiar with in the United States. The other, the appelkruimeltart, has a crumb topping that Americans will recognize as similar to their Dutch apple pie.

Apple pies made their first appearance in Dutch cookbooks with the modestly named "Een notabel boecxken van cokeryen" ("A Notable Little Cookery Book"), which was printed (and possibly written) by Thomas van der Noot in 1514. To Mr. van der Noot's credit, the pie he describes is pretty much the same as the pie people eat today, although the spices he lists (including ginger, nutmeg, and clove, among others) would have made it cost a pretty penny to make. Today, though, apple pie is widely enjoyed in the Netherlands — and in America, if you have the patience to make it. Just make sure you use the right apples.