How to celebrate timeless autumn tradition with apple pie and sweater weather

Apple pie is more than just a dessert : it’s an enduring symbol of warmth, tradition and shared memories around the table ! While for many, the scent of cinnamon and bubbling apples evokes a quintessentially American childhood, the true story of apple pie is a tapestry woven across centuries and continents, flavoured by migration and myth as much as sugar and spice. To me, it’s a collage of memory, belonging and quiet moments that make each autumn feel like a return home.

When September air sharpens and apple crates line the local market, I remember years spent picking apples in the chill of an orchard, fingers cold, laughter trailing between the trees. My family and I shared these rituals and, over time, baking became our way of catching the season as it turned.

The ancient roots of apple pie

Although apple pie is famously celebrated in the United States today, its earliest origins trace back to 14th-century England. In 1381, an English cookbook called The forme of cury included the first known apple pie recipe, blending apples with figs, raisins, pears, and saffron. Unlike the golden pastries we enjoy now, medieval pies featured tough, inedible “coffin” crusts designed only to hold the filling during baking. Over time, as sugar became more accessible and culinary traditions traveled across Europe, from the Ottoman Empire to France and the Netherlands, the pie evolved from savoury to sweet.

Lattice, crust and cultural fusion

Dutch bakers significantly shaped the apple pie we recognize today by introducing the lattice crust, turning pastry into a form of edible art. This innovation made sugar-coated, covered pies possible during the height of the spice trade. Recipes later evolved to embrace buttery, flaky crusts that have become essential to the dessert. As these techniques spread across Europe, more people enjoyed pies that were both accessible and delicious.

When European settlers crossed the Atlantic, they brought apple seeds, cuttings, and orchard traditions with them. Native crabapples were small and tart, but thanks to careful cultivation and the efforts of beekeepers and visionaries like Johnny Appleseed, hundreds of sweet, pie-ready apple varieties flourished. Apples quickly took root across North America, boosted by cider, land claims, and nostalgia for the settlers’ homelands.

German and Dutch immigrants introduced buttery crusts and fruit-filled pies, influencing the British-style scones and puddings that colonists had traditionally prepared. In 1796, Amelia Simmons’ groundbreaking cookbook American Cookery featured two distinct apple pie recipes, cementing the dish’s beloved place in American kitchens.

Growing up in the Romanian countryside

As a child, apple pie always felt like an event. My grandparents had a house in the southern countryside of Romania, a modest one-story home surrounded by three gardens—one for vegetables, one for grapevines, and one for fruit trees. Their love language was cultivating the land and sharing its abundance with family. Each time we visited, my parents’ car seemed to leave heavier than when it arrived, filled with baskets of produce and the warmth of my grandparents’ care.

I’d stand on tiptoes beside my grandmother at the kitchen counter, watching her transform flour and butter into dough, her hands moving with casual confidence. I learned early how to choose apples, the smallest, tartest and often less-than-perfect fruit that others left behind, because she said those made the best filling. Our kitchen would fill with a scent no candle could ever copy : apples, spice and sugar, the background hum of my grandma’s stories.

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