I need to confess something. I’ve never gone to Chicago. So I’ve never had a Chicago-Style Bakery Apple Slice at a Chicago bakery. But! I discovered them on the internet, and as soon as I saw the gooey apple filling peeking out of the flaky pie crust and encrusted in a thick sweet glaze, I knew I had to try them. One of the benefits of cooking is that you can travel the world right in your own kitchen, and while my kitchen is far from a Chicago bakery, it can at least taste like one with these ingredients. Yours can too. All you need is pie crust, apple filling, and a fast icing to finish it off.
While these slices appear spectacular, they are actually very simple to produce. You’ll need two pie crusts, and the recipe is below. (If you want to print our All-Butter Pie Crust separately, it’s basically the same.) (You can use store-bought crust if you like.) Begin with a round of dough and roll it into a rectangle roughly the size of your jelly roll pan. Then push it into the bottom of the pan. If you got a bit too big, no worries; simply fold over and push in the edges.
Then, take four cups of your favorite apple pie filling and pour it evenly over the crust. You do not have to leave a border. Next, you’ll roll out another rectangle of dough and set it on top of the apple filling. Press the two crusts together where you can, but don’t worry about it. If some filling shows through, that’s okay! And there is no need to crimp. This is a casual business.
Cut a few vents in the top and bake. It will take approximately forty minutes for the crust to get gorgeously golden, but then you must wait for it to cool.See, if you didn’t, the icing would run right off, and crusty sugared icing is kind of a must here. After the apple slices have cooled, mix together the powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, and milk and pour it evenly over the top crust. When the icing has hardened, it’s ready to slice and serve, which is the optimal timing. Even if you can’t make it to Chicago, these sticky, flaky, gooey slices are delicious right from your own kitchen.