What’s the best kind of apple to use when baking a pie? I know that everyone favors the Honeycrisp around here for eating, but I’m not sure it would be the best choice for baking.
My wife swears by MacIntosh. I can vouch for the outcome!
I’m partial to Granny Smiths. They are nice & firm and the flavor is tart, which I think is a good contrast to other sweet ingredients.
Totally agree here. Very firm and crisp, not too sweet…pretty much the anti-Red Delicious. 
I would say Northern Spy if you can get them; Macs are okay if they are very hard when you buy them but as its all too common to get year-old Macs in the grocery store, I prefer Winesap or Cortland. I’ve used Granny Smith in a pinch.
Basically any hard, tart apple makes nice pie. Even if you don’t like tart apples to eat, they taste better in pie. Being hard is sign of freshness and also a firmer apple won’t just pulp in the heat of the oven and turn into applesauce. If you can dent them by pressing your thumb into the flesh, don’t buy them.
Mmm, apple pie.
I’ll third Granny Smith apples. You just can’t beat the taste/texture combination. They really hold up well to baking and never turn into mush.
How can this be anything other than Granny Smiths?
Did anyone say Granny Smith yet?
Never tried Granny Smith’s myself, but Macintosh and Cortland varieties are also pretty tasty in pie.
Thanks for all the suggestions. If we go to an orchard, I’ll see if I can find some Northern Spies. (Is that the right way to make Northern Spy plural? It makes it sound like the Canadians are planning an invasion.) Otherwise, I’ll pick up Granny Smiths at the grocery store. Thanks!
I just popped in to say “granny smiths,” without reading the thread up to now.
I always hear Granny Smiths, but I’ve never been in love with the tart thing. I use Golden Delicious in my pies, which are pretty sweet, and everyone loves them.
If you can’t find any apples at all, you can use Ritz crackers 
Red delicious are the best apples for every occasion. Tart, crisp, richly-coloured, and huge, they exceed every other apple in every way.
Everyone I know (well, everyone I know that actually make apple pies themselves) uses Granny Smith apples in pies.
Either I’m being whooshed, or I just haven’t ever had a Red Delicious like you have. I think of them as big, mealy, overly sweet and utterly unsuitable for anything but feeding to pigs or horses as treats.
The only true apple to use is the Bramley . That is the queen of cooking apples and no other will do. I live about six miles from the original tree which is still producing apples.
Cortland is good for pie. It’s firm and tart.
Red Delicious are nice to look at, but lousy for eating. The best eating apple, in my book, is the Honeycrisp. I wouldn’t cook with it, though. Cortlands make good apple sauce. Macintoshes are nice for editing movies or doing graphic design, I’m told. I’m skeptical.
Moved from IMHO to CS.