This is Pie in the Sky in Cowan, the original and best-known location of the pie shop, perched above the Hawkesbury River and overlooking the Old Pacific Highway and Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. The site originally served as a railway canteen for fettlers on Rail Corp land and later housed a Mobil petrol station in the 1940s. It became the iconic pie shop after Tom Ransom and his son established the business following the opening of the F3 Freeway in 1968, which diverted traffic away from the old highway.
Family Apple Pie ($24.20)
This was a substantial 1.5 kg pie, with a shortcrust pastry shell generously filled with large chunks of apple. A sugar crust provided a crisp cinnamon crunch, releasing an aroma reminiscent of a cinnamon doughnut. Beneath this, the shortcrust was buttery and flavourful without becoming overwhelming, providing sufficient structure to support the generous filling. The apples were cooked through but retained a distinct bite and gentle tartness, which countered the buttery pastry and sweetness of the crust and sauce. Good value and well executed, with the apple filling providing a particularly satisfying balance of texture and flavour.
Apple Pie ($5.50; discounted to $4.00 due to being broken)
This featured shortcrust pastry filled with cooked, diced apples. The pastry was consistent with the family-sized version and remained the standout component, delivering a crisp crunch across the top, base and sides, alongside a warm, balanced buttery profile. However, its relative brittleness and loose crumb compromised structural integrity, making the pie prone to breaking apart. The cinnamon sugar formed a delicate crust on top, adding gentle spice that lifted the apple’s sweetness. The filling was less successful, with the apples cooked down to a very soft consistency, lacking both a toothsome bite and the tanginess needed to balance the pastry. A noticeable step down from the family apple pie.
Apple Rhubarb Pie ($5.50)
This featured apple and rhubarb, with a few berries in the filling. The rhubarb contributed an excessively mushy texture that detracted from the filling, despite providing some contrast to the crisp pastry. The pastry remained the stronger component, while the filling’s softness made the overall texture less enjoyable.
Apple Blackberry Pie ($5.50)
This featured shortcrust pastry filled with apple and blackberry. Blackberry flavour was most apparent at the beginning and end of each bite, adding colour to the apple filling without delivering the intensity of berry flavour we were after. Both fruits had been cooked down to a soft consistency, leaving the pastry as the pie’s strongest feature. It was enjoyable enough, but fell short of being particularly memorable.
Apricot Pie ($5.50)
This featured shortcrust pastry filled with apricot. The filling was again cooked down to a very soft consistency, although the apricot offered an enjoyable sweet-tart stone-fruit profile. The breakdown of the apricot halves suggested the possible use of canned fruit, though this could not be confirmed. As with the other varieties, the pastry was the standout component.
Overall, Pie in the Sky’s fruit pies were defined by crisp, buttery shortcrust pastry, which consistently proved to be the strongest component across the varieties sampled. The fillings were less consistent, with most cooked down to a soft, sometimes mushy texture that lacked the bite and freshness needed to complement the pastry. The family apple pie was the clear standout, with generous chunks of apple retaining their texture and gentle tartness beneath a crisp cinnamon sugar crust. The individual apple pie was less successful, while the blackberry, apple rhubarb and apricot fillings offered varying degrees of fruit flavour without matching the family pie’s balance. Worth visiting for the pastry, although the quality of the fruit fillings varied considerably.
Pie in the Sky is located at 1296 Pacific Hwy, Cowan NSW 2081.