After the iconic Big Mac and addictive fries, the apple pie at McDonald's is arguably the next most popular menu item.

The chain's version of America's favorite dessert was first introduced in 1968, and over the last 50 years years, the recipe for the hand-held pie has been through many changes. More than 40 variants have been introduced with fillings ranging from pumpkin to berries and currant (UK).

The original recipe, which originated in Knoxville, Tennessee, was a turnover-style pie fried to golden crispy perfection. However, in 1992, in an attempt to get with the times, McDonald's made the decision to offer baked pies instead of fried in the U.S.

Of course, as with any change, it took a while before fans of the Golden Arches accepted the less greasy version.

A few years later, the pies were given a makeover and started to include six varieties of handpicked apples from the United States, including Fuji, Golden Delicious, Jonagold, Rome, Gala, and Ida Red.

In 2016, McDonald's announced it was testing a new pie recipe that featured sliced instead of diced fruit. They also planned to bake the pies in a lattice crust instead of the signature solid top.

Now, the fast-food restaurant has once again altered their apple pie recipe to embrace the general trend of healthy eating that so many Americans have recently adopted.

While they're still committed to using 100% American grown apples, they have decided to use less of certain ingredients such as sugar, according to a press release. They've also added cinnamon to the filling "to give each one that homemade taste our customers love."

"Our new freshly baked Apple pie recipe is in line with other positive changes we have made," said McDonald's spokesperson Tiffany Briggs. "We removed, for example, artificial preservatives from our Chicken McNuggets and switched to real butter in our breakfast sandwiches because those changes matter to our guests."

Briggs is right in that customers love the homemade taste of the pies, but that may have been in the past. Since the arrival of the new apple pies, many Americans have expressed their anger and disappointment over how much the pies have changed for the worse.

These customers didn't beat around the bush when they let the restaurant know that they "absolutely hate the new apple pie."

Some wanted to know whether or not the new recipe was just "a seasonal thing...or a permanent change."

While others noted that by using fewer ingredients McDonald's left out key "spices like nutmeg that gave the previous pie a delicious flavor."

One Twitter user didn't approve of the new pies because they "taste too healthy."

But there were a few who actually had no qualms with the taste of the new pies and they made it known.

Have you tried the new McDonald's baked apple pie? Let us know what you think of it!