Food_Heaven_-_November_2019

78 baking heaven NOVEMBER WWW.FOODHEAVENMAG.COM

All-American

apple pie

SERVES 6-8

For the pastry

475g (1lb 1oz) plain flour, plus extra

for dusting

100g (3½oz) icing sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

50g (2oz) finely ground hazelnuts

250g (9oz) butter, cold and

cut into small cubes

2 free-range eggs, beaten

1 tbsp whole milk

granulated sugar, to sprinkle

For the filling

175g (6oz) caster sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp allspice

a pinch of salt

juice of ½ a lemon

a few drops of vanilla extract

1 sharp, green eating apple, such

as Granny Smith, peeled, cored

and sliced

1 sweet eating apple, such as Gala,

peeled, cored and sliced

2 cooking apples, such as

Bramleys, peeled, cored and

sliced

To serve

custard or vanilla ice cream

1 To make the pastr y, sif t the flour, icing

sugar and ground cinnamon into a large

bowl. Rub the ground hazelnuts and

cubed butter into the flour and sugar

with your hands until you get a crumble-

like mixture.

2 Add the eggs and carefully work in

with your hands until you have a dough,

gradually adding the milk to get the right

consistency that is firm and not too

sticky. Be careful not to mix it too much –

you don’t want to overwork the pastry.

Flour the dough lightly and wrap it in

clingfilm before popping it in the

refrigerator for 30 minutes.

3 To make the filling, mix the sugar,

cinnamon, allspice and salt in a bowl.

4 Add the lemon juice and sliced apples

and toss in the sugar mixture until well

coated. Stir in the vanilla extract.

5 To assemble the pie, take the pastr y

out of the refrigerator and let it stand for

30 minutes. Preheat the oven to

200°C/Gas Mark 6 and grease a 23cm

(9in) pie dish with butter.

6 Flour a clean work surface and cut the

pastry in half. Roll out one half large

enough to cover the bottom and sides of

the prepared dish. Place the pastry in the

dish and prick the bottom with a fork.

Place in the freezer for 10 minutes while

you prepare the pastry lid or lattice top.

7 For a plain lid, simply roll out the

second piece of pastr y to slightly larger

than the dish.

8 To create a lattice, roll out the pastry

for the lid on a floured surface so that it

is about 2.5cm (1in) larger than the

actual pie dish. Cut the pastry into 1cm

(½in) ribbons. I find a pizza cutter is the

most accurate and easiest tool to use.

9 Take the pastr y base out of the freezer

and fill with the apple, sugar and

spice mix.

10 To make the plain pie, moisten the

edges of the pastry and cover the pie

base with the top, sealing and crimping

the edges together.

11 For a latticed top, lay four or five

strips of pastr y parallel on top of the

pie about 2cm (¾in) apart. Fold back

every other strip halfway. Place

the pie so that the strips are vertical in

front of you.

12 Place one strip of dough horizontally

across the middle of the pie at right

angles to the other strips. Unfold the

folded strips. Fold back the vertical

strips that are under the single strip.

13 Add another horizontal strip below

the first one, then unfold the folded

strips. Continue until the bottom half of

the pie is covered, then repeat with

other half.

14 Moisten and seal the edges, then

trim off any excess pastry. Brush the

pastry with the beaten egg and sprinkle

with a couple of pinches of

granulated sugar.

15 Bake in the oven for 5 0 minutes, or

until the pie is golden, then serve warm

with a healthy dollop of custard or vanilla

ice cream.

ground (^) hazelnuts and
cinnamon are added to
the (^) pastry for (^) extra
flavour (^) & texture