My Traditionally Spiced Apple Pie
Apple pie or apple tart is a homely traditional dessert, full of nostalgia and reminiscence that brings back floods of memories and feelings of being with family, usually in the long dark evenings of autumn. Popular during the harvest, in Ireland this is a popular dessert at Halloween also. If you are lucky, you might find a coin in your slice which traditionally means your year ahead would be affluent!
The apples you use make a big difference in the finished sweetness of this pie. For a sweeter dessert I would use Greensleeves apples and keep the same sugar content. They don’t have the same tartness as Brambley apples and provide a more balanced flavour when eaten on its own. Here i have used Brambley apples and served it with Ice-cream. The ice-cream adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the Brambley apples wonderfully well. Custard has the same effect and is another traditional accompaniment to apple pie.
INGREDIENTS FOR PASTRY
- PLAIN FLOUR: Plain flour or all purpose flour is used for this recipe. No raising agent is required.
- BUTTER: Unsalted real butter
- MARGARINE: Baking margarine added for richness
- CASTER SUGAR: Caster sugar adds sweetness to the pastry
- DEMERARA SUGAR: Adds a toffee caramel undertone and sweetness
- EGGS: Always organic free range eggs. Aids binding and adds richness to the pastry
INGREDIENTS FOR FILLING
- BRAMBLEY APPLES: Great cooking apples that don’t break down to a pulp. Their tartness is balanced with the sugars.
- CASTER SUGAR: Balances the tartness of the apples and creates a sweeter apple jam.
- DEMERARA SUGAR: Adds a toffee caramel undertone and sweetness to the apple filling.
- CORNFLOUR: Aids to thicken the apple juice and sugar sauce into a delicious standing apple jam.
- CINNAMON: Give the pie a beautiful flavour and aroma
- NUTMEG: A spice that adds a warming sweetness to the pie.
- BUTTER: Optional here. Adds a richness when cooked into the filling.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS
Once baked, the pie is best allowed to cool to room temperature to allow the sauce to set.
The pie can be enjoyed warm or cold. My personal preference as mentioned earlier and as pictured, warmed through with a generous scoop of vanilla ice-cream.
Vanilla custard adds a creamy sweet balance when paired with this apple pie too. The contrast between warm custard, cold ice-cream, buttery biscuit pastry and stewed apples makes this a family favourite.
RECIPE
Deep Filled Apple Pie
Ingredients
Pastry
- 350 g plain flour
- 170 g butter diced
- 60 g Margarine
- 40 g caster sugar + extra for finish
- 10 g demerara sugar
- 2 large eggs
Pie Filling
- 1.5 kg Brambley apples (or your apple of choice)
- 240 g caster sugar
- 60 g demerara sugar
- 6 + 1 tbsp cornflour
- 1.5 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 30 g butter optional
Instructions
Pastry
- in a bowl, cream the butter, margarine and sugar.
- Mix in one large egg and an extra egg yoke. (save the egg white to wash the pie lid)
- Add the flour and bring together.
- Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for 3 hours.
- Butter & flour a 9" springform tin
- Once the pastry is chilled, save 1/3 for the lid and roll 2/3's for the base.
- Line the tin with the base pastry and powder with 1 tbsp of cornflour.
Pie Filling
- Peel and core the apples.
- Chop the apples and combine with the sugar, 6 tbsp of cornflour and the spices.
- Fill the base and wet the upper edge of the pastry with a little water
- add a few small cubes of butter on top of the apples if you wish.
- Roll and cover with the lid.
- Make 5 insertions into the pastry lid with a knife and open up for ventilation
- Brush all over with the remaining egg white and sprinkle with caster sugar.
- Bake at Gas 5, middle of the oven for 90 min
- Enjoy with ice-cream and warm vanilla custard.