Tuesday 14 June 2016

Apple pie

A while back I bought a new cookbook.  Sylvia browsed through it and marked the recipes she wanted me to make.  They were all sweet.  She is far more adventurous with sweet recipes than savoury.  When she turned 2 years old, a friend gave her a cookbook for kids.  Sylvia loves reading it and has marked lots of recipes to make.  Including an apple pie.  I recently promised Sylvia to make it while she was at school last week.

But let me backtrack.  Apple pie is often associated with American.  You know how people say as American as apple pie.  Yet I think it is very popular across the Anglicised world.  When I was little my mum made apple pie regularly.  She still has the enamel dish that she used to make pies in.  So for me, apple pie reminds me of childhood dinners finished by my mum cutting slabs of pie from this dish and pouring cream over everyone's slice except me.  I still don't like cream on my apple pie.

I don't make pies often so I am still a bit unsure of myself when it comes to a) getting the apples cooked until soft but holding their shape, b) knowing how thinly to roll out the pastry and c) finding the right dish.  I didn't have a 20cm dish but the 18cm seemed fine for the amount of apples I had, even if it meant I had a little pastry leftover. However by the time it came out of the oven I was pleased with it and couldn't wait to eat it.

I picked up Sylvia and her friend and asked them to guess what I baked.  "Apple pie", they said in unison.  I think there had been some discussion about it at school.  They were pretty excited so I let them have a piece after school.  By the end of the evening it was gone and we were very content with our lot.

I am sending this post to Louise at Months of Edible Celebrations for her Cookbook Wednesdays.  (Also check out her Cookbook Wednesday post to find out about her virtual Picnic Game that she is planning to start this weekend.  It is great fun.)

More pastry desserts on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Apple and pumpkin pastries with spiced red wine (v)
Apple rose tarts (v)
Apricot and almond tart
Plum almond tart
Treacle tart (v)

More pastry desserts from elsewhere online:
Caramel apple smoked gouda galette - Eats Well with Others
Golden quince almond tart - Allotment 2 Kitchen
Raspberry meringue pie with lime and pistachio pastry (gf) - Gluten Free Alchemist
Salted caramel chocolate tart (v) - Baking Ginger
Strawberry pistachio galette - Last Ingredient
Strawberry tarte tartin - Not Quite Nigella

Apple pie
Adapted from Baking for Kids: yummy sweet and savoury recipes for you to make and bake

Pastry:
1 cup plain white flour
2/3 cups plain wholemeal flour
3 tbsp castor sugar
150g butter
1 egg

Apple filling:
650g granny smith apples (about 4 medium large)*
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/3 cup brown sugar*
pinch each of nutmeg and cinnamon

Rub butter into flour and sugar in a large bowl.  Mix in egg and briefly knead to make a smooth soft dough.  (I did the rubbing in and mixing in by hand but it is quicker and cleaner in a food processor.)  Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

Meanwhile make apple filling.  Peel, core and chop apples.  Melt butter in a medium saucepan.  Stir in chopped apples and cover.  Cook on low heat until apples are soft - this can happens quickly (5-15 minutes) so they need to be checked regularly.  Once cooked stir in sugar and spices.  Set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven and grease pie tin before taking out the pastry to line the tin.  Roll out pastry to almost 0.5cm thick using quite a bit of flour to dust the surface and pastry (mine was quite sticky).  When pastry is rolled thinly I floured it and looped it over the rolling pin to transfer to a greased 18cm round pie dish.  Pat down to line pie dish.  Prick the base with a fork.  Spoon in apple.  Roll out remaining pastry to cover the apple, trim if required and pinch the edges together with your fingers.  Decorate with pastry offcuts if desired.

Bake pie at 190 C (or 200 C for slow ovens like mine) for about 25-30 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.  Serve hot.

NOTES: I have reproduced this recipe as I made it.  The original recipe said to use a 20cm pie dish but I didn't have one.  There wasn't that much apple even for a smaller dish than intended.  I think that next time I would double the apples but could possibly use a bit less sugar.  I would try and use a 20cm pie dish rather than the smaller one.

On the Stereo:
The best of the Andrews Sisters

27 comments:

  1. Its been a long while since i had a good Apple Pie and I would be more than content with a slice of this, really does look luscious. so pleased that Sylvia approves, may take a little while before she starts bookmarking savoury dishes! We can hope x

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    1. Thanks Shaheen - I tried apple pie last year and was not happy with it but otherwise it is ages since I remember having an apple pie. I have encouraged sylvia to bookmark savoury dishes - she was asking for tomato soup this morn which pleased me

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  2. Your decorative pastry work is beautiful!

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  3. I think it's adorable that Sylvia has her very own cookbook Johanna. Perhaps a future cookbook collector in the making, lol...

    I have read that Apple Pie was being enjoyed in Europe in the 14th century. It wasn't documented as a foodstuff in America until the late 1600s.

    One thing is for sure, we sure do love it though!!! Yours looks delicious Johanna. I bet those girls were jumping for joy when they smelled that pie!

    Thank you so much for sharing, Johanna...

    P.S. We would love to have you share this post with Cookbook Wednesday. I just posted this week's give-a-way entry. Who knows maybe Sylvia will add more books to her collection!

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    1. Hi Johanna:)
      Thank you so much for linking up to Cookbook Wednesday. No problem with the image. The pie says it all!!!

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    2. Hi Johanna, it's me again:)
      I just came across a blog post from one of the visitors to Cookbook Wednesday. She added a book titled Pride and Pudding which I think you would like seeing. It's about the history of British Puddings. Here's her link: http://cookbookoftheday.blogspot.com/2016/06/pride-and-pudding.html

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    3. Thanks Louise I would love sylvia to be a cookbook collector but am not sure where it might go :-) Thanks for reminding me of Cookbook Wednesdays - delighted to finally take part. So sorry you are unwell and the picnic game will not go ahead. Meanwhile thanks for the link to Pride and Pudding. Will check it out

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  4. It's definitely pie season here. But you don't like cream on your pie? How about ice cream? :)

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    1. Thanks Lorraine - I would prefer ice cream if given the choice but I really love apple pie plain (and as a kid we were only offered cream). E is fond of custard and I quite like that with an apple pie because something about apple and custard seems right

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  5. This is a really pretty pie, I would fancy some myself. Apple pies are also very well liked in Finland, normally the open ones without a pastry cover.

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    1. Thanks VegHog - Louise in an above comment remarks that apple pie was popular in Europe in the 1400s so I guess a lot of European countries would have an apple pie of some sort.

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  6. Your apple pie is beautiful! I am lazy, just cutting the apples into quarters, coring them, and then feeding them through my food processor's slicing blade. I let my hungry hordes eat the skin, telling them the fiber is good for them. But mine are never as pretty as yours! I hope your girls really enjoyed this pie.

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    1. Thanks Marjie - I had a food processor that did such slicing but go rid of it because it was too much fuss to use. I sometimes give my daughter apple skins though depends if she is about when I chop apples - always find it fun to try and peel apples in one piece!

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  7. What a beautiful looking pie. I could eat a slice right now!

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  8. Sounds like your daughter is interested in baking that is wonderful, your pie crust looks perfect.

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    1. Thanks Cheri - Sylvia has been baking with me since a young age (and asking for certain sweet bakes) but only recently getting into cookbooks

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  9. Looks delicious. I like your decorative pastry (and I'm with you, no cream on my pie thanks!)

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    1. Thanks Lisa - love a good decorative pastry but rarely have the opportunity

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  10. For someone who doesn't regularly make apple pie you did a gorgeous topping / decoration! I am very impressed. Apple desserts remind me of childhood dinners too, although we tended to have 'apple charlotte' or crumble rather than pie.

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    1. Thanks Kari - I do play with pastry decoration occasionally but I am an amateur so I was pleased with the decoration - we had apple crumble a lot but I don't remember apple charlotte in my childhood

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  11. That looks delicious! Apple pie and crumble are also childhood dishes for me...I especially remember 'helping' mum make them by eating long strips of the apple peel.

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    1. Thanks Caeli - Sylvia loves to eat apple peel if she is about when I am preparing apples - I loved watching my mum slice apples quickly when I was a kid - I still can't slice as fast as she can

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  12. Beautiful pastry work Johanna.
    Apple Pie is a timeless favourite, especially with cinnamon. It does make me smile though when the Americans adopt a dish as their own invention...... Apple pie clearly comes not from America and neither does pizza...... Your ozzie version looks lush though! x

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    1. Thanks Kate - yeah I agree the Americans love to appropriate dishes as their own but I guess we do in Australia too (though not as loudly because we are smaller)

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  13. Ah! You used granny smith apples! That is my absolute favourite apple... to the point of ignoring all other apples. But when I wanted someone to make an apple pie with granny smith, they said it's not a "baking" apple. Silliness. I bet it tastes delicious, sweet & sour.

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