My first apple pie

After making successful pastry for my mince pies a few weeks ago, I said that I would conquer my fear of pastry. And with the inspiration of Mamma’s Gotta Bake’s mini apple pies and the ever dependable Martha Stewart’s recipe for easy pie crust, I made my first apple pie ! I’ve a long way to go from a presentation perspective, but the taste and texture came out just how I wanted it to (I’m so thrilled).

A few rules that I followed while making my pastry:

• Keep everything as cold as possible – butter should be chilled (I popped mine in the freezer). The reason for this is to keep the butter from melting into the flour, giving you a more crisp and flaky end result. For this reason you should minimise contact with your hands as much as possible, use your fingertips or the heel of your palm, which are the coolest parts of your hand, or better, use a pastry cutter or a food processor.
• Add just enough water to the pastry to bind it together – too much and the water will evaporate while cooking and steam, making the pastry soggy.
• Don’t overwork the pastry – quickly work the ingredients to just bring it together. Overworking the pastry will release more gluten in the flour, making your pastry less delicate.
• Make sure you rest the pastry for at least an hour – I rested it for two for good measure – this helps the gluten to relax, giving you a more tender texture.
• I love the idea from Martha Stewart to double the quantity of dough, and freeze half for use later.

My first apple pie makes 4 individual 10cm pies

Ingredients

For the pastry:

1. 2 1/2 cups plain flour
2. 230g chilled unsalted butter, cut into cubes
3. 1 tsp salt
4. 1 tsp sugar
5. 4-6 tbls iced water

For the filling:

1. 6 tart apples (granny smith or fuji), peeled, cored and diced into 1/2 cm pieces
2. juice of half a lemon
3. 1/8 tsp nutmeg (freshly grated if you have it)
4. 1/2 tsp cinnamon
5. 1/4 cup brown sugar, tightly packed
6. 1/4 cup white sugar
7. good pinch of salt
8. 2 tsp cornstarch

To finish:

1. 1 egg, beaten
2. 1 tbls granulated sugar

Method

1. Make the pastry first to give enough time for it to rest while you make the filling
2. Add the cubes of butter to the flour, salt and sugar in a food processor and pulse on low until combined – it should resemble course breadcrumbs
3. Add 2 tbls of the chilled water to the mix and pulse once or twice – just enough to bind the ingredients together for you to be able to tip the mix onto a board for kneading
4. Continue to add 1 tbls at a time until the dough comes together
5. Divide into two, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least an hour
6. For the filling, add a few teaspoons of lemon juice to the cut apples to stop them going brown
7. Add the sugars, nutmeg, cinnamon and cornstarch and mix to coat the apple pieces
8. Cook in a large saucepan for a few minutes until the apples soften – I like my apples to still have a bit of bite when cooked – if you want them softer, cook them for longer
9. Add more lemon juice to the mix to taste – the sourness will mellow as the mix cooks
10. Remove from heat and cool – about 30 minutes
11. When ready, preheat your oven to 220C/425F
12. Roll out your pastry to 3mm and I used the foil pie trays to cut out two circles per pie – one circle the size of the edge of the tray, one 1/2cm larger
13. Use the larger circle to line the tray – you can use a muffin tray if you don’t have the foil trays
14. Spoon the cooled apple mixture into the trays
15. Top with the smaller circle and seal the edges (I used my thumb and you can also use a fork)
16. Brush with the beaten egg and sprinkle the granulates sugar on top
17. Bake on a baking sheet to catch any apple filling that may bubble out for 18-20 minutes, until the top is golden brown
18. Remove from the oven and rest for 5 minutes
19. Serve while warm with a big dollop of cream or ice-cream