After tasting the most amazing apple pie ever in Bruges I had to try my hand at making one just as good. I did a bit of research and found that there is a difference between English apple pie and Dutch apple pie.. for one thing they call it Appeltaart. It's a lot sweeter than English apple pie and it is absolutely amazing. There is no need to sweeten it up with custard, just a side of ice cream to give it that lovely hot cold contrast.
For the pastry:
250g plain flour
175g softened butter
80g caster sugar
2 Eggs
1 Tsp of ground cinnamon
For the filing:
Kilo of Bramley apples
60g caster sugar
70g sultanas
3 Tsps of ground cinnamon
Juice of half a lemon
25g ground almonds
Flaked almonds
Method:
-Grab a bowl and add the flour, butter, sugar, cinnamon and 1 and a half of the eggs. Stick your hands in and mix the ingredients together needing it in to a dough adding a little more flour as and when you need to.
- Once you have a nicely even and smooth dough take a quarter of it away and set aside. Flour your (clean) surface and start rolling out your dough. My tin is a spring form 22.5cm tin but I think this mixture will fit up to 24cm.. this seems to be a more popular size of tin? If you haven't got a spring form tin butter the sides so the pie will slide out a little easier.
- Preheat your oven to 170 degrees (150 if fan assisted) and start prepping your filing.
- Peel, core and slice your apples. In a bowl add the sugar, sultanas, cinnamon, lemon juice, and ground almonds and mix together. Then add in your apples and cover your apple slices in the mixture I prefer to do this with my hands so I don't break up all my thinly slices apple pieces trying to do it with a spoon.
- Layer your apples and sultanas in the tin. You might have a bit of liquid left over drizzle this over your filing but don't add too much as you don't want your pie to be soggy. Then sprinkle over some more sugar (optional) cinnamon, and your almond flakes.
- Grab your left over dough and cut it in to thin strips. This is the first time I had ever done a lattice and I think it will need a lot of practice to make it look perfect but I think for a first attempt mine came out rather well. I started doing all the strips going across first and then once I had made sure they fit I peeled them back and started threading through the other side. I made a pathetic attempt to search youtube for the perfect way to do this but found it no help.
- Once you are satisfied with your lattice... whisk the remaining half an egg and brush it on the top of your pie, use it to stick and fold down the edges to seal your pie.
- Pop it in the oven for about an hour, you may need to turn it to make it even all over, once it's golden brown all over on the top take it out and leave it to cool.
- Once those agonising 30minutes are up slice up you pie and serve with creamy ice cream. Dust with lots of icing sugar to give it that extra Dutch touch.
This looks like "a Apple Pie" phanominal! Thank you for sharing - I am sure fresh cream will also work if you don't have ice cream in the house, perhaps even a small drizzle of thick custard - Yummm
ReplyDeleteI just wrote a comment, but it doesn't seem to have shown up so I will write it again. Sorry if it appears twice. I just wanted to say thanks so much for posting this recipe. I wanted to make a dessert with apples but try something different so I decided to try this recipe, and I loved it. I omitted the raisins and nuts, but everything else I kept the same. I baked it in a spring form pan from Ikea which worked perfectly, and I ended up baking it for 15 minutes longer and in the last 15 minutes turned up the heat to 190C. I was surprised that the pie did taste different than a traditional apple pie. It kind of reminded me of a cinnamon roll (in flavor) with the cinnamon being in the pastry itself and mixed with the apples. The crust was delicious!! I will be making this again. :o)
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