Apple Pie

We have been getting a lot of apples in our veg-box recently and not all of them were very nice. And as they not-so-nice ones kept coming in bags and piling up I panicked about the potential of them going mouldy before I get a chance to do something with them. I'm not really a fan of processed fruit - jams don't really impress me and I rarely get excited about fruit cakes. I do however really like apples with cinnamon in all possible combinations - from cocktails, through mulled cider to apple pie. So, I made my very first apple pie. It doesn't look anywhere nearly as nice as the ones you see in cook books but I am told that it tasted good. For a first pie that review suits me fine. I shall work on the looks with my next one, when apples pile up again.

Apple Pie (based on WhitePlate's recipe)

2 rolls of shortcrust pastry

1,5 kg (or more) of apples (I used a mix of various types)

2 Tbs of ground cinnamon, ginger and cloves (or to taste)

50 g of butter

sugar to taste (I don't like anything too sweet, so I used about 2 tablespoons of demerara)

a bit of milk

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Roll out the pastry and fill your baking tin with it. Leave about 2 cm of the pastry hanging of the edges. Don't forget to grease the tin if you're not using baking paper. I've only just discovered baking paper and already can't imagine my life without it. Pierce the pastry with a fork in a few places and put it in the oven for about 15 minutes. 

In the meantime slice the apples. Melt butter in a pan and add your spices and fry them with the butter for a couple of minutes. Then add the apples and cook them for about 5-7 minutes stirring occasionally. Add sugar to taste and cover the pan with a lid. Cook until the apples soften a bit and then cool the stew. I put my pan in a sink full of cold water and stirred them lots, as I didn't have that much time but you can easily just let them sit around until they reach room temperature. 

Put your apple stew into the baking tin. Roll out the remaining pastry and cover the stew with it. Stick the edges to the already baked edges of the pastry, so that it forms a crusty top when it's baked. Pierce the pastry a few times. Next take a brush and some milk and brush the pastry with it to give it a glaze. You can also mix an egg yolk with some cream to get an even better effect.

Reduce the heat in your oven to 175 degrees and bake the pie for about 35 minutes until the top is golden.

Serve cold with a bit of cream. Or warm it up and serve with some ice-cream.