Recipe for apple pie

[cori]

Hi,
We picked a bag full of bramley apples on the weekend. I would like to make an apple pie, have never made one before. Does anyone have a simple recipe for a novice baker?

Do you want super lazy easy? If so:

• peel, core & slice apples, enough to three-quarters fill a shallowish ovenproof dish;
• add water to cover bottom of dish to fingertip depth;
• couple of tablespoonfuls of demerara sugar scattered over the top, plus if you like a bit of lemon peel grated over. Also crushed cardamom is lovely with bramleys;
• the dreadfully lazy bit: packet of frozen puff pastry, defrosted (obviously), rolled out to quarter inch thick & spread over. Pinch it hard onto the edges of the dish - you don't want it to flop in while cooking. Brush with egg&milk if you want it shiny & brown;
• bake at 220 for 25-30 mins.

I made one 2 weeks ago so can help you here. Need to make shortcrust pastry. You can buy it but its so easy to make have a go.

Shortcrust

8oz plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
4oz fat (marg or butter if you're feeling posh)
2-4 spoons of cold water (put a cup of water in the fridge first)

Sift the flour and salt together. Add the fat and rub it in with your hands till its crumbly. Sprinkle the cold water on a tablespoon at a time. Mix it with a fork. When it starts to stick together put your hands in and make a dough ball. Try not to handle it too much.

Wrap the ball in clingfilm and put in fridge for half an hour. Then take it out of fridge, give it a minute then roll it out flat (use lots of flour on the surface and roller but not directly on the pastry)!

Line the pie tin. Brush edges with water.

Core, peel and cut up apples (2lb in my recipe)into slices. Add 1 tbsp flour, 3oz caster sugar and 3/4 tsp mixed spice. Toss it about.

Put filling in tin. Put pastry lid on top.

Cook 190 degrees C/ Gas 5 for about 45 mins.

Voila! Apple Pie, YUM

Thanks for those recipes. I will try super easy one with shortcrust pastry from iceland. I want a pasty base as well. Surely i cant put water in on top of uncooked pastry. I dont even own a pie tin. What do i line it with, butter?

Easier still, apple crumble.

Cut the apples into quarters, then pare off the peel with a potato peeler and slice out the cores. Now cut them into thickish slices and toss them in a bowl with the 1 oz brown sugar then place them in the baking dish and put to one side.

Next make the crumble. All you do is place 3 oz butter, 6oz sifted self raising flour, in a large bowl, rub the butter into the sifted flour until it resembles crumbs, then stir in 4 oz brown sugar. Now simply sprinkle the crumble mixture all over the apples, spreading it right up to the edges of the dish, and, using the flat of your hands, press it down quite firmly all over; the more tightly it is packed together the crisper it will be. Then finish off by lightly running a fork all over the surface. Now bake at 200oC, gas mark 6 for 35-40 mins. Leave to stand for 10 minutes, serve with custard, cream or ice cream.

sorry, techispeak..

'line' just means put a little butter on base of tin (stop it sticking)and put layer of pastry in tin, then fruit, then top layer of pastry.

p.s. I don't have a tin as such. I use the pyrex top of a cassarole dish as its the right shape and depth.

Cori - if you want a pastry base as well, then you need to pre-cook the apples.

Peel and core apples and add a bit of cinnamon and some caster sugar. Blitz in teh microwave for about 5 mins, until they are soft and squidgy. I use a mixture of cooking and dessert apples (Bramley and coxes are a good combination) so that there are some chunky bits along side the more pureed apples.

The let the apples cool.

Line a SHALLOW pie dish with shortcrust pastry. (if yopu don't have a pie dish a big dinner plate will do - but not bone china)!

Then crush 3-4 rich tea biscuits to a fine powedery consistency and scatter over the pastry layer. (This absorbs any juices from the apples and saves the pastry from going soggy).

You then pile the cooled apple mixture on top and then the pastry on top of that. Make a couple of slits in the pastry to let the steam out. Brush with beaten egg.

Then pop into a very hot over. This will only take 15-20mins to cook as the apples are already done. Once the pastry is lovely a golden brown on the top take out of the oven and immediately sprinkle with caster sugar. Best served warm!

any recipes for apple crumble? I have lots of apples

sorry furball , just saw your message , might try that instead

Furball, how many apples would i use for the crumble