Wednesday, 14 March 2012

Recipe: Apple and Raspberry Pie



An apple pie has an innate ability to bring everyone together by being a centrepiece on a dinner table, being cut in to and shared with your family or loved ones.  So after being overseas and trying to put some sort of order to a million dessert recipes in my head I needed a dessert that I could rely upon to illuminate my family.  I couldn’t bypass the homeliness of a freshly baked apple pie -the short golden pastry that melts in your mouth and the sweetness of the apples after being caramelising in their juices. 



The pie filling itself can open a world of opportunities and combinations.  Of course the cheap price of apples didn’t let me down.  In this case I slightly twigged the recipe to also include some frozen raspberries just to add a little bit of tartness to the sweetness of the pie itself. 



If you aren’t a budding pastry chef don’t be disheartened by making your own pastry.  This recipe will not fail you – and if you come in to any problems along the way I am here to answer your questions, give you tips or just be a sounding board if the pastry starts sticking to your bench.





Ingredients:
Pastry:
300g (2 cups) plain flour
45g (2 1/2 tablespoons) caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt
180g cooking margarine or butter, chilled and cubed
1 large egg
Iced water 


Filling:
1.25kg (about 5 large) Granny Smith apples
½ cup or fresh or frozen raspberries
20mls (1 tablespoon) lemon juice
55g (1/4 cup) sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons apricot jam
20g (1 tablespoon) butter, cubed


Extras:

1 egg white, lightly beaten, to glaze
1 tablespoon sugar

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 190°C (fan forced).
  2. Butter a glass or ceramic 23cm pie dish.
  3. To make the pastry, combine flour, caster sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Using your fingertips, rub in margarine or butter until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre, add egg and enough iced water - 10mls (2 teaspoons) - to mix to a soft dough. Bring together with fingertips and shape into a disc. Cover the dough completely in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  4. Peel, core and cut apples into cubes. Then toss the apple with lemon juice to prevent it from browning. Just before rolling out pastry, toss apples and raspberries with the sugar and cinnamon.
  5. Roll out two-thirds of the pastry to a round about 28cm in diameter and line the buttered pie dish. Trim the edges and spread pastry with apricot jam.  Arrange the apple slices in pastry case, dot with butter and then brush pastry edges with beaten egg white. Roll out the remaining pastry into a round large enough to cover the pie. Place over apples and press pastry edges together to seal. Trim pastry and decorate as desired.
  6. Cut vents in top of pie, brush with egg white and sprinkle with 20g (1 tablespoon) of sugar. Bake for 20 minutes in preheated oven. Reduce oven temperature to 180°C. Bake for a further 30 to 40 minutes or until golden. Serve warm with cream or ice-cream.

Tips:
Serves 6
In order to assist your pastry from sticking to your bench, sprinkle a little icing sugar before your start rolling.
You can be as particular as you like in terms of designing the top of the pie.  In my case I like the rustic look where the natural juices of the apple and raspberries come through the crust.
For a lighter pie try latticing the top of the pie with your pastry instead of a full pie crust.
You can also substitute white flour for wholemeal.


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