Old Fashioned Apple Pie

New Season’s apples and the bite of winter hit at the same time, so Kathy Paterson has brought the two together with this traditional dessert. Kathy used Paneton Flaky Puff Pastry in her version. If you love the warmth of mixed spice, Kathy suggests upping it to one teaspoon of mixed spice if you enjoy its flavour.

15-20g butter, softened

1kg cooking apples, peeled, cut into quarters, cored and sliced

1 cup caster sugar

1 ½ tablespoons cornflour

½ - 1 teaspoon ground mixed spice

2 strips of lightly peeled lemon rind and juice of 1 small lemon

500g Paneton Flaky Puff Pastry, ready rolled sheet, defrosted

milk for brushing pastry

icing sugar for dusting, optional

 

Heat the oven to 200°C. Brush a 20cm x 6cm round cake tin with the butter and sit in a shallow baking tray lined with baking paper.

Put the apples, sugar, cornflour, mixed spice, lemon rind and juice in a bowl and mix together.

Cut the ready-rolled pastry into two pieces -  two-thirds and one-third. Roll two-thirds piece a little larger and use to line the tin, allowing a little pastry to hang over the edge.

Layer in the apples and spoon over the collected juices. Brush the pastry edge with a little milk.

Roll the remaining one-third piece a little larger. Pick up using the rolling pin and invert on top. Press the pastry edges together then trim away excess pastry. Press pastry again and fold the pastry over to seal and make a neat rim or alternatively, press with a fork to seal.

Brush the top with more milk (and if wished, sprinkle with extra sugar). Use a small, sharp knife to cut 3-4 slits in the top for steam to escape.

Put in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Check pie is not browning too quickly after 20 minutes and if so, cover loosely with compostable foil. Lower the oven temperature to 170°C and bake for a further 35-40 minutes.  The pastry should be well browned.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool enough so you can remove from the tin. Serve warm dusted with icing sugar, if wished and vanilla ice cream.

The pie is also very good cooled and served at room temperature.

Kathy’s Tips

I used a loose-bottomed cake tin and put a piece of baking paper on the base between the loose-bottom and cake tin to help prevent the escape of any excess liquid.  You can use a springform tin.

Butter the tin well so the pastry browns beautifully and doesn’t stick.

Use a vegetable peeler to peel the rind from a lemon.

Run a small spatula between the tin and baked pie before removing. The top of the pie collapses in as it begins to cool making it strikingly rustic and homemade.

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