food & photography
Come winters and the craving to bake and eat desserts grows stronger for me. I just wish to have some dessert after every meal. I know, this might not sound a healthy habit. I try to eat desserts in moderation. And sometimes, even a small bite of jaggery does the trick. But other times, I yearn for something indulgent too, like a boozy nutty dessert. And I believe it’s perfectly normal to eat pie during these festive months of winters. …
An apple a day keep’s a doctor away, some wise men have said this……but sadly, i don’t really like apples as such because of the effort you need to put in to eat them. To be honest, I am the kinda lazy person, generally like the comfort food, which really doesn’t need that much exercising of your jaws. I don’t know how, but it came to my mind of having them cooked and that eventuated in baking an apple pie; sliced, unadorned apples are mounded into a pie crust and topped with a lattice crust. For which, I headed to the nearest grocery store to source the ingredients
for shortcrust pastry:
340gm plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
110 gm butter
5-6 tbsp chilled water
for filling:
8 Granny Smith apples (the green ones)
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp plain flour
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 egg yolk
Preheat the oven to 220 C. To make pastry, it helps if the fat is cold and firm. If the fat is not cold, it will result into an oily pastry. Cut the butter into small cubes and flour to it. Rub the flour and butter, using your fingertips slowly, until it resembles to coarse grained breadcrumbs (see pic).
Add 4-6 tbsp chilled water, just enough to bring the dough together. Wrap the dough with a cling wrap and refrigerate it for 30 mins. Meanwhile, for the filling, peel and chore the apples and cut them into slices. I prefer to use Granny Smith apples because of their tart flavor and firmness. Also, it gives the pie a sweet and sour flavor. If you like your pie to be more sweet, you may use the normal red apples instead. In a saucepan, melt the butter, add the flour and mix it well. Then add the powdered sugar and cinnamon and bring to a boil and then add pour in this mixture over apples and keep them aside. Now, roll half of the chilled dough using a rolling pin into a 13″ round. Fit it into a 9-inch pie plate. Trim edge, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Pour in the apple mixture made prepared above. Refrigerate while you roll out dough for top crust. After you roll the second half, cut that into 1 1/2 cm wide strips using a sharp knife to make a lattice crust. To make lattice top, follow this link
Cover the pie top with the lattice top. Brush the top of the pie using egg yolk to give it a glazed look (you may skip this, if you are strictly vegetarian). Place it in oven for 15 minutes on 220 C and then 35-40 minutes on 180 C. After the top is firm and apples are cooked through, take the pie out of oven and let it cool. Enjoy it with a dollop of very good vanilla ice cream.