Good Ol' Apple Pie.

Who doesn't like a good old apple pie? Dutch cuisine is not the most elaborate one (mashed potatoes and cabbage seem to be two most important ingredients), but I do like Dutch apple pie. In Amsterdam there is a cafe called Winkel 43, where they serve probably the best apple pie in the city. However, making a 40 minute train trip to Amsterdam every time you feel like having a piece of an apple pie might not be the most cost-effective way to deal with your sweet tooth. Alas!

Thankfully, making an apple pie is dead simple. Here is a recipe which I used to make mine this time. I've made it in a lasagne dish 22cm x 17cm, halving all the amounts from a recipe for 22cm round cake tin.

INGREDIENTS

Pastry

150g flour + extra for dusting

60g caster sugar

salt

100g chilled butter + extra for greasing

1 egg yolk

Apple filling

1/4cupbutter

1.5 tbls flour

1/8 cup water
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar

3-4 firm apples (Elsar, Jona Gold), peeled and sliced
handful of raisins (optional)

2 tsp cinnamon

METHOD

1. Combine flour, sugar and a pinch of salt. Dice butter and mix into the floor using a knife to cut butter into smaller pieces. Add egg yolk and knead everything together. Press 2/3 of the pastry into a bottom and sides of a 24cm spring form greased with butter. Refrigerate the form and remaining dough while you make the apple filling.

2. Preheat the over to 220C.

3. Melt butter in a pan. Add flour to make paste. Then add water, white sugar and brown sugar, bring to boil and then turn down the heat and simmer for a couple of minutes.

4. Combine apples, raisins and cinnamon. Mix with half of flour mixture. Spread over the pastry base.

5. Roll out the rest of the pastry and cut into 1 cm strips. Arrange a criss-cross pattern on the top of the apple mixture, pressing the pastry edges together. Slowly pour the rest of the

6. Bake for 15 minutes, then turn down the heat to 175C and bake for another 35-45 minutes until apples are soft. Let cool down so that the filling sets.

I think that my apple pie looks rather grand.

Enjoy!