20 Sweets in 20 Weeks - #4: Apple Pie

I feel very slack indeed - I posted up the poll for "week 4" of 20 Sweets in 20 Weeks way back in July I only just now finally got around to baking my apple pie. What can I say? Life happened - separation, pregnancy and of course little Grace. So I have been busy - but now that I am back on the blogging bandwagon I promise to get through the rest of the 20 sweets nice and quick.

So even though it got to 39 degrees Celsius (102 F) on Thursday I decided that that would be the day to bake my hot apple pie. This recipe is quite easy to follow and the pie that you get at the end is simply delicious. A lovely pastry, a filling that is not too sweet and a lovely cinnamon flavour. The only things that I changed (read: stuffed up) was using strips of pastry on top of the pie instead of having it completely covered in pastry and I left out the lemon zest from the lemony apple filling. I had to do strips of pastry because my pie dish was larger than the required 23cm dish so I didn't have enough pastry to cover it, and I left out the lemon because I forgot to buy one, but it still tasted really good without it. Now on to the recipe...

Old-Fashioned Apple Pie (from The Australian Women's Weekly Basic Cookbook)

Pastry
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup self-raising flour
1/4 cup cornflour
1/4 cup custard powder
1 tbsp caster sugar
125g unsalted butter, chopped
1 egg, separated
1/4 cup water, approximately
1 tbsp caster sugar, extra

Lemony Apple Filling
7 large apples (I used granny smith apples)
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp grated lemon rind (I omitted this)

1. Pastry: Combine sifted flours, custard powder and sugar in large bowl, rub in chopped butter with fingertips until ingredients are just combined.
2. Add enough combined egg yolk and water to mix to a firm dough. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface, knead gently until smooth. Cut dough in half, wrap in plastic wrap, refrigerate 30 minutes.
3. Roll out half the pastry between sheets of plastic wrap until large enough to line deep 23cm pie plate.
4. Remove top piece of plastic from pastry. Use remaining plastic to help turn pastry into pie plate. Carefully press pastry into pie plate; do not stretch pastry. Carefully remove remaining plastic.
5. Trim edge of the pastry with sharp knife; reserve scraps.
6. Spoon cold filling evenly into pastry case, brush edge of pastry with lightly beaten egg white.
7. Roll out remaining pastry, cover filling with pastry. Press edges together firmly, trim with knife. Using fingers pinch edges to make a frill. (I didn't have enough pastry because my pie tin was too big so I just put strips of pastry on top of my pie)
8. Roll reserved pastry scraps between sheets of plastic wrap, cut leaf shapes from pastry, if desired. Mark veins on leaves using small knife. Brush pastry with egg white, place leaves in position, brush leaves with egg white.
9. Sprinkle pie evenly with extra sugar. Bake at 425 F for 20 minutes, reduce heat to 350 F, bake further 20 minutes or until pie is golden brown.
10. Lemony Apple Filling: Peel apples, cut into quarters, remove cores. Cut each quarter in half lengthways. Place apples into large saucepan with water, bring to boil, reduce heat, cover, cook for about 5 minutes or until apples are just tender. Transfer apples to a bowl, gently stir in sugar, cinnamon and lemon rind; cool to room temperature.