Toffee apple pie
This flaky pastry is surprisingly simple and yes, it definitely worth making it from scratch! Nicola Lamb's recipe is excellent and she provides helpful gifs if you would like to follow the recipe on her site, the link is here.Try to stay patient and keep the pie in the freezer for long enough to set the butter and make sure the oven has reached the correct temperature. Otherwise the butter will melt and the pastry will shrink. Learn from my mistakes, dear reader.My apple pie wasn't quite full enough for the size of the pie tin, so if you use a 9 inch tin, use 1.3-1.4kg of apples.If you can't get hold of Werther's Originals, use any other brand of toffees or caramels.
Servings: 8
Ingredients
For the flaky pastry
- 60 g crème fraiche
- 60 g cold water
- 280 g plain flour
- 6 g salt
- 24 g sugar
- 225 g unsalted butter cold
- 1 egg beaten
- demerara sugar to sprinkle
For the toffee apple filling
- 1.3 kg apples their weight before they've been peeled, cored etc.
- ½ lemon
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 15 Werther's Originals
Instructions
For the pastry
- Whisk the crème fraiche and cold water in a jug until smooth then place in the fridge until you need it.
- Mix together the flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl.
- Cut the cold butter into cubes. Toss them into the flour mixture, stir to coat them in flour then squash each one until flat. Don't keep your hands on the butter for to long, stay quick and light. You don't need to rub the butter in with this recipe.
- Pour in half of the crème fraiche liquid from the jug in the fridge, and use your hand to stir it all together. Pour in the remaining liquid and stir again, bringing all the crumbly bits in. Mine needed a splash more cold water from the tap.
- Tip it all onto your floured surface and quickly bring it all together. Flatten or roll it away from you with a rolling pin, scrape/fold it back up towards you then turn 90 degrees. Repeat twice more so the dough becomes uniformly smoother.
- Cut it in half and wrap each piece in cling film. Store in the fridge for at least an hour and a half.
For the apple filling
- Now it's time to make your way through that massive pile of apples! Peel, quarter, and core them, then chop into chunks. Scoop into a big bowl then, when it's all finally done, cover in the juice of the half lemon, and add the sugars and spices. Stir all together then tip into a big saucepan.
- Add a splash of water to the apples and cook over medium low heat. Stir regularly as the apples cook and soften. Once the pieces can be broken up with the edge of a wooden spoon and the liquid is mostly evaporated, tip it all back into the bowl and add half of the Werther's Originals. Stir to combine and leave to cool.
Assembly
- Take one of the pieces of pastry from the fridge, flour the work surface and roll it out until very thin - around 3mm. Place your pie tin - nothing bigger than 9 inches/22cm - nearby as you carefully wrap the pastry around your rolling pin. Slide the tin underneath then drop the pastry over it.
- Press it evenly into the tin's corners then return it to the fridge as you roll out the other piece for the lid. Keep it to around 3mm again.
- Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/430°F. Remove the pie base from the fridge and fill it with the cooled apples. Top the filling with the rest of the Werther's Originals.
- Cover with the top piece of flaky pastry and push down hard along the border to seal - I used a fork. Trim any overhanging pastry but not too short - leave around 2cm just in case it shrinks.
- With any remaining pastry you can cut out some leaves or an apple for the top which will stick on without egg wash.
- Place the pie in the freezer for 15 minutes - don't get impatient; leave it in there for the whole time! Meanwhile, beat the egg in a ramekin for egg wash.
- After 15 minutes, remove the pie and quickly cover it in egg wash. In the oven, the edges will darken much quicker than the centre so put more in the middle. Sprinkle with demerara sugar and place on a baking tray to catch any melted butter.
- Slide the pie into the oven and reduce the temperature to 205°C/185°C fan/400°F. Cook for 30 minutes then rotate the pie - you may need to do it sooner if your oven is fiery. If it's getting too dark too quickly, reduce the temperature to 190°C/170°C fan/375°F.
- Cook for another 15 to 20 minutes, then check again. Once it is an even deep gold it is ready. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly. Cut out slices and serve with crème fraiche or ice cream.