Name: Lauren Leese
Class Year: 2023
Country of Residence: United States

Why is this recipe great? What’s its backstory? 

My dad has been practicing his cooking during quarantine, and he showed me this amazing apple pie recipe that I decided to bake for our Christmas dinner. My family was split across two continents this holiday season due to pandemic travel restrictions, but we were still able to meet over Zoom to have dinner together, and we tried to outdo each other in terms of food. Personally, I think my dad and I easily won the dessert round with this recipe!

Apple Pie

Serves 8. Takes approx. 2 hours and 30 minutes if making crust from scratch, or 1 hour and 15 minutes if using store-bought shortcrust.

Ingredients:

For the filling:
1kg cooking apples (about 5 medium-sized apples)
140g (2/3 cup) caster sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp flour
1 egg white

For the crust (if making from scratch):
225g (1 cup) room temperature butter
50g (1/4 cup) caster sugar
2 eggs (you can use the white of one for the filling)
350g (2 and 3/4 cups) plain flour

Note: to speed things up and make it a bit easier, you can use store-bought shortcrust pastry instead. We used one 500g pack of pre-made pastry for lining the pie tin, and about half a pack for the crust. 

Instructions:

If you’re making the pastry from scratch, begin by beating the butter and 50g sugar in a large bowl until just mixed. Separate one of the eggs, and add just the yolk along with the whole second egg (set aside the leftover white, since you’ll use this to glaze the crust later). Beat everything together for one more minute.

Slowly work in the 350g flour with a spoon. Carefully roll the dough into a ball, wrap it in cling film, and pop it in the fridge for 45 minutes.

While the pastry is chilling, you can prepare the apples. If you’re using store-bought pastry, start here. Also, at this point, you’ll need to preheat the oven to 190 celsius/375 Fahrenheit.

Peel the apples, then slice them into small pieces about 5mm thick. Combine the 140g sugar, 3 tbsp flour, and cinnamon in a large bowl, then add the apples and mix them around with your hands.

Roll 2/3 of your chilled homemade pastry (or one 500g package of store-bought pastry) out on a floured surface and use it to line your pie tin — the one I used was 10 inches (25 cm) in diameter with a height of 2 inches (5cm). Make sure there’s a bit of an overhang.

Put the apple filling into the lined pie tin, then roll out the remaining pastry (or about half a 500g pack of store-bought pastry) on your floured surface into a circle big enough to cover the pie tin with some to spare. Brush some water onto the lower pastry rim and place the circle you just rolled out on top of the filling. Press the edges together to seal it tight and trim any extra with a sharp knife.

Cut some slits in the top of the crust and brush with the leftover egg white (or if you used store-bought pastry, separate an egg now and use the white for brushing). Sprinkle caster sugar on top. Then, bake in your preheated oven for 40-45 minutes.

Allow to cool to a safe temperature and serve with whipped cream, custard, or your favorite vanilla ice cream.

Source: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/ultimate-apple-pie