Food can conjure up memories of times gone by and my recipe for caramel apple pie certainly instills a lot of wonderful memories. It was my Mum’s favourite and I remember the two of us searching every cafe and restaurant to find the perfect deep pan gooey cinnamon spiced apple pie. Thin apple pies with barely any spice or filling just didn’t cut it for her so she started making them at home. I was always afraid to recreate it until now as I didn’t want to jeopardise those memories but I now feel I would have made her proud with my version of her caramel apple pie.
The apple filling is a mixture of firm yet cooked apples made with honey instead of refined sugar. It makes its own apple sauce with a caramel feel to it with the aftertaste of autumn spices. Made with a light melt-in-your- mouth shortcrust pastry I top it with a lattice pattern so the apples are just shining through.
Health Benefits of Apples
Don’t underestimate the health benefits of apples. While apples are available everywhere they are just as highly beneficial as exotic antioxidant fruits. Apples balance the bacteria in our digestive system and are high in dietary fibre. They are high in phytonutrients and pectin, which help fight cardiovascular disease and cancer. Much of the goodness is in the skin so avoid peeling when necessary and buy organic to avoid waxy supermarket apples.
Make Caramel Apple Pie
I made this Dutch apple pie using a mixture of apples growing in my relatives gardens. Aren’t I lucky to have such family members! They are tart with a sweet aftertaste so you can adjust the honey by taste. When you eat this pie you know there will never be a need to make it with sugar ever again. In fact the honey taste complements the flavour of these home grown apples. If using cooking apples increase the amount of honey. I would say definitely use a tart apple as this pie lends itself to the flavour of a sweet apple edging on the bitter side of sweet. Mixed with spices this is sure to please! Make it in a springform pan as it is deep enough to hold the filling and easy enough to remove.
Once cooked you can see the apples holding their shape immersed in their own natural caramel apple sauce.
These are delicious served with my recipe for warm spiced apple drink.
Caramel Apple Pie
Description
Caramel apple pie made with apples and sweet spices, baked in a rich shortcrust pastry to make a rich natural caramel sauce
Ingredients
For the pastry:
- 310g plain flour or plain spelt flour
- 230g cold butter
- 2 tablespoons coconut sugar or brown sugar
- Peeled zest from 1 small lemon
- 1 egg yolk
For the filling:
- 900g cooking apples or tart eating apples, peeled and cored
- 150–200ml honey or maple syrup, depending on tartness of apples
- 1 tablespoon water
- Juice from ½ lemon
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- pinch of ground cloves
1 x 8 inch springform deep pan cake tin
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170℃.
- Sieve the flour into a food processor.
- Add the cold cubes of butter and process until they resemble fine breadcrumbs.
- Add the sugar and zest and mix until well combined.
- Add the egg yolk and cold water and mix until the pastry comes together. turn it out onto a floured board.
- Knead 30 seconds until it forms a ball. Cover with clingfilm and rest in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Roll out the pastry to ¼ inch thick into a round shape allowing it to be big enough to come up the sides of the tin by 3 inches. Press extra pastry onto the side to increase the thickness slightly to allow it to hold its shape. To make sure the pastry doesn’t break fold it in half before lifting it into the tin and unfold it once in the tin. Press the sides against the tin. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Egg wash the pastry with egg white and cook in the oven for 10 minutes. Reapply the egg white and cook for a further 5 minutes. Set aside while you make the filling.
- Cut and peel the apples by hand. I use an apple slicer for this. You want big chunks of apples.
- Place the apples in a saucepan with the water, lemon, juice, honey and spices. Cook slowly on a low heat until they are just starting to cook but you can see them imparting some liquid. Leave to cool slightly.
- Place the apple filling over the partially cooked pastry in the tin. Top with lattices by cutting thick strips of pastry and arranging in a lattice shape. Cut out leaves with the pastry to apply to the edge sticking with egg white. Cut some flower shapes to arrange on the top.
- Brush with egg white and bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.
- Leave to cool to warm in the tin before releasing from the pan. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream sprinkled with cinnamon.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: caramel apple pie
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