Grandad's Apple Pie

I've been dying to bake with the apples from my Grandad's apple tree, probably ever since he planted it. My Grandad was my first best friend. We did absolutely everything together, we were amazingly close and formed an unbreakable bond from the minute I was born to the day he passed away. He taught me a lot of what I know today, including gardening which is one of the things I remember us doing together so frequently. He was so very proud of his garden and he pretty much grew everything from cabbages to some of the most beautiful flowers I've ever seen. So you can imagine how much I cherish what he has a left behind. It's nice to see how strong and determined my Nanny has been in keeping his little legacy going. She's fought off everything from the nuisance children who are  also very determined to destructively pick each and every apple for no reason whatsoever to the very persistent and as it appears hungry fruit bats, who every year are very successful in nibbling away at the apples and pears. I've had my eye on the apples since very early this year and I'd wished with all of the wishes in the world that hopefully towards the end of summer I'd have enough undamaged apples to bake an apple pie with.

Well! My Nan's efforts were not in vain this year as I'd received a call from her stating she had a gift for me, so off I popped only to find a bowl full of the greenest, cutest little apples ever and I knew straight away where they were from!

I already had it in my mind that they were definitely going to be baked in a pie. Not just because they were apples, and what else could I possibly bake with them? But because before my Grandad's diabetes took a turn for the worse, we used to sit in on a Saturday afternoon, watching Westerns and old Musicals stuffing our faces with Mr Kipling's mini Apple Pies and Digestive biscuits, he'd have coffee and me, a grown up cup of tea. So how could I possibly think of baking anything else?

I have no idea what kind of apples they are so I've named them Grandad Wilson's not very creative on my part as we already have Granny Smiths, but very fitting non-the less. The apples are very juicy, crisp and sweet. The closest supermarket-bought apple I can think of is the Pink Lady (my now 2nd favourite apple), so maybe consider using a few of these in this recipe. And I've opted for Golden Caster sugar for my pastry just for something a little closer to the taste of a digestive biscuit. As you can tell I was filled with nostalgia when putting this together. I also left my pastry quite thick, as nontraditional as it may seem, I really like a little bit of a stodgy pastry and I pack my pie full of apple but do feel free to alter to your liking. Hope you enjoy it!

 Grandad's Apple Pie

Ingredients

425g Plain Flour

115g Golden Caster Sugar

3 Large (beaten) eggs

200g cubed butter (cubed)

1/2 tablespoon of Salt

1/2 Lemon zest & juice

2 tsp Cinnamon

For the filling

8 large cooking apples (try a mix of cooking apples & Pink Lady's)
2 tsp Cornflour
1 tsp Lemon juice
40g Demerara sugar (plus extra for sprinkling)
1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3.

2.Sift salt, flour, cinnamon and sugar into a large mixing bowl.

3. Grate the zest of half a lemon and add to your dry ingredients.

4. Gradually add butter (make sure the butter has been in the fridge) blend together with fingertips until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

5. Beat together 2 eggs, add to mixture gradually and beat until smooth and well combined. 

6. Lightly dust a clean surface with some Plain flour and bring the dough together further by kneading with clean hands.

7. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for 45-60minutes.

8. Once chilled, remove dough from the fridge, again on a lightly dusted (with plain flour) surface roll out your dough into a large enough diameter to cover the base and sides of your pie dish.

9. Sprinkle a little plain flour into the bottom of your pie dish. Then using your rolling pin carefully pick lift the rolled out dough and lower it into the dish. Make sure the bottom and sides are covered and be sure to press the dough into the sides of the dish. 

10. Sprinkle a little more plain flour onto the pastry.

11. Peel, core and cut your apples then cut into your desired sizes. ( I like to use a mixture of thick and thin sized apples just to add texture and a little authenticity to it's homemade look.)

12. Add your apples to a pan with lemon juice, demerara sugar and cinnamon  and mix with a wooden spoon on a medium-high heat for around 2 minutes. Be careful not to let your apples stick to the pan, if this happens reduce heat.

13. Add in cornflour give one last mix then add apples to pie dish (do not let any juice go into your dish.) Sprinkle over a little more demerara sugar.

14. Roll out the remaining dough, using heart-shaped cutters proceed to cutting out your shapes. (What I did here was use larger hearts on the outside and got smaller towards the centre.)

15. Place each heart on top of your apple mixture, brush with egg-wash and sprinkle a little more sugar.

16. Place in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown.

Your kitchen should smell amazing within 15 minutes! I served with Salted Caramel or Caramel Latte Ice cream. This pie can also be frozen and microwaved when ready to eat. I had apple pie for pudding every night for a week!