A piece of heaven on a plate. Especially good served hot with vanilla ice creams.
I was always struggling with apples in my pies. The were most of the time too hard when the cake was already cooked. So it was not really easy or pleasant to eat. That is why I was going for option of shortcrust pastry with apple compote as my version of apple tart. But it is not the same as a proper apple pie. Then I found a great tip on a cooking portal of how to soften the apples first so they do not take long to be cooked. That changed it all! So let me share my version of apple pie with soft and tender apples and moist cake - the perfect combination that everyone loves. I had to bake the second pie on the same day as it disappeared within minutes;)
Ingredients
700g apples 250ml whole milk 2 egg yolks 1 whole egg (separately from 2 egg yolks) 50ml calvados or white rum 50ml vegetable oil 50ml lemon juice 150g sugar 120g all purpose flour 2 tablespoons of flour (separately)
1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Ground cinnamon (optional)
Equipment
Microwave safe bowl Knife and cutting board Mixer Spring form Aluminium foil
Method
Peel and core the apples. Then cut them into quarters. Cut each quarter into 0.5cm slices from shorter side (check the video for visual instructions) and put into a microwave safe container. Cover with a plate or cling film. Put the apples into the microwave for 3 minutes. They should be flexible and on the verge of translucent when you take them out. Pour Calvados and lemon juice over them and mix with a spoon to coat the apples. Set aside to cool for 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180oC. Prepare the spring form by protecting the bottom with an aluminium foil. The pie batter is very runny so the foil prevents the leaking spring form. Put the form into the oven to heat up before you place the batter inside.
Mix in one bowl all dry ingredients (apart of the 2 tablespoons of flour). And in the mixing bowl put the milk, 1 whole egg, vanilla extract and oil and mix on low speed until combined. Add the dry mixture and mix until well combined.
Pour 1 cup of the batter into a separate bowl. To the remaining batter add 2 egg yolks and mix well. To the batter set aside add 2 tablespoons of flour and mix well.
Add apples to the main batter and stir until covered.
Take the spring form out of the oven. Pour the apple mixture into it and distribute evenly. You need to be quite quick so the batter does not start to leak from the bottom of spring form. Pour the additional portion of batter on top and spread all over the pie.
Put the pie in the oven for 45-50 minutes - until well baked. to check if it is ready you can insert a wooden stick into the pie and if it comes out clean - no remaining raw batter - then it is baked.
After taking the form out of the oven you need to separate the sides of the pie from the form - use a knife to do it.
The pie needs to rest and cool down for around 2-3 hours. then it can be served with a dust of icing sugar on top. You can also warm it up later and serve with ice creams or a whipped cream - whatever you fancy:)
Enjoy!