Apple Lattice Pie

I'm a huge fan of cooking shows as I get a lot of my inspiration on what I cook and bake from it. Currently on television which I'm watching religiously is My Kitchen Rules, a cooking show where two people cook for a guest of 12 in their instant restaurant which is in their home thus the title of the show my kitchen rules. I got this recipe from contestants Cathy and Anna a mother and daughter duo. The judges gave full marks for the dessert, so I reckon that if it was good enough for those judges it was good enough for me to try. 

The apple pie was served with creme anglaise but I skipped that as I almost passed out at the amount of egg yolks that was required. Even the pastry required quite a huge amount of butter to achieve the short crust buttery melt in your mouth taste.

Apples peeled and diced

 Apple Filling:

2kg large granny smith apples

440gm caster sugar

100ml water

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 

90gm butter 

2tbsp orange marmalade

Stewed apples

Pastry:

60ml milk 

Raw sugar to dust

Melted butter to grease

310gm butter, chopped, at room temperature

60ml boling water

500gm self raising flour, sifted plus extra to dust

pinch of salt

Blind bake pastry

Note: The original recipe makes 12 individual pies but because I do not have mini individual pie tin I make mine in a 8" pie dish. After making the apple filling I realise I had too much left over I would cut the quantities of apples to 1kg. 

Method:

1. To make apple filling, place apples, sugar, water and cinnamon in a large saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 mins or until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to medium low. Cook, covered and stirring occasionally for 15 mins or until apples are tender. Drain slightly, leaving a little liquid in pan, then stir in butter and marmalade. Set aside to cool.
2. Preheat oven to 180 degrees and grease a pie dish with butter
3. Place butter and water in a bowl, mash to combine. Mix in sifted flour and salt to form a soft dough.
4. Shape into a disc, wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 mins
5. Using a floured rolling pin, roll out pastry on a lightly floured work surface until 2 to 3mm thick. Carefully roll pastry onto rolling pin and place on pie dish. Roll out remaining pastry and cut into 1cm strips.
6. Fill pie dish with cold apple mixture. Place pastry strips on top to form a lattice pattern. Press end of strips to join pastry crust. Brush with a little milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 25 mins or until golden.

Apple pie fresh from the oven

The pastry was really hard to work with as it was crumbly and really soft. The picture does not do it justice but I'm comforted by the taste of it though. It melts in your mouth and takes no effort to eat at all. Because I did not make the creme anglaise as a accompaniment I had the pie with ice cream instead and it was just divine. The pastry just melted in your mouth and the apple was warm with the taste of cinnamon. I can now understand how this dish scored a perfect 10 from each of the judges.

Slice of apple pie best served with ice cream