Page 29 - Real Rochdale Issue 15 Autumn 2022

LATTICE APPLE PIE

by Natasha Brown - owner of Brown’s Cakes

Ingredients For the filling:
• 900g cooking apples (about 5
For the pastry: large apples)
• 350g plain flour • 1 tablespoon butter
• 200g cold butter cut into small • 75g dark brown sugar
cubes • 75g caster sugar
• 2 tablespoons icing sugar • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 egg yolks • ¼ teaspoon mixed spice
• 2 tablespoons cold milk • Zest of 1 lemon
• Juice from 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons cornflour
• Egg wash and sugar to sprinkle
over pie

The pastry:

The easiest way to make the pastry is to put all the pastry ingredients into a food processor
and pulse them until they start to come together. Tip the ingredients onto your worktop and
gently squeeze the pastry together into a ball. Don’t overwork it, just squeeze it together.
To assemble the pie:
If you don’t have a food processor, you will need to rub the butter into the flour and icing
sugar with your finger tips. When the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, stir in the cold milk Tip the apple mixture into the flan dish. Roll the second ball of pastry into a circle the size of the
and bring it all together to form a pastry. Alternatively, you can buy ready made pastry in a flan then cut it into 10 – 12 strips.
supermarket but it’s definitely worth having a go at doing your own if you have the time and
the inclination. Wet the edge of the flan with a little milk and lay 5 – 6 strips of pastry vertically across the flan.
Peel back alternate strips then place a fresh strip of pastry horizontally across the flan. Bring the
Once the pastry is made, cut it into two pieces (one a little bigger than the other) and form peeled back pastry back in to place and fold back the other alternate strips. Lay another fresh strip
two balls. Roll the larger ball on a floured surface until it is large enough to line a 9” flan dish. of pastry over the flan and keep repeating this process until the whole flan is covered with the
Line the flan dish with the pastry and trim around the edges. Put the flan dish in the fridge to criss-crossed pastry.
chill for at least an hour and squeeze any off cuts in to the other ball of pastry, cover it in cling Use a fork to squash the edges of the pie together then trim around the edges. Pop the pie back in
film and leave to one side. the fridge to chill for about 20 minutes.

The filling: Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC(fan)/Gas 6.

Peel and core the apples and cut them into equal sized slices. Beat together an egg and a splash of milk to make an egg wash and apply it over the pastry.
Sprinkle the pie with some sugar and bake for approx. 40 – 50 minutes until the pastry is golden
Melt the butter in a large pan and gently cook the apple slices with the sugar, lemon zest, brown.
lemon juice and spices for about 15 minutes (until the apples are soft but still hold their
shape). The pie can be served hot with custard or can be chilled and served with cream and ice cream. If
you’d like to jazz it up you can add blackberries, raspberries or wimberries. These can be stirred
Add the cornflour: you may not need it all as it depends how much juice was in the lemon so into the cooled apple mixture once that has been cooked. However you serve it, whatever fruit you
add it half a tablespoon at a time. put in... enjoy!

REAL ROCHDALE - AUTUMN 2022 28 29 REAL ROCHDALE - AUTUMN 2022