Apple pecan pie

Whilst food shopping with my husband last weekend – who is hungry ALL the time, I might add – knowing I wanted to do some baking, he asked if would make him an apple pie. Naturally, I obliged. Partly because he is the most adorable human I know. Partly because I love pie. Mmmmm pie. Anyway, baking, yes.

So in my family, my mum is the baker. Not so good at general cooking. But baking – well, she’s pretty great, and got me involved from an early age allowing me to “help” almost any time I asked. Having said that, she doesn’t do pastry, doesn’t like getting her hands dirty. Luckily, my dad is equally talented, and again is quite the chef. So that’s probably where I get my love for baking. He does an excellent pie, and this recipe is loosely based on one I’ve cooked with him a fair few times.

Pastry:

9 oz plain flour

2 oz caster sugar

2.5 oz butter

2.5 oz lard

Filling:

4 apples

2 oz pecans

1 oz brown sugar

Nutmeg, pinch

Cinnamon, pinch

Recipe:

Grease a pie dish and preheat the oven to 190°C.

To make the pastry, add the flour and caster sugar to a bowel, cut the butter and lard into cubes (I like to use a little lard as it makes the pastry short, but all butter is obviously also fine), and rub into the flour and sugar mixture to form fine breadcrumbs. Make a well in the middle of the breadcrumbs and add cold water slowly, a little at a time, mixing with a spatula or butter knife until it comes together to form a non-sticky dough. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for up to an hour.

For the filling, peel and slice the apples, add to a pan with the brown sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon, and 4-6 tbsp of water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the apples are just softening, Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Remove the dough from the fridge and split into a third and two-thirds. Roll out the larger portion of the dough into a large circle about 0.5 cm thick. Place in the pie dish, leaving the excess hanging over the edges, and bake blind for ~7 minutes. Remove from the oven, placing on a heatproof board, and add the filling. Then sprinkle the chopped pecans on top.

For the lid, there are two options:

Option 1: Roll out the remaining pastry into a circle the size of the dish. Brush the outside of the pie with a little milk, then lay the smaller pastry circle on top, pressing down around the edges, and cutting off any excess pastry. Cut several slits in the top, brush with milk or egg, and then bake for 20-30 minutes until lightly browned.

Option 2: Roll out the remaining pastry into a circle the size of the dish, and cut into strips about 1 cm wide. On top of the pie, place the strips into a lattice, threading over and under those running in the other direction until the lattice covers the pie. Cut off any excess pastry. (I did make the mistake of making the lattice off the pie, which looked great on the kitchen surface, but it was not possible to transfer. Instead I just ended up making a rather messy lattice on top of the pie, and breaking some of the pastry strips…) Finally, brush with milk or egg, and then bake for 20-30 minutes until lightly browned.

I served the pie warm with a little homemade ice cream, and it was pretty tasty!