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Each morning I take the train to the other end of town to study French. With a copy of Best Food Writing 2010, some roasted nuts and orangefoodie for company, it’s a fun ride. There are some days when breakfast on the train is an event we look forward to with homemade Snickers or rich chocolate brownies. However, that’s a tad messy to eat on the train, and then there is the task of opening this large blue square box in the middle of the train compartment without eliciting unnecessary gazes.
One day I felt like eating apple pies. Juicy, cinnamon-y, flaky crusted apple pies. There was little chance of me eating a regular apple pie on the train without having a piece of golden caramelised apple on my jeans, or worse still, on my co-passenger’s shiny leather shoes. And I still really, really wanted to eat an apple pie for breakfast. That’s when I thought I’d make these apple pie pockets. Caramelised apples encased in flaky pastry dough and baked to a perfect golden glow. So convenient to eat, much like pop tarts.
Pie pocket pointers:
Roll out the dough thinner than you think you should. A rule I follow: I should be able to see the colour of my electric blue rolling board through the dough. This is because the pastry dough will get thicker on baking. Not just that, with pie pockets, you have double crusts – and you certainly don’t want to just taste the crust with a diminutive piece of apple peaking through.
Poke the top with a fork to let the steam escape.
Brush the pie pocket with egg wash right before baking for the gorgeous golden sheen.
If you’d like, spoon some applesauce along with caramelised apples in the pockets to heighten the apple flavour. I did this for the second batch of apple pie pockets I made, and it took it to a whole new level. I highly recommend it.
The caramelised apples really have no recipe – I just made it up as I went along. A tablespoon of butter, 3-4 tablespoons of sugar and chopped apples thrown in and cooked till soft, yet firm to the bite, finished off with a little cinnamon. Set this aside to cool while you get ready to roll out the dough. In case you still need a little more hand-holding, here is a detailed recipe for caramelised apples.
For the dough I used my favourite flaky pastry dough recipe. Roll out the dough and using a round or rectangular cookie cutter, cut out pieces of dough. Place the cooled caramelised apple filling on the dough, making sure to leave enough space around the edges. Place a pie of cut out dough on top of the apples, and seal the edges by pressing down gently with your fingers. Make incisions with a knife or a fork, followed by an egg wash and then finally bake it in an oven at 175°C/350°F until golden brown and fragrant. Baking time will vary depending on the size of your pie pocket, but keep an eye on it post 7-8 minutes
Last night I was craving some apple cinnamon muffins. The kind I had almost a year ago at a quaint little café in New York. It was loaded with Granny Smith apples and a whole lot of cinnamon. The gigantic muffin made for a perfect breakfast with a cup of hot chocolate. Going to bed with such sweet thoughts in my head, there was no way I’d be doing anything besides baking these when I woke up this morning.
The genius of muffins is that they can be thrown together in about 5 minutes, without the need of your hand or stand mixer. It’s especially perfect for those that are intimidated by the idea of baking or for those lazy mornings when you’d rather be curled up in bed with a cup of coffee.
For the recipe, I looked up Ratio (this is one book I wish I used more of!) and adapted the muffin recipe to include apple and cinnamon. I cut up the apples into chunks, leaving the skin on, just like the ones at the café. I also tossed the apples in some freshly ground cinnamon (nothing better than a Microplane to help you through this task – I sliced a layer of my skin as well, but that’s another story.)
And you know what the best part of the muffin is? The streusel topping. The crunchy, buttery topping amplifies the taste of the muffin and after eating this, I don’t think muffins should ever be made without the streusel topping. In fact, I’m going to increase the quantity of it the next time I make muffins.
For the streusel topping:
4 oz / 112g butter, softened
4 oz / 112g flour
2 oz / 55g caster sugar
2 oz / 55g soft brown sugar
For the muffins:
8 oz / 225g flour
4 oz / 112g brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
8 oz / 225g milk
2 eggs
4oz / 112g butter
½ tsp vanilla extract
3 Granny Smith apple, cored and chopped into cubes
1 ½ tsp cinnamon, divided – 1 tsp for the batter and ½ to toss the apples with.
Preheat oven to 350F/175C.
For the streusel topping: In a food processor or by hand, mix together the ingredients for the streusel topping until it is evenly combined. Let it rest in the fridge while you prep the muffin batter.
In a medium sized bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: flour, brown sugar, baking powder and cinnamon.
In a large bowl, mix together the wet ingredients thoroughly: milk, eggs, butter and vanilla extract.
Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and fold it in, until just incorporated.
Fold in the apples(tossed with ½ tsp cinnamon).
Spoon the batter into lined muffin tins.
Top it with the crumble mixture.
Bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
I think an apple pie is one of the first things I baked when I got an oven. I used a pie dough recipe from a nondescript local book and didn’t pay much attention to baking blind (we will get to this shortly). Back then, this was an unnecessary step that the naïve me thought I could do without. I didn’t know the technique behind it, nor the importance as I had only begun exploring the hows and whys of baking.
After poring over my favouritebooks and reading up quite a bit on the subject of pie dough over the years, I have come to understand them a little better. I love how Alice Water has been so descriptive through every step – you should probably buy The Art of Simple Food just for this chapter, if nothing else.
I don’t believe that there is THE pie crust recipe and that just that one recipe is absolutely foolproof, because with pie, it’s more about the technique and timing – at the end of it, it’s flour, butter and liquid put together.
Making a pie crust isn’t such a nightmare for me as prepping seafood but here are some pointers I have grown to live by:
The refrigerator is your best friend. Start with chilled or frozen butter and keep putting the dough into the fridge in between steps. In fact, refrigerate everything – the ingredients and the pie dish. Especially when you’re living in a warm place.
Work with the ingredients quickly. They must, must, must remain cold at all times. A pastry cutter works beautifully, but a food processor or a KitchenAid will do things much faster. Or at least I’d like to think so because I just love my KitchenAid.
Use ice water. Not water with ice in it, but ice with water. I fill the measuring cup with ice cubes and then add water until it reaches the rim of the cup.
Don’t add in all the liquid at one time. The amount you need will vary depending on the humidity. It will also be a lot lesser if you’re adding an egg yolk to the pie crust.
A wet dough it better than a dry one that will crack while baking – add water a tablespoon at a time. If it falls apart like sand, it is too dry. Remember, it will get drier in the oven.
I like to add an egg yolk for its golden hue; it also prevents gluten development resulting in a tender crust.
I’ve read good things about vinegar additions in the pie dough. I have yet to try it from the recipe in Molly’s book – A Homemade Life, but vinegar is supposed to prevent gluten development (awesome for bread, but not for the said pie we are about to bake) and help achieve the much coveted texture.If you have, let me know!
Butter or shortening? They say using shortening yields a more flaky crust. I use all butter because I’m just biased. I’d like to try lard to, but I don’t have access to any.
Can you see the butter in the dough? That’s your answer to a flaky crust. It’s as simple as that. When you see the butter, you are assured of flakiness. Why? Because the dough will envelope the butter and form tiny pockets, and with heat, the butter in these pockets will melt and pie crust will puff up with the steam (same principles as puff pastry). Flaky crust!
I prefer using metal pans as opposed to ceramic ones to achieve a crispier crust and for an even crispier base, place the pie pan on a pizza stone or a thick baking sheet.
If I want a crumbly crust, I simply press the dough into the pie dish. And for a flaky one, I roll out the dough.
After watching how easy is to roll out the dough (thank you Rachel Allen), sandwiched in a clingfilm, I’m a fan of the method. You won’t even need flour for dusting. Also, when you’re rolling out the dough, it should feel a little tough to roll out. This way you know that the butter is absolutely cold.
Once rolled out, peel off the upper sheet of cling film and gently invert the rolled dough into the pie dish. Again, be gentle.
After transferring the dough into the pie dish, first press the dough into the dish and then trim off the edges. Otherwise you will end up with shorter edge. Yes, I’m talking from experience. Also, correctly fitted dough stays put when it is baked and doesn’t shrink. Crimp the edges if you want it to look a little fancy.
Baking blind is important. It will dry the surface of the crust and help maintain the texture when baked again with the filling. Another nifty trick I picked up when watching Rachel Allen Bake was that she’d brush the inside of the pie after its partially baked with a beaten egg and pop it into an oven for another few minutes. This seals the pie and gets you another step closer to a non-soggy base.
To blind-bake, after fitting the rolled out dough into the pie, place a piece of parchment in it and fill it with beans or pie weights. More than that I love this tip from Dorie Greenspan – you should butter the inside of the pie crust, before placing a piece of foil and beans for blind baking. Yay for extra butter!
While baking blind, if you think the edges are browning quicker than you think, wrap some aluminium foil around it.
When to bake blind? Rule of thumb: for fruit and liquidy fillings bake blind.
Add your own tips in the comments and share what you think is absolutely necessary to achieve that perfect crust!
Add the pieces of cut butter into this and either cut with a pastry cutter or food processor until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs with a lot of larger pea sized chunks of butter as well.
Add the water a spoonful at a time until the dough holds itself together without being too dry.
Transfer this to a Ziploc bag and put it into the refrigerator for an hour or the freezer for a little lesser time.
Butter a 9 inch pie dish and pop it into the freezer as well.
Now roll out the dough between two sheets of cling film. Transfer to the pie dish, press into the dish and refrigerate it for another 30 minutes or until it has firmed up. Poke some holes into the crust with a fork.
While the pie crust is chilling in the freezer, preheat the oven to 400F/200C.
Butter the shiny side of the foil and stick it tightly to the crust. Fill with dried beans and bake for 25 minutes.
If the crust has puffed up then push it back down with the back of the spoon. Now brush this with some beaten egg and pop it back into the oven for another 5-7 minute minutes.
Let this cool before filling it in with anything. Remember, this is partially bakes. for a fully baked pie crust, pop it back into the oven for another 10 minutes or until golden in colour.
Cinnamon Apple Filling:
4 granny smith apples – peeled, cored and sliced
4-5 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon 2 tbsp butter
Sprinkle 2 tbsp sugar and ½ tsp cinnamon on the base of the pre-baked pie crust.
Arrange the apples in a concentric fashion starting out on the edge and moving inwards.
Sprinkle the top with the remaining cinnamon and sugar. Dot with a little butter.
Bake the pie for 15-20 minutes until the apples look like they’re done.
Glaze with some jelly + water mixture for a shiny look.
Serve with whipped cream or mascarpone cheese. YUM!
I love apples. As a kid, apples were my favourite fruit.
But, then when I grew up, apples stopped being seasonal. With their all year round availability (and multiple varieties at that), they suddenly weren’t something I pined for. Now with the apple season in full swing, I’m reminded of the local, seasonal apples I grew up eating – not the shiny, waxed, supermarket ones. I’m thinking of making a whole bunch of things to cherish their versatility; starting with apple chips.
Apple chips make a very fun, light snack. The first time I made these I had such a great time asking everyone to guess what it was (made sure they didn’t resemble apples). Nobody could guess! Besides being a light snack, they are awesome added to a granola mix and make stunning garnishes for desserts as well.
Apple Chips
2 gala or granny smith apples
2 tbsp sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp lemon juice
Water
Turn the oven on its lowest setting (80C/175F)
Fill a bowl with 1 cup cold water and the lemon.
Holding a mandoline over the bowl, slice the apples, letting them fall in the water immediately. This prevents premature browning of the apples.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat and place the apple slices on the sheet after shaking off the excess liquid off it.
Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar (this will make the apple slices brown though, so skip the cinnamon if you want them white).
Push it into the oven for 1.5-2 hours, until the apple slices are crisp. Try not to finish these in one go!
Update: If at the end of 2 hours, the chips are still soft, continue to bake them in the oven for another 1-2 hours. Depending on how large the slices are and how watery the apples are, it might just take a longer.
There is something about cooked apples that instantly spells comfort food for me. I especially like how tart apples like granny smith hold their own in whatever recipe they’re used. Earlier, when they were unheard of here, my grand mum would lug them for me from London along with Kiwis (I remember hiding them at the back of the fridge, just in case she wanted to give a guest a taste of exotica). Back then I didn’t bake or cook, and cooking apples was an alien thought. But if I knew how beautifully the apples transformed with a little sugar, butter and heat into luscious caramel apples, I’d make them everyday.
Today, just I was going through my books, I chanced upon this recipe for the caramel apples. The photo was so enticing that I was instantly drawn to making them. And the timing couldn’t be more perfect because I had a few granny smiths in my refrigerator waiting to be used up. Along with apples go cinnamon, so I made a cinnamon cake with a cinnamon sugar crust; a trick I learned when making bread from the Bread Baker’s Apprentice. It’s such a simple idea, but once you do it, you’ll wonder why you never thought of it. Just as soon as the cake is out of the oven, brush it with butter, lots and lots of butter. Then roll it in cinnamon sugar and you will have the most amazing crust to the cake. Slice up the cake and top with the caramel apples and serve. Or after slicing the cake into wedges, slice them into halves horizontally and place the apples slices in between, much like a sandwich.
You can use the caramel apples with anything you fancy. My two favourites being vanilla ice cream, and of course, this cinnamon cake.
4 granny smith apples 1/3rd cup granulated sugar 1/3rd cup brown sugar A pinch of salt 3 tbsp butter, plus a tiny knob to finish. ½ tsp vanilla extract
Peel and core the apples. Then quarter them and cut them into slices (not too thick). Set aside.
Melt the butter in a 12 inch sauté pan over a medium heat.
Add the sugars and stir until it is dissolved and the mixture is golden brown and bubbling.
Stir in the vanilla and the salt.
Add the apples and simmer uncovered, stirring frequently until the apples have cooked through; about 15 – 20 minutes.
After you’ve turned off the heat, thrown in the remaining knob of butter to coat the apples evenly. Serve warm with the cake that follows.
Cinnamon Cake Yield: 8 servings
2 cups flour 2 tsp baking powder ½ tsp baking soda ½ tsp cinnamon 1 cup sugar 1 stick / 112g butter 2 eggs ½ cup yoghurt
Preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C. Butter an 8 inch square or circular pan.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
In a large bowl, beat the sugar and the butter with a hand mixer until light and airy, about 3 minutes.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating for a minute after each addition.
Reduce the speed now and add the flour in 3 parts and yoghurt in 2 parts alternately; starting and ending with flour.
You will have a very thick batter.
Transfer the batter in the buttered pan and even out the top with a spatula.
Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the crumbs are golden and a skewer comes out clean.
When the cake is just out of the oven, brush it with butter and roll it in cinnamon sugar. Or if you’d like, sprinkle it on top of the cake.
Please note: Serving caramel apples with this cake is mandatory.
