Not Pie In The Sky - Old Fashioned Apple Pie With Nuts and Cranberries
Did you know? The apples we buy fresh have been hermetically sealed in a cold storage facility for at least a year! Cold Storage works something like this: Organic-Hermetic storage, or “hermetic storage”, consists of a sealed storage system containing a modified atmosphere. This means that, because of respiration, very low Oxygen (O2) and high Carbon Dioxide (CO2) develop. The low-permeability envelope maintains a constant moisture environment and stops growth or decay.
This means that the fruit we eat was picked a year ago. On Tuesday night, a best friend of mine gifted us a box of freshly picked apples. They still had the odd leaf, and the little stems were green and couldn’t just fall off or twist off in a few turns. For the first time in years, I could smell apples. Using fresh, fragrant apples made me feel connected to the process and confident that my pie would turn out special.
A deep crunch as I sank my teeth into the crispy skin, followed by a sweet apple spray which landed on my nose and chest. That’s fresh. The red cheeks were perfect for eating, and I included thin slices in my salad. But the green ones had to be used in a pie.
Absolutely. So out came my recipe books, and then I decided to wing it. It is mid-summer here, and temperatures have soared into the 40 °C, so making a shortcrust pastry as I would’ve liked to was impossible; my homemade butter melts rapidly.
Summer Apple Pie
In the heat we experience in South Africa, it’s very difficult to make a fresh batch of pastry unless one does it in the dead of night, as my mother-in-law would’ve. I’m not that eager to please, and anyway, we can buy flaky or shortcrust pastry at most supermarkets. Of course, using high-quality ingredients, like good butter and flour, can make a real difference and boost your confidence in baking.
I try not to use cane sugar in my kitchen; now I use palm sugar, which I bought in Vietnam.
Apple Pie
I had flaky pastry in the deep freeze which I defrosted in the fridge overnight.
Preparing the Pie tin
I used my favourite tin, a loose-bottomed quiche tin, ancient as it is. Butter the pan. If you have a marble, granite, or stone surface, always work on it when making pastry or pasta. Cool in the refrigerator. Halve the dough, and return one half to the refrigerator to keep it cold.
Roll the remaining piece to line the tin; make sure you have ample dough, as it will shrink in the oven. I like having an overhang of about 3cm.
Line the tin.
Return to the fridge until needed. Preheat the oven to 180°C
FILLING:
This means that the fruit we eat was picked a year ago. On Tuesday night, a best friend of mine gifted us a box of freshly picked apples. They still had the odd leaf, and the little stems were green and couldn’t just fall off or twist off in a few turns. For the first time in years, I could smell apples. Using fresh, fragrant apples made me feel connected to the process and confident that my pie would turn out special.
A deep crunch as I sank my teeth into the crispy skin, followed by a sweet apple spray which landed on my nose and chest. That’s fresh. The red cheeks were perfect for eating, and I included thin slices in my salad. But the green ones had to be used in a pie.
Absolutely. So out came my recipe books, and then I decided to wing it. It is mid-summer here, and temperatures have soared into the 40 °C, so making a shortcrust pastry as I would’ve liked to was impossible; my homemade butter melts rapidly.
Summer Apple Pie
In the heat we experience in South Africa, it’s very difficult to make a fresh batch of pastry unless one does it in the dead of night, as my mother-in-law would’ve. I’m not that eager to please, and anyway, we can buy flaky or shortcrust pastry at most supermarkets. Of course, using high-quality ingredients, like good butter and flour, can make a real difference and boost your confidence in baking.
I try not to use cane sugar in my kitchen; now I use palm sugar, which I bought in Vietnam.
Apple Pie
I had flaky pastry in the deep freeze which I defrosted in the fridge overnight.
Preparing the Pie tin
I used my favourite tin, a loose-bottomed quiche tin, ancient as it is. Butter the pan. If you have a marble, granite, or stone surface, always work on it when making pastry or pasta. Cool in the refrigerator. Halve the dough, and return one half to the refrigerator to keep it cold.
Roll the remaining piece to line the tin; make sure you have ample dough, as it will shrink in the oven. I like having an overhang of about 3cm.
Line the tin.
Return to the fridge until needed. Preheat the oven to 180°C
FILLING:
8 small to medium green apples (I like fragrant apples so that I would use a mix of apples, not only tart Granny Smiths)
4 small to medium red apples.
15ml lemon juice
200ml palm sugar, grated (you may use your favourite sugars e.g. granulated, brown or coconut)
45ml Almond flour (you may substitute and use your normal flour)
10ml Vanilla Paste
10ml ground cinnamon
4 small to medium red apples.
15ml lemon juice
200ml palm sugar, grated (you may use your favourite sugars e.g. granulated, brown or coconut)
45ml Almond flour (you may substitute and use your normal flour)
10ml Vanilla Paste
10ml ground cinnamon
5ml freshly ground nutmeg
2,5ml salt
2,5ml ground ginger
250ml mixed nuts and cranberries (I used walnuts and almonds), blitzed, but not too finely.
1 egg, beaten for the egg wash
15ml granulated sugar (no other option)
METHOD:
Quarter and core the apples, then slice thinly; do not peel. Coat with the lemon juice to prevent discolouration.
Mix the remaining ingredients and add to the apples. Mix well.
Spoon apple mixture into the pastry-lined tin, pressing gently to pack the apples tightly. This helps prevent holes and collapse during baking, making the process feel manageable and achievable for you.
Roll the rest of the dough to cover the top of the tart.
Cover the tart.
Brush both edges of the dough.
Press the two layers together gently.
Fold the dough to make a decorative edge. Fold forward towards you. Make an X incision on top to let steam escape. With small scraps of dough, make leaves and decorate the centre.
Brush egg wash over the top. Sprinkle the granulated sugar all over the top of the tart.
Place the tart on a baking sheet and bake for 60 minutes.
After 25 minutes, cover the top of the tart with a layer of aluminium foil, shiny side out, to prevent the tart from browning too much.
Remove from the oven and leave on a wire cooling rack for at least an hour before slicing and serving with a good dollop of whipped or thick cream.
TIP: Lift the cream a notch with a dash of vanilla paste and 10 ml honey folded in lightly.
Bon Appétit, my darlings.
Here is a short "how-to" video to give you an idea and hopefully inspire you to bake this apple tart while apples are plentiful.
2,5ml salt
2,5ml ground ginger
250ml mixed nuts and cranberries (I used walnuts and almonds), blitzed, but not too finely.
1 egg, beaten for the egg wash
15ml granulated sugar (no other option)
METHOD:
Quarter and core the apples, then slice thinly; do not peel. Coat with the lemon juice to prevent discolouration.
Mix the remaining ingredients and add to the apples. Mix well.
Spoon apple mixture into the pastry-lined tin, pressing gently to pack the apples tightly. This helps prevent holes and collapse during baking, making the process feel manageable and achievable for you.
Roll the rest of the dough to cover the top of the tart.
Cover the tart.
Brush both edges of the dough.
Press the two layers together gently.
Fold the dough to make a decorative edge. Fold forward towards you. Make an X incision on top to let steam escape. With small scraps of dough, make leaves and decorate the centre.
Brush egg wash over the top. Sprinkle the granulated sugar all over the top of the tart.
Place the tart on a baking sheet and bake for 60 minutes.
After 25 minutes, cover the top of the tart with a layer of aluminium foil, shiny side out, to prevent the tart from browning too much.
Remove from the oven and leave on a wire cooling rack for at least an hour before slicing and serving with a good dollop of whipped or thick cream.
TIP: Lift the cream a notch with a dash of vanilla paste and 10 ml honey folded in lightly.
Bon Appétit, my darlings.
Here is a short "how-to" video to give you an idea and hopefully inspire you to bake this apple tart while apples are plentiful.
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