Apple Pie

This is by far my favourite thing to make. An apple pie also doesn't take as many ingredients, making it pretty practical to make if you've got some butter, flour, sugar, and apples lying around.

Ingredients: (for an 8-inch pie)

Pastry dough:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 2 cm pieces
• 6-10 tbsp very cold water

Pie filling:

• 3 lb baking apples (about 6 regular apples, I like to vary the apple type, but usually go with Gala)
• 2/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp ground cinmamon
• 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit.

Start with your pastry dough: mix your cold butter and all-purpose flour in one bowl. The reason why the butter must be cold is because you will work the mixture with your hands, and the dough won't hold if it's melty.

Work it with your hands to break apart the butter, so the flour and butter have almost a crumb texture. You can do this with a food processor as well, just chop it in the food processor quickly until a crumbly texture.

Pour in 6 tablespoons of cold water to start, and knead to form a ball. Pour in more tablespoons as you go so the dough forms a ball. The dough should just stick as a ball, and not be wet from too much water. If it is, just mix in a little more flour.

Once you've got it, wrap it in plastic wrap, and put in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour. You can leave it overnight if you're making the pie the next day. Just kneed it more if you take it out the next day. Separate the dough into halves.

Dust the dough and your rolling surface with flour (don't let it stick!), and roll out with a rolling pin until it can hang about 1 - 2 inches off the sides of your baking tray.

Flour it down, make sure it's not sticky.

Slowly, roll it onto your rolling pin lightly. You're transferring it to your baking tray.

Hang 1-2 inches off the side of the baking tray and slowly roll over lightly.

Lightly push it into your tray (don't rip it!), and poke the bottom with a fork.

Peel your apples, dice into small cubes (to your liking), mix in your cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, and white sugar, and toss it around so it's well mixed. Throw it into your baking tray. Following the same steps as before, roll the 2nd half of dough onto your rolling pin and transfer to your baking tray.

Crimp the sides down with a fork or roll it inwards by taking the bottom dough, and rolling the top dough inwards. 

Taking a brush, you can glaze the pie with milk or a beaten egg. I beat an egg and brushed it over to give it a glossy finish. 

Bake it for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Bake for another 40-50 minutes until the top is golden. 

Enjoy baking my favourite pastry!

- Jane