I love living where I do in Chester. When we lived down in Kent, I really missed Chester. It is in a beautiful location, right on the border to Wales, with quick and easy access to the Coast, the Welsh Mountains, the North along with the Lake District, Lancashire, and the Yorkshire Dales. Once you get into that area we are also only an hour or so from Scotland. Chester itself is a magnificent city filled with lots of things to see and do.
The area we lived in down in Kent was a prime fruit growing area and we were surrounded by orchards, and I do confess that at this time of year I miss having access to drops for use in pies and such. My Todd loves apple pies and desserts. I don't make them for him often enough I don't think.
The recipe I am sharing with you today comes from this Pillsbury Cook booklet that I got in Canada, back in 1991. In Canada they used to have (not sure if they still do) an area by the Til's in the grocery stores where they kept some magazines and such, further temptation for you while you were waiting for your turn. I always found these far more tempting than the candy, chips or chocolate bars!
I have quite a few of these cook booklets in my collection, probably about 30 or so. I have my favourites and you can tell which ones those are because the covers are loose and the pages splattered. This particular one is one of my favourites. I look forward to taking it out every Autumn and cooking from it's pages, even if I do have to adapt some of the recipes to what I have available here in the UK!
This recipe is for a quick and easy Apple Pie Fold-over tart, which uses a sheet of ready roll pie pastry.
You could also make your own pastry if you wanted to. I have a great recipe for that here. You will need to scroll down the page a bit to near the bottom. (Thank goodness I don't have tons of intrusive ads in place eh!)It is a butter/lard pastry and is excellent!
Lovely and flaky. It does make two crusts, but that's not a problem as you can easily freeze one half of the pastry to use another time. Just shape it into a disk, wrap it up tightly, and freeze. Ready to remove from the freezer and thaw overnight sometime when you are in need of a single crust.
This simple tart boasts a delicious and easy to make apple filling.
Peeled and sliced apples are cooked with a bit of brown sugar and lemon juice just until the apple softens . . .
after which it is thickened with a mix of flour, sugar and salt. It thickens up lickety split.
You stir in a knob of butter and some vanilla and your filling is made. You just need to allow it to cool down before using it.
Lay out your pastry on a sheet of baking paper. I like to cut some fancy holds out of one half of the pastry. (Our ready roll pastry sheets are rectangular shaped here in the UK, I know they are round in North America.)
Today I used one of my "Autumn" cookie cutters. I reckon it is probably a pumpkin shape, but it also works well as an apple shape. Save the cutouts to use as a decoration on top.
Spread your filling on the uncut side of the pastry, and fold the cut side over top, crimping the edges all around. Brush with some milk, apply the cutouts, sprinkle with some demerara sugar or sanding sugar and bake. Easy peasy, lemon squeasy. Half an hour or so later your loved ones are enjoying it!
Yield: 4
Author: Marie Rayner
Apple Pie Foldover
A simple and quick and delicious apple tart that your family will love.ingredients:
- 3 medium tart apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
- 50g soft light brown sugar (1/4 cup)
- 1 TBS water
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 TBS plain flour
- 1 TBS white sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp mixed spice (apple pie spice)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 TBS butter
- 1 single sheet of ready rolled short crust pastry
- 1 TBS milk
- demerara sugar for sprinkling
instructions:
How to cook Apple Pie Foldover
- Combine the apples, brown sugar, water and lemon juice in a saucepan. Cook over moderate heat until it starts to bubble, stirring occasionally. Cover and reduce the heat to low and cook for 6 to 8 minutes until the apples are tender, stirring occasionally. Mix together the flour, white sugar, salt and spice. Stir this into the apple mixture and cook until the mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat. Stir in the vanilla and butter. Let stand and cool for 15 to 20 minutes. Take the crust out of the packet and leave it to sit while the filling cools.
- Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Unwrap and unroll the pastry, pressing out any fold lines. (I do this on a sheet of baking parchment.) Spread the filling onto half of the pastry to within half an inch of the edges. (I like to cut out shapes from the other half.) Fold the other half of the pastry over top of the apple filled side. Press together and flute the edges. If you have cut out shapes apply the cut outs now. If you haven't cut some vents in the top of the pastry. Brush with milk and sprinkle with demerara sugar.
- Transfer the sheet of baking paper holding the pie onto a baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool somewhat or completely before serving.
Todd was in Seventh Heaven when he was enjoying this. I liked that it only made a small tart, enough for four. Larger pies don't really get eaten up here. I either have to give half of them away, or they get thrown. This was the perfect size! He had to enjoy it with some ice cream on top this time as I didn't feel like making custard. But then again, what is vanilla ice cream really but frozen custard!
Up Tomorrow: Pork Chops with Homemade Applesauce
