Fresh and Fast Food

Apple Pie (Serves 2 to 3)

Difficulty: easy

Time: 40 minutes (if making own pastry)

This is an easy and quick recipe for a weekend night treat, it can be made even quicker if used with ready-made pastry (although, pastry is A LOT quicker than you think, give it a try!) The filling is my own recipe and the pastry recipe is courtesy of Rosie Liddell, baker extraordinaire!

Ingredients

Filling

Three apples (bramley apples are traditionally use but eating apples also work well)

Tablespoon of cinnamon

200ml water

Tablespoon of brown sugar and a little for sprinkling

Pastry (if making your own)

4oz/113g plain flour

2oz/56g margarine ( you can use half lard and half margarine if you do not need the pie to be vegetarian)

2 tablespoons of water

Milk (a small amount for brushing onto the pastry

Step One

Peel and core the apples before chopping them into pieces (don't worry about size or uniformity).

Step Two

Put apples into a pan with the cinnamon, sugar and water. Simmer the apples until they are soft and the water has reduced, this takes about 10 minutes.

If using ready-made pastry, skip to step five.

Step Three

Place the flour and margarine into a food processor and mix until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Continue mixing, adding water, until the mixture sticks together in a lump. Wrap the pastry in foil and chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Step Four

Remove pastry from fridge, cut into two pieces and roll out both pieces on a floured surface, making the pastry slightly larger than the dish you are using.

Step Five

Grease the dish you are using before laying on piece of rolled pastry into the bottom of the dish.

Step Six

Put the cooked apples onto the pastry lining (do this with a slotted spoon if there is liquid left in the pan).

Step Seven

Cover the apples with the other piece of pastry, sprinkle some sugar on the top and brush milk. Make a slit in the top and cook at 200C/gas mark 6 for around 15 minutes or until the pastry is golden.

Serve hot with ice cream, cream or, my personal favourite, condensed milk.