Here’s a recipe to honour your Mum and all the mum’s that came before her!
Apple pie with a shortcake crust was my grandmother’s speciality and it was always made from apples off the big old Granny Smith tree in her backyard. With apples tumbling off trees all over the place right now, be on the lookout for a tree, roadside or otherwise. A tree that is longing for you to pick her bounty. There is nothing better than making food that might otherwise have gone to waste!
So what is it about apple pie that hits the taste buds and soul in all the right places? Is it that the smell of the pie cooking marks the beginning of autumn and a sign of the comfort foods that will fill our family dining tables in the months to come? Or is it simply that sweet crunch of pastry with hot, tart and fruity filling with creamy dollops atop that connects us with simpler days gone by. Whatever the reason, pop on your apron and get baking this Mother’s Day!
SHORTCAKE CRUST
150g butter
150g sugar
1 large egg
1 t vanilla essence
300g flour
1 ½ t baking powder
750g Paneton sweet pastry
THE FILLING
1 kg peeled and sliced cooking apples
½ cup sugar
Zest of one lemon
¼ c water
40g Little Beauty Freeze dried boysenberries
TO ASSEMBLE
Egg yolk wash
White sugar
METHOD
THE SHORTCAKE PASTRY
Mix the butter and sugar together then whisk in the egg and vanilla essence and lightly combine. Add the dry ingredients and mix until soft dough forms.
Grease your Legacy Pan with butter and push the dough evenly into the pan using your fingers.
Refrigerate until ready to fill.
THE FILLING
Stew the apples in water and sugar until soft. Add a little more water if the mix is sticking to the bottom of the pan. I like to remove the apples from the heat when half have gone mushy and the remaining half are still holding their form.
Add lemon zest and boysenberries and leave to cool. This can be made in advance and refrigerated.
ASSEMBLY
Fill the pastry shell with the cooled apple and boysenberry.
Cut the Paneton pastry into 12 long slices and create a lattice pattern* on top.
Brush the lattice with egg yolk, sprinkle with sugar and bake for 50 - 55 minutes at 165°C. The pie will be lovely and crunchy brown!
Dust with icing sugar and serve hot to the table with dollops of cream.
*Tip to create the lattice pattern atop the pie is to work with very chilled pastry.
