Once upon a time there was the Queen of Cakes, and everyone who had a birthday at her office would consider themselves lucky if she baked something yummie for the occasion.
Right, enough of the Fairytale, but it is true that every time I bring some baked goodies to the office, my colleagues get bright-eyed. And this time the occasion was none other than the birthday of not just a colleague but a friend of mine, so of course she deserved something extra special. Being that she loves fruit, I decided to make an apple pie, but as she is also very much the sporty and healthy type, I made some tweaks to lower the caloric intake while keeping all of the flavour and refusing to sacrifice a single bit of the deliciousness. Thus was born the applescotch pie low in sugar. Apple pie that tastes like butterscotch. Heavenly. And with only half of the sugar. Hell yes!
Suffice to say that it was incredibly well received and its praises sung, not just because it tasted sinfully good but also because I had put such care into the lattice (I had been wanting to do a braided lattice pie for a very long time and this gave me the perfect chance). The result really didn’t disappoint! Now, my skill doesn’t yet go as far as to teach you all how to recreate the braided lattice work, but I will help you make a standard lattice applescotch pie either way – if you let me!-.
- 750g apples
- 100g brown sugar
- 60ml water
- juice of 1 lemon
- 4 tbsp almond meal
- 2 tbsp flour
- vanilla
- 3 tbsp butter
- 475g flour
- 150g cold butter
- 1 tsp salt
- 4-5 tbsp cold water
- Peel, core and thinly slice the apples, and place in a bowl. Add the lemon juice, brown sugar and water and mix well. Reserve.
- Prepare the pastry: with your fingers or on a standmixer mix the flour with the cold butter cut into small pieces. Add the salt and one tablespoon of water at a time, until the dough comes together. Divide the dough into two balls.
- Roll out one ball of dough on a clean and dry surface with some flour, make sure it’s about 3cm wider than the pie plate.
- Line pie plate with baking paper and place the crust on it.
- Roll out the second ball of dough, again making sure it’s wider than the pie plate, and cut into equal stripes which will become the lattice top.
- Preheat oven to 220ºC.
- Put the apple mixture in a pot on medium heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the liquid to about half, then add the almond meal, flour, vanilla and butter and cook until it thickens.
- Pour this onto the crust, and then work the lattice top over it. Trim the edges and seal.
- Put tinfoil over the pie and bake for 30 minutes.
- Take the tinfoil away and bake for another 15 minutes or until brown. Leave to cool for a few hours.
