We all know that Mr Kipling makes exceedingly good cakes and pies – who can resist an individual fruit pie. No-one leaning over with their spoon to just have a ‘taste’, because it’s a single pie. My pie, all for me! 🍎🥧
At HOC we do love our own fruit pies, it seems on baking the scent of sweet shortcrust pastry and warm fruit filling wafts out onto the street and calls to our customers. Very rarely do a dozen of freshly baked pies last an hour. A simple sweet shortcrust pastry and a variety of fillings to choose from which can change with the seasons, but the humble apple is always favoured.
Recipe.
200g plain flour, plus extra for dusting.
2 tbsp of icing sugar
100g unsalted butter, chilled, cut into cubes.
1 large egg.
1 tsp lemon juice
🍎 Apple filling
7 medium eating apples (approx. 1kg) peeled, quartered and cored. Eating apples hold their shape – variety of apple is your choice.
25g unsalted butter
75g castor sugar
50ml calvados (optional but does so make a difference)
2 tbsp of mascarpone
2-3 tablespoons of milk
Granulated sugar for dusting (optional)
Method.
🍏 Cut apples into 1cm pieces. Melt the butter in a large frying pan or deep saucepan over a medium heat – do not let butter brown.
🍏 Add the fruit, sugar, and calvados and mix. Gentle simmer for about ten minutes, stirring from time to time so apples are tender and most of the liquid has evaporated.
🍏 Leave the apple mix to go cold and then add the mascarpone and chill.
🍏 To make the pastry, put the flour, butter and icing sugar into a food processor and pulse till fine breadcrumbs. Add the beaten egg and lemon juice and pulse till dough comes together in a ball. Remove wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for half hour.
🍏 Turn on your oven – preheat to 200c/fan 180c/ gas 6/375f
🍏 On a lightly floured work surface roll out your pastry to a thickness of 2-3mm (about a pound coin sized thickness). Using 8.5mm cutters cut out 12 circles and use them to line a pre-greased bun tray (this cutter will fit a fairy cake sized tin) – we use slightly larger cutters and use a muffin tin, but there is enough pastry. Reroll your pastry and cut out 12 smaller sized lids.
🍏 Spoon your cold apple pie filling into the pastry cases, taking care not to overfill them. Dampen the rim of the pastry with water and top each pie with a lid. Press to seal, make a couple of small steam holes in the top of each pie. If any pastry trimmings left be creative.
🍏 Brush the pastry lid with a little milk, if you like slightly crispy sweetened top, sprinkle with granulated sugar (optional). Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and golden brown.
🍏 Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before removing. Serve warm or at room temperature within 24 hours of baking (or they’ll start to lose their crispness).
Your own pie to savour with a nice cup of tea or coffee and a satisfactory nod to Mr Kipling that you too make exceedingly good pies 🥧