Once the summer is gone, I always look forward to the early autumn days when the fresh garden apples are ready to be picked up. It always makes this seasonal transition less painful. Besides juicy fresh apples, I love to use them in baking pies and cakes. Maybe it doesn’t seem so as here on the blog, I don’t have much recipes with apple yet, and so its time to fix it! Here I share a recipe for the Dutch Apple Pie as I like it, hoping that it will make your dark and cold autumn days more “gezellig” (cosy)!
I grew up with apples from our garden at my parents house, and now living far from them, I try to get these at least on the markets whenever possible. Adeline also seems to enjoy them – I give her little pieces (peeled), but it also happened to me that she stole my apple and bit in it like a little hamster! In the morning, I often grate the apple into her porridge, add a little pinch of cinnamon and raisins soaked in water.
Last weekend, a family friend brought us a huge bag full of apples from a colleague´s garden. We eat them fresh but as it was a lot, I knew I had to bake something with them. Our typical apple treat we make very often is the Appel Strudel but because my boyfriend is Dutch and I wanted to make him double happy this time, I made Dutch Apple Pie.
When searching for the typical Dutch Apple Pie recipe, I found different variations but at the end I decided to adjust it so as it looked like the apple pies I ate in the Netherlands in some cafes. I made it without raisins as we didn’t have any at home and was too lazy to go to the grocery shop but if you like them, feel free to add some too – this will be even more delicious! And don’t forget to serve it with a bowl of vanilla ice cream if you like!
So here is the recipe and if you make my Dutch Apple Pie, let me know how it turned out via the below comments or share a picture and tag me on Instagram or Facebook. If you are a fan of apples, be sure to check out the Apple Strudel or my favorite Spiced Apple Muffins!
Ingredients
FOR THE CRUST:
300 g all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
200 g cold butter, cut into cubes
1 egg, whisked
2-3 tbsp. ice water
FOR THE FILLING:
8 medium apples (Granny Smith for example)
1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
70 g brown sugar
3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cardamom
Handful of raisins (optional)
3 tbsp. bread crumbs
1 egg mixed with 1 tbsp. water and a pinch of salt
Instructions
PREPARE THE CRUST:
In a medium bowl, mix the flour with salt and sugar. Add butter in cubes and using pastry blender to make the butter particles very small. Add the whole whisked egg and ice water (1 tbsp. at a time), work out the dough and form a bowl. Wrap in a plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour (can be also prepared ahead and stay in the fridge overnight).
PREPARE THE FILLING:
Peel and core the apples, cut them into quarters and then slice each quarter. Place the apple slices in a large bowl, pour over the lemon juice. Add raisins if desired. In a small bowl, mix together the sugar with flour, cinnamon and cardamom. Sprinkle the mixture over the apples and toss all together to evenly coat.
MAKE THE PIE:
Take the pastry out of the fridge and let it soften slightly before rolling. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease the a deep pie plate and sprinkle the work surface with flour.
Divide the pastry into halves and roll the first half into a circle of the size of the pie plate including the sides. Wrap it around the rolling pin and transfer to the pie plate and unwrap. Press the crust into the pan and trim the edges. Add the excess dough to the other half of the dough.
Sprinkle the bread crumbles over the bottom and spoon evenly the the apple filling over it.
Roll out the second part of the dough and using a pizza cutter, slice long strips. Arrange the strips of dough on top in a desired pattern and press the endings over the edges of the crust.
Bake in the preheated oven for 60-80 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle with powder sugar before serving. You can also serve the pie with a bowl of vanilla ice cream!