I woke up on Sunday morning after a very busy couple of days with a huge urge to make an apple pie. So I grabbed a copy of my Baking Bible by Mary Berry and got baking. I've slightly adapted the recipe to my own taste, as her recipe includes cloves and I'm not the biggest fan. Pies like these are just what you need on a cold Autumn day, they're filling, delicious and the perfect accompaniment to a special Sunday dinner. My family absolutely loved eating this so I know it's one I'm going to be making again, next time I might add blackberries or raisins to add some extra sweetness into it!
To make the apple pie filling you'll need:
675g cooking apples
62g caster sugar
½ tsp ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
3 tablespoons of cold water
For the pastry:
175g plain flour
50g diced butter
50g diced white baking vegetable fat (like Stork)
2 tablespoons of cold water
Milk (to glaze)
Granulated sugar, for sprinkling
- Use a shallow pie dish. Peel, core and cut the apples into thick slices. Arrange half if the slices in the bottom of the dish, sprinkle with half of the sugar and spices. Then add the rest of the apple slices, the sugar and the spices. Then drizzle over the cold water.
- To make the pastry, measure the flour into a bowl. Add the diced butter and white vegetable fat and rub together with your fingers until the mixture becomes like breadcrumbs. Add the water and mix to a firm dough.
- Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface to a size that will cover the top of the pie dish. Lift the dough on the dish and trim the edges. If you like, you can use the trimmings make decorative shapes and light press on to the dough. I chose to add on stars but hearts, leaves or flowers could work too. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Brush the pie with a little milk, then sprinkle on the sugar. Make a small slit in the centre of the pie for the steam to escape. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 40 minutes, until the apples are tender and the pastry is crisp and a light golden colour. Cover the pie loosely with foil towards the end of the cooking time if the pastry starts to brown.
- If your fancy really treating yourself serve with custard or good quality vanilla ice-cream. Enjoy!
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Other than blogging one of my favourite hobbies is baking, it is very therapeutic and at the end you (usually) get a tasty result. I loved to bake cakes as a child. Every Saturday my sister and I would pick up a box of fairy cake mixture from Sainsbury's and bake for our family. This is something that we have continued to do. So, when I found Ruth Clemens's baking blog -The Pink Whisk, I was a very happy girl. Her name may be familiar to all you The Great British Bake Off fans as she was a runner-up on the very first series! So I caught up with the baking maverick to ask her a few questions...
Hi Ruth for those who don’t know who you are, would you mind
telling us a little bit about yourself?
Of course! I’m Ruth
Clemens – first and foremost Mum to 3 naughty boys and wife to 1! I took part in the first series of The Great
British Bake Off in 2010 and to my own surprise finished second! I run a baking blog www.thepinkwhisk.co.uk
and since the Bake Off have had some amazing opportunities including writing 2
books, The Busy Girls Guide to Cake Decorating, released last year and The Pink
Whisk Guide to Cake Making which is just about to hit the shelves.
What made you get into baking?
I've always baked, taught by my Mum and then I started doing
lots more when I had my own family. I
enjoy the creativity of messing about in the kitchen and playing around with
recipes and ingredients, it’s just
larking around in the kitchen!
How do you find inspiration to create exciting recipes? Do
you ever find it difficult?
Mostly my head is filled with a ton of ideas, most of which
never even get attempted! Sometimes, usually when I’m a bit stressed out, or
juggling a million and one things it can all disappear and my mind is a blank -
those aren’t enjoyable moments but I usually find a bit of break is enough to
start me off again!
I think we’re all curious to know, how was participating on
The (amazing) Great British Bake off?
It was a huge amount of fun!
I went into it determined to enjoy every minute and make the most of the
experience. I loved the challenges, all
of the baking and met lots of fantastic people.
We also had the bonus of travelling to different location in the UK so I
got to see (all be it briefly) some wonderful places. There can be a lot of hanging around and
waiting in the making of a TV programme, you just have to relax and go with it
– and keep the cups of tea flowing!
What were Paul Hollywood & Mary Berry really like?
Absolutely fantastic!
Mary is the loveliest lady you could ever wish to meet, so kind and warm
hearted. Paul is a hoot, he’s a real
trickster and loves nothing more than a sneaky practical joke. They are both lovely to be around, a real
fountain of knowledge and are more than willing to share it with you.
What’s your favourite recipe of yours to bake?
My favourite recipes are the quick and easy ones – flapjack,
chocolate frosted tray bake, swiss rolls the list goes on and on!
Do you have any favourite bakers or recipe blogs?
I love Bakerella for her creativity, Made with Pink for lots
of lovely Baking, English Mum, Cooking Cakes & Children by Amy Lane. I love following random links to blogs via
twitter, you just never know what you’re going to come across!
What’s been the highlight of your (pretty impressive) career
so far?
I think that has to be seeing my first book in print, it’s
such a surreal situation I still have to pinch myself!
What’s next for you Ruth?
I hope to carry on writing the blog, hopefully writing more
books and taking all sorts of opportunities that I come across. I have been unbelievably lucky so far, I
really do count my lucky stars. Who
knows what the future will hold? All I
know is you’ve got to go out and grab all the opportunities that come your way
and make the most of every one!
You can pre-order Ruth's new book here, (I know I'll definitely be putting in an order). I've been extremely
excited about this post and I hope you all enjoyed it!
P.S follow me on Bloglovin' here!
(All photos are taken from Ruth's website www.thepinkwhisk.co.uk)
P.S follow me on Bloglovin' here!
(All photos are taken from Ruth's website www.thepinkwhisk.co.uk)
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