Fast Food Apple Pie Inspired

Fast food apple pies are top of my list of guilty pleasures. I love the mix of a slight savory pastry couple with cinnamony apple innards which I find hard to resist. They are mostly deep fried (woohoo!) but I can’t help to feel super guilty after woofing down a packet of this bad boy.

Since I’ve made a conscious decision to live as far away from fast food joints as possible (last year I was living right opposite to them), it surely demotivates me driving all the way there just to get a packet of hot apple pie. So I’ve decided to make my own but minus the deep frying.

Fast Food Apple Pie Inspired

(The filling is recipe is by The Original Masterclass Le Cordon Bleu – Tarts & Pastries Series)

(Pastry recipe is mum’s)

Makes about 7 x  11cm by 5cm (4 inches by 2 inches) sized pies

What you’ll need:-

Apple Filling

• 2 apples, peeled and cored and diced
• Juice of 1/4 lemon
• Pinch of ground cinnamon (I added about 1/2 tsp)
• 30g (1 ounce) unsalted butter
• 30g (1 ounce) caster sugar (superfine sugar)
• Pinch of vanilla sugar (I added 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract)
• 50 ml (1.75 fluid ounces) water – which I have omitted – see Note 1

Pastry

• 200g (7 ounces) all-purpose flour + extra while rolling the dough
• 100g (3.5 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut in cubes
• 1/2 cup cold water
• *optional* caster sugar t0 your liking
• 1 egg, beaten (as eggwash)

Note 1 – I didn’t add water because there’s a fair bit of juices ozoed out of the apples while cooking. If yours seem a bit dry, add water as specified in the original recipe.

To make the pastry: (1) Use a food processor to process the butter and flour until resembles fine crumbs.  (2) Pour the crumbs into a medium mixing bown and gradually add cold water and stir with a fork until a dough is formed. (3) Wrap the dough with a cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

To make the filling: (1) Dice the peeled & cored apples. Set aside. (2) In a medium sized pot, melt butter and sugar over medium heat and cook until lightly colored (golden brown).  (3) Add apples and saute for 2 minutes. Then add lemon juice, vanilla sugar or extract, cinnamon and water (if needed). Bring to the boil  and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the water has evaporated. Set aside to cool.

To make the pies: (1) Use a rolling pin to roll out the pastry on a floured surface. The dough may feel a little sticky so be generous with dusting the dough with extra flour on the surface of the dough so it won’t stick to the rolling pin. Use a sharp knife to cut the flatten dough into rectangle sections (14cm/5.5 inches by 11 cm/4.3 inches) – the thickness of of the flat dough is approximately 0.25cm/0.1 inch. Scoop the apple filling to fill half of the pastry and fold the pastry into half (see picture above). Use your index fingers to press the sides gentle to adhere the openings. Then use a fork to press around the sides. Make some holes on the apple pie to let the steam out while baking.  Just before baking, brush the pies generously with egg wash. Bake in a preheated oven of 180 degree Celsius (350 degrees F) for 20 minutes or until golden brown and pies are a bit puffed up.