Spiced Apple Pie With Fluted Round Cutouts Recipes

SPICED APPLE PIE WITH FLUTED ROUND CUTOUTS

Steps:

• On a lightly floured work surface, roll 1 disk of dough to 1/8 inch thick. Fit into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate. Trim edges flush with rim. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Roll remaining disk of dough to 1/8 inch thick. Using a 1 3/4-inch fluted round cutter, cut out about 70 rounds, rerolling scraps if necessary. Place rounds on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Peel and core apples. Thinly slice half the apples, and cut remaining apples into 1-inch pieces.
• Toss together apples, lemon zest and juice, sugars, flour, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Place filling in piecrust, mounding it in the center. Dot with butter. To make egg wash, whisk together egg yolk and cream in a small bowl. Lightly brush edge of piecrust with egg wash. Arrange dough rounds over filling, working in a spiral from the outside in to the center, overlapping them slightly. Lightly brush top of each round with egg wash as you work to help them adhere to one another.
• Once the filling has been covered with rounds, lightly brush entire top of pie with egg wash. Sprinkle top with sanding sugar. Refrigerate pie for 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees, with racks in middle and lower positions. Place a foil-lined baking sheet on lower rack to catch any juices. Place pie on middle rack, and bake until crust begins to turn golden brown, about 25 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees, and bake until crust is golden brown and juices are bubbling, about 1 hour, 10 minutes more. Tent with foil if crust browns too quickly. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

SPICED CUTOUTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in the molasses and egg. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and cardamom; stir into the creamed mixture alternately with the orange juice. Then stir in the orange zest.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut out cookies with cookie cutters, and place them on an unprepared cookie sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes, edges should be slightly browned. Cool cookies on wire racks.

REALLY EASY SPICED APPLE PIE WITH CRèME ANGLAISE SAUCE

Steps:

• Cut the chilled butter into chunks, each about the size of a sugar cube.
• Sift the flour into a bowl then add the sugar , cinnamon and the salt if you are using it. Add the butter chunks evenly over the surface of the flour.
• Using your thumb and forefingers, rub the butter into the flour (this is easier with smaller chunks of butter). Continue until the butter is all incorporated. The mix should resemble biscuit/bread crumbs when it is ready.
• Add the water a little at a time, mixing thoroughly with a good sized spoon. When the mix reaches a smooth (and slightly sticky) consistency (which should look like cookie-dough), shape it into a ball and wrap it in cling film. Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.
• When the dough is nearly chilled, start making the filling. Peel, de-core and cut the apples into orange-segment-sized wedges. Place them in cold water if you are leaving them for any length of time to prevent them from browning.
• Mix the water, muscavado and light-brown sugars, cinnamon, lemon juice (and nutmeg & cloves if being used) in a jug/bowl.
• Melt the butter on a medium-high heat in a deep pan. Put the apples in and stir gently for 2-3 minutes.
• Add the liquid mix to the pan, keeping the heat at medium-high. Keep gently folding the mixture for 5 minutes until the apples begin to look mushy/fluffy (as boiled and shaken potatoes do). The apples will break up to some degree during this process - this is perfectly fine. The apples should all be darkened in colour if you've done this bit right. Leave the filling to cool in the air for about 10 minutes. During this time the fruit will begin to congeal a little more.
• Take the dough from the fridge. Divide it into two balls and roll each one out into a disc, each slightly larger than the top of an 8" diameter pie dish (by about 1" all round). Use a lightly floured surface to prevent sticking; rubbing flour onto the rolling pin will also help. By rolling one way then the other, you can easily achieve a neat circle. I prefer to use my hands to shape and flatten the dough however.
• Rub butter onto the pie dish (including the up-facing lip/edge of the dish). Place the first dough-disc squarely into the dish - make sure it sits flat against the walls of the dish and that it covers the lip of the dish, with a little extra (which you will trim in a minute).
• It is time to add the filling now - but make sure you drain it well! Either sieve off the liquid or use a slotted spoon to remove as much liquid as possible - if the filling is too wet the pasty will not cook properly. You can keep the liquid to drink, warmed, as a delicious punch, or even use as a sauce if you don't like creamy/custard like sauces on your pie. If you refrigerate it this sauce will thicken up a bit.
• Next whisk up the egg and 2 tablespoons of water. Paint the mixture onto the lip of the pastry (using a pastry brush or your fingertips). This will glue the two halves together.
• Now place your other pastry disc on top of the pie. Using a sharp knife, cut down through the top of the pastry to remove the excess. Use the edge of the pie dish to guide your knife - the pastry should be flush with the edge of the dish.
• Using one or two fingers, work around the edge of the pie, crimping the pastry together. As well as adding an attractive fluted edge to the crust, this will help to glue the edges together.
• Cut a series of 3 or 4 slashes into the top of the pastry, ensuring you go right through. This will allow trapped air to escape and prevent the pastry from cracking open in an uncontrolled manner during cooking. If you have a pie-spout you can use this instead.
• Glaze the top of the pie with more of the egg glaze mix (don't feel that you must use all of it - you'll make the pasty soggy if you do!).
• Use a sieve to dust the top with the icing sugar and cinnamon.
• Place in a preheated oven, middle shelf at around 180 Celcius. Cook for around 30-40 minutes (fan assisted ovens will be quicker).
• When the top is browned and the pastry is firm all over take the dish from the oven and cool on a wire rack for around 20-30 minutes. DO NOT remove the pie from the dish until it has cooled as it will most likely disintegrate!
• To make the Crème Anglaise sauce, place the milk in a pan. Add the sugar and vanilla (if using vanilla pods, you can use the seeds from a pod, and or the pod itself. I have successfully used a pod which has been in a box of sugar for 3 months to make vanilla sugar and it worked perfectly). Heat gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to allow the vanilla to infuse into the milk properly.
• In a jug/bowl, place the cornflour and add a little milk (roughly 1 tablespoon milk to 2 tablespoons of cornflour). Stir thoroughly until it forms a thick paste, adding a little more milk if necessary.
• Pour the mix into the milk pan, stirring it in thoroughly. Bring the milk to a boil, stirring continuously all the while. Be very careful and make sure you are using a non-stick pan here as the sauce can easily burn on the bottom. As soon as the sauce thickens to the consistency of custard/thick pureed soup, remove it from the heat. Continue to stir for a while to make sure the latent heat does not burn the sauce at the bottom of the pan.
• Pour liberally (hot or cold) onto hot or cold apple pie and enjoy!

SPICED SUGAR APPLE PIE LIGHT

Steps:

• Heat oven to 425°F.
• Spray pie pan with cooking spray. Place crust in pan and crimp edges.
• Toss apples with lemon juice. Stir in sugars and flour.
• Pour into prepared crust.
• Mix sugar into oatmeal. Cut margarine into oatmeal, I do this with my fingers, you can use two forks or pastry blender.
• Sprinkle oatmeal mixture on apples.
• Place in oven for about 25 minutes Then take out and place foil around edges and put back in oven for about 20 minutes more.
• Allow to cool before serving at least 15 minutes.

APPLE PIE SLICES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
• In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and salt. Cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine the egg yolks and 1/2 cup of milk, stir into the flour mixture.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the dough out to the size of the prepared pan. Cover the inside of the pan with the dough. Spread dough with a light coating of egg white. Fill with sliced apples and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top. Roll out remaining dough and place on top of apples. Brush with a light coating of egg white.
• Bake for 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until the crust is golden. In a small bowl, beat together the confectioners' sugar, salt, vanilla and milk until smooth. Drizzle over cooled bars, cut into squares.

APPLE CRANBERRY CUTOUT PIE

Steps:

• Divide pastry dough into two portions so that one is slightly larger than the other; wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 1 hour or overnight., In a Dutch oven, mix sugar and flour; stir in fruit, orange zest, orange juice and spices. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 10-12 minutes or until apples are tender and juices are thickened, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and cool, stirring occasionally., Preheat oven to 375°. Roll larger portion of pastry dough between two pieces of waxed paper into a 16x12-in. rectangle. Remove top piece of waxed paper; place a 13x9-in. baking pan upside down over pastry. Lifting with waxed paper, carefully invert pastry into pan. Remove waxed paper; press pastry onto bottom and up sides of pan. Refrigerate., On a well-floured surface, roll remaining dough into a 14x10-in. rectangle. Cut out 2-3 trees using a tree-shaped cookie cutter. Place dough on baking sheet and refrigerate 15 minutes until firm., Remove and reserve tree cutouts. Add filling to prepared pan. Place pastry over filling. Seal edges to bottom pastry by crimping with a fork. If desired, brush pastry with additional orange juice. Decorate top with cutouts. Sprinkle with additional sugar., Bake 40-50 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack.,