Latticed Top Apple Pie

Among Filipinos, we are slowly becoming a fan of the Apple Pie, although it is not that commercially available like our buko pie, still we learn to love this American pie. With these easy steps you could make this from scratch. It looks complicated..but it is really not that hard! It is so good that you won't believe that you made it yourself.  Best served warm and put some ice cream on top. Yummmm!

Latticed top Apple Pie

Ingredients

For the Crust:

1 cup All purpose flour

1/3 cup Confectioner's sugar

1/2 c unsalted butter 

Filling:

1/4 granulated sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

4 cups peeled apples ( Granny Smith )

Topping: 

8oz Cream Cheese softned

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

Prepare all ingredients.

Prepare the Crust. Combine all ingredients in a bowl, using your hands or a pastry blender -- you can also use food processor to speed things up!  It is worth the time to make this dough. If your dough sticks to your hand, just add flour until it's firm to the touch. Its buttery and flaky. Your dough should look like this. 

Cover it in plastic wrap and chill for 20-30 mins just enough so that the butter hardens and it will not break when you roll it.

Prepare 2 sheets of wax paper, you will need this when you roll your dough and it makes transferring the dough easier .  Divide the dough into 2 disks. One for the bottom crust and one for the latticed top.  Flatten your dough using a rolling pin measure the dough just enough to cover your pan. Line your pie plate with the dough and  trim  the edges. Make sure you poke the bottom of your crust with fork to keep it from bubbling up and warping. 

For the apple filling. Combine all ingredients into a bowl then add the apple mixture into your prepared crust. Piling it slightly in the center.

For the Cream topping: Combine all ingredients in a food processor, blend for a couple of minutes until you see that all ingredients have been incorporated. 

Pour the cream mixture on top of the pie mixture. Be careful not to overspill the cream. 

For the Latticed top crust. Flatten your dough, using a small knife cut your dough vertically about half an inch --as seen on picture. 

Arrange strips across the pie, form lattice by arranging 6 strips diagonally across the first strip. This is the tricky part, but once you get the hang of it, its easy.  I suggest you try using paper strips so that you won't waste your dough. 

Your lattice should somehow look like this, or probably even better! It's my first time making this so it's a working progress. 

 

Using your fork, crimp the edges of your pie and brush your crust with egg wash (water+egg). Sprinkle with a little bit of sugar so it will look shiny.  Make sure that you have preheated your oven first. Bake pie in 160C for about 20 mins or until golden brown. 

I don't normally use a kitchen timer, I use my nose to determine if its ready or not. Let your nose do the magic. It's weird but it works for me! :) 

And the baking begins...

Here's what we made in Class. Mango Cream Pie - which tastes similar to Conti's Mango Tart with a little adjustment.  

So I am sharing this recipe so you can try it in your home. We start with making the  Basic Pie Dough recipe. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups All purpose flour

1/4 tsp fine salt

1 tsp refined sugar

8 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

4 to 5 tbsp of ice water

 Instructions:

Combine the flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl and stir briefly until the mixture is aerated. Using a pastry blender or your fingers, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it's in pea -size - it should be slightly yellow in color, about 4-5 mins.

Add 4 tbsps of ice water into the mix just until the dough comes together. ( add water if necessary but do not overwork your dough or it will become tough). Here's what your dough should look like.

Shape the dough into a ball, put in a bowl and cover it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 mins. Cut the dough into small balls then use the rolling pin to flatten the dough. Transfer the flattened dough into your desired pan. Bake for 15 mins 180C until golden brown. Let it cool.

For The Filling: 

200g Mango Puree 
100g Refined sugar
2 1/4 tsp unflavored gelatin
20g water
350g All purpose Cream
Mango shaped into balls or sliced for decoration.

Mis en Place

Instruction:

Bloom gelatin in water. Set Aside.
Mix mango puree and sugar over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Add your bloomed gelatin into mixture. Remove from heat and let it cool.
In a separate bowl, whisk the cream until it doubled in volume ( about 5 mins or so, its best to chill your cream first), Once you see that your cream has doubled in volume, add the cooled mango mixture, cover and chill for 30 mins. 

Scoop the mango mixture into the tarts. Chill for 30 mins. If you are ready to serve, top it with fresh mangoes and whipped cream. 

My Finished Product.

YUM!!

There you have it. My first ever mango cream pie! I still need to work on my piping skills so  please bear with me people! 

The Making of a Pastry Chef.

I decided to take up a short course for basic pastry and baking. The schedule of the classes is like tailored to my work schedule! I am able to work during weekdays since my classes are only on weekends. 

Last June 15,2013 my pastry classes already started. Not a lot happened, just the usual things: Discussed School Policies and Guidelines, we were supposed to have a tour but I guess the admin forgot. Well, we have 3 months to figure it out and the place is just small so its not like I would get lost there. I can definitely be able to find my way. 

The most that I am excited for is the OJT. We are given options if we want to spend our OJT abroad for a year or within Asia - we get to spend 6 months in Malaysia. I've been to KL before so I am really not so much excited. They also offer local OJT in Boracay, I think Baguio too, I forgot the rest. 

I haven't decided yet where to go, I have 3 months to think about it. 

I immediately hit it off with my 2 classmates, Tin & Cheska. My NFFs. haha! We had a short field trip in a local baking supply store near our school. Its so much fun spending time with people that share your passion in baking because they can relate! 

Left: ME, Center: Tin, Right: Cheska

Stay tuned and check out my baking adventures!

Speculoos

Have you fallen victim to the this thing called cookie butter that everyone is talking about? Everyone's taking pictures and showing it off on their instagram, So I hopped into the bandwagon and bought one. 

I opted to try the Lotus Biscoff Caramelized Spread. 

If you have a sweet tooth you need this in your life. Lotus is a Belgian Bakery famous for caramelised biscuits and Speculoos which they have turned into a spread. It is advertised as an alternative to chocolate hazelnut spread and peanut butter. But the taste is somehow similar to a coco jam. I am a bit disappointed when I tasted this product because I expected more because of the buzz that the cookie butter/biscuit spread has  created. 

I do not think anything can replace peanut butter as far as I'm concerned.  It's too sweet for my taste. Obviously it is not chocolate or hazelnut but it's a sweet spread which comforts your taste buds in the way I imagine Nutella does.

But have you ever wondered where the Speculoos word came from? 

Speculoos (fr) or speculaas (nl). The speculoos is a traditional Belgian biscuit which was initially only eaten for Saint Nicolas. In the meantime however due to its success, you can find speculoos all year round. Usually served with your coffee in bars and restaurants, but also as part of dessert as speculoos ice cream. The name itself comes from the Latin ‘species’, meaning spices. 

Why the name? A speculoos is all about spices and granulated brown sugar. I found this recipe online that I'd like to share so you can make your own Speculoos Cookie to go with your spread. 

Homemade Speculoos 

- 500 grams (17 2/3 ounces, about 4 cups*) flour
- 150 grams (2/3 cup) butter, at room temperature
- 1 egg
- 300 grams (1 1/2 cups) brown cassonade (substitute the darkest brown sugar you can get)
- 1 teaspoon mixed ground cake spices (traditionally cinnamon and cloves)

(Yields about 50 speculoos.)

Preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F), and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a food processor or by hand, mix the butter, sugar, spices and eggs. If you're using a food processor, transfer the dough into a large mixing bowl now, as the rest has to be done by hand. Add the flour in batches, and knead the dough until it comes together and gets buttery and brown.

Divide the dough in two. Spread a sheet of parchment paper on your work surface, and use a rolling pin to spread one half of the dough on it (this is so it doesn't stick to the counter, without the addition of flour), until it is about 5 mm (1/5 inch) thick. Use a special speculoos mold to cut out cookies, or just cut the dough in long and narrow rectangles, about 3 x 7 cm (1.2'' x 2.8'').


Use the blade of a knife to transfer the cookies onto your cookie sheet, and put into the oven to bake for twelve to fifteen minutes (the cookies will still be soft in the center). Slide the parchment paper onto a rack for the cookies to cool and harden. Repeat in batches with the rest of the dough.

Recipe adapted from La Bonne Cuisine

My Must-TRY List

I decided to create a list of the things that I want to try and create. So here's my wish-to-bake-successfully-list!

French Macarons. I have tried twice and failed. I even bought silicone macaron molders but I still get cracks and it always sticks to the paper.

Mini Pastries. I dunno what they are called but they look so good and I feel that these are difficult to make.

Gotta learn how to temper these chocolates! 

Choux pastry. I seriously need a lot of practice for this!

Artsy Chocolate Cake. Need I say more? 

There you have it. Hopefully in a couple of months I would be able to cross out my list. ( I claim it!! )

My Sweet Curiosity

I bake things. But you probably guessed as much, right?

I believe in celebrating the little things in life and that's what this sugary corner of the Internet is all about.Thanks to Social Media, pretty much everybody takes pictures of their food and that makes me want to know how these little sweet confections are made.

I decided to start this blog as my diary as a struggling baker. I have tried a lot of recipes I found online and from different cookbooks but something always went wrong. I just get so frustrated at times. Well, not all I bake resulted as an epic failure, I sometimes nail the recipe to the tee. 

Join me as I learn the struggles in becoming a baker and follow my baking adventures. Make sure to keep up with the novice baker.