Dutch Apple Pie | Eggless Apple Pie

This long pending Dutch Apple pie is January month’s baking partner challenge which I actually did make in January but could not post until now. I braved my conjunctivitis and made this during my sick leave so that I could post it at least before the month end but I just couldn’t get everything together. I am always in such a hurry working in shifts - either the morning rush-hour before work or after-work before bedtime hustle that I got greedy when I finally had sick leave. I wanted to make as much as I could of the time I had and so I made Dutch Apple Pie. The pie turned out great and Jagan really liked it a lot. What I really liked about this pie was the crust – it was buttery, flaky and just sweet enough and all this without any eggs.

The apple filling I thought was a tad too sweet, so add sugar in small increments and taste as you go along. I love apple pie with vanilla ice cream – Sparky’s in Egmore used to serve this combination for a dessert and I loved it. Sparky’s is not there anymore. I served apple pie sans the ice cream because there’s a much-resented ice-cream ban at home (my kids’ colds just don’t seem to go away and until then there’d be no ice-cream). But do try this along with vanilla ice cream and you’ll know what I am talking about.

Yuvi has a nice red checked shirt that's just perfect for strawberry, apple kind of food photos - you must have seen the red and white patterned cloth atop jam jars on pinterest. As luck would have it, Yuvi was wearing it that day and I asked him for his shirt for just a few minutes so that I could photograph the apple pie against the classic red pattern. I tried to be stern with him, pleaded with him, pretended to cry and even offered him a lollypop. The little guy wouldn't budge. He started his ear-blasting whistling-crying instead. So I ran off and made do with Jagan's somewhat similar patterned shirt instead. That's what you see here.

Prep time: 30 mins

Baking time: 75 mins – 90 mins

Makes: 7-10 slices

Ingredients – Pie Crust

Cold Butter – 175 gm cut into cubes

Flour – 2 cups

Granulated sugar – 3/4 cup

Salt – a pinch

Cold milk – 2-3 tbsp

Ingredients - Filling

Apples – 2 medium sized or 3 small ones peeled, cored and cubed

Lemon juice – 1 teaspoon

Granulated Sugar – 1/4 cup (I used ½ cup and thought it was a tad too sweet)

Speculas spice mix – 1 tbsp (cinnamon powder, clove powder, fennel powder, nutmeg powder)

Bread crumbs – 5-7 tbsp

Raisins – a handful soaked in apple juice for 1 hour

Ingredients – Other

White bread – 3 slices edges trimmed, cut into cubes

Butter for  greasing the pan

Flour to dust the pan

Milk – for brusing the top of the pie

Method

1.      Start with the pie crust. Combine flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Rub in cold butter with the flour mixture with your fingertips till it resembles bread crumbs. Add in cold milk 1 teaspoon at a time till the mixture comes together as a dough. Don’t knead the dough. Just bring it together and make a dough ball and refrigerate for 2 hours.

2.      Meanwhile prepare the filling. Combine cubed apples, lemon juice, granulated sugar and raisins in a bowl. Mix well. Add bread crumbs a tablespoon at a time till the mixture is thick and not runny. While adding raisins, drain the apple juice that they were soaked in. Add just the raisins. Set aside.

3.      Grease and dust the pie plate and set aside. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

4.      Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and roll out on a dusted work surface to a large circle of about ¼ inch thickness. The circle should be a little bigger than the pie plate in diameter. Lift the rolled out circle and place it over the pie plate, tucking in the corners and sides. Use the rolling pin to roll over the edges of the pie plate to trim the excess dough.

5.      Place the bread cubes in a single layer to cover the base of the pie crust. Spoon the apple filling on top of the bread layer and level it.

6.      Collect the excess dough and make a ball out of it. Roll it out into an elongated oval shape. Use a knife to cut out thin strips (around 10-12) of equal width.

7.      Here’s how you make the lattice top. Lift a strip carefully and place it diagonally over the pie in say the 2:40 position. Place the next strip over this one in a 10:20 position. Now place a strip an inch away on the right side of the 2:40 strip, then a strip to the right of the 10:20 strip, then a strip to the left of the 2:40 strip, then a strip to the left (bottom) of the 10:20 strip and so on until you have a criss-crossing lattice top. Brush the top with milk.

8.      Place in the preheated oven and bake for 75-90 minutes. The pie crust should be a nice golden brown. Remove from oven. Let cool for 10 minutes. Loosen the edges of the pie using a thin-bladed knife. Place an inverted plate over the pie and then flip. Tap on the pie plate to loosen the pie on to the plate. Slice and serve as is or with vanilla ice cream.