The Pie Project cookbook: Spiced apple and golden syrup to glazed cinnamon pies

There are few treats more quintessentially ‘autumn’ than a sweet apple pie. Phoebe Wood and Kirsten Jenkins show us how to make the perfect pastry

With a delectable toffee taste and crisp buttery bread, this dish is sure to please

Spiced apple and golden syrup pie

This pie reminds me of a really good British pudding, a great one you get from a proper pub lunch. The apples are slightly spiced and are rich and sweet with the toffee flavour of golden syrup, and it is topped with crisp buttery bread – think a crispy bread and butter pudding.

– Kirsten

Serves 8

150 g unsalted butter
1.5 kg  apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
110 g caster (superfine) sugar
250 g golden syrup
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
1½ teaspoons ground allspice
300 ml  thick (double/heavy) cream
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
1 loaf pane di casa, crusts removed, torn into 1 cm (½ in) and 2 cm (¾ in) pieces (550 g crumbs)
100 g pecans, chopped
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
vanilla ice cream to serve

Pastry

200 g (7 oz/11/3 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
55 g  caster (superfine) sugar
125 g unsalted butter, chopped
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar mixed with 80 ml cold water and 4 ice cubes

For the pastry, combine the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Add the butter pieces and toss to coat. Turn out onto a clean work surface and, using a pastry cutter (or flat-bladed knife), roughly cut the butter into the flour mixture (leave some large chunks of butter as this will help the pastry to become nice and flaky as it cooks). Create a well in the centre of the flour mixture and add the vinegar water in 3 batches, working it in with your hands to form a rough dough (you may not need all of the water). Shape into a rough disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for 3 hours. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface to a circle with a thickness of 3 mm (1/8 in). Line a 22 cm (8. in) cast-iron ovenproof frying pan or pie dish with the pastry. Chill for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, make the pie filling. Melt 50 g (1. oz) of the butter in a large deep saucepan over medium heat. Add the apples, sugar, golden syrup, cardamom and allspice and cook, stirring, for 15 minutes or until the apples are tender. Remove from the heat and stir through the cream and vanilla, then leave to cool completely. Melt the remaining butter and combine with half the breadcrumbs and the pecans in a bowl with the salt, using your hands to make sure the breadcrumbs are completely coated in the mixture. Stir the remaining breadcrumbs through the apple mixture. Preheat the oven to 180 C. (350 F). Pour the apple mixture into the pastry case and top with the nutty bread mixture. Bake for 45 minutes or until the pastry and breadcrumbs are a dark golden colour. Remove from the oven and rest for 30 minutes before serving with ice cream.

Caramel apple pie

In the picture, this pie is housed in a family heirloom: a cast-iron frying pan that we’ve had since I was born. When I was seven my parents took my sisters and me on an amazing six-month trip around Australia in a caravan. This pan was the vessel for months of Dad’s bolognese, sausages, baked beans and freshly caught fish, quite possibly pancakes (if we were lucky) but never pie. Nostalgia can be attached to the strangest things but I’ve always loved the fact that this pan lives permanently in our family kitchen and I jumped at the opportunity to put it in the book. This caramel apple pie is such a cinch to make with a good pan and a good piece of bought pastry.

– Phoebe

Serves 8

850 g sharp green apples, e.g. Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped
450 g jar dulce de leche
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
60 ml pouring (single/light) cream
2 x 435 g  frozen Careme vanilla bean pastry, thawed, or other bought sweet shortcrust rolled to a thickness of 3 mm (1/8 in)
35 g vanilla custard powder
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon demerara sugar

You can make your own dulce de leche by boiling two 395g (14 oz) tins of sweetened condensed milk, if you prefer. Remove and discard the labels from the tins, then make two holes in the lid of each using a tin opener. Place the tins in a saucepan, open side up, and fill the saucepan with cold water to about 1 cm below the tops of the tins.

Bring to the boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium–low and simmer for 3 hours. Keep topping up the water. Carefully remove the tins and leave to cool, then open the tins and scoop out the caramel. You may have a bit left over after making this recipe but that’s no bad thing!

Preheat the oven to 200 C (400 F). Cook the apples, dulce de leche and cinnamon in a large saucepan over medium–high heat, stirring often, for 10 minutes or until the apples are slightly softened. Remove from the heat and leave to cool completely. Stir through the cream. Line a 26 cm ovenproof frying pan or pie dish with half of the pastry. Scatter the custard powder over the top then spoon in the apple mixture. Top with the remaining pastry, trim any excess from the top layer that doesn’t match up with the bottom and press to seal. Cut a cross in the top of the pastry using a sharp knife. Brush the pastry with the beaten egg then scatter with the demerara sugar. Bake for 40 minutes or until the pastry is golden. Rest for 30 minutes before serving.

Glazed apple and cinnamon handpies

These handpies are like apple pie and a doughnut in one. The flaky fried pastry and caramelised apples is an absolutely wicked combination, and the crunchy Krispy Kreme-style glaze is the perfect finish. I took these to a picnic and they were devoured in minutes. They don’t have a great shelf life, so make sure they’re eaten on the day you make them (it won’t be hard).

– Phoebe

Makes 6

600 g  plain (all-purpose) flour
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
200 g  cold unsalted butter, chopped
300 ml cold milk
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Apple filling

40 g unsalted butter
250 g  dark muscovado sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 apples, peeled, cored and
sliced into thin rounds
1 egg, lightly beaten
vegetable oil, for frying

Doughnut glaze

90 g  pure icing (confectioners’) sugar
25 g unsalted butter, melted
1½ tablespoons milk
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine the flour and salt in a bowl. Add the butter and roughly cut into the flour (leave some larger chunks of butter in the dough, as this will make the pastry lovely and flaky as it cooks). Add the milk and vinegar and stir to combine, then knead until the mixture just forms a dough. Shape into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 3 hours. For the apple filling, melt the butter in a saucepan with the sugar, cinnamon and 2 teaspoons of water over low heat. Cook the apples in batches for 10 minutes or until tender. Remove the apples using a slotted spoon and leave to cool. Cook the syrup for a further minute or until very thick and reduced. Cool completely.

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface. Cut out six 10 cm circles and six 11 cm circles. Place about 4 apple slices in the centre of each smaller circle, and top with 1 teaspoon of the reduced syrup. Brush the edges with the beaten egg, then place the larger rounds over the top, pressing the edges together to seal.

Half-fill a deep, heavy-based saucepan or deep-fryer with vegetable oil and heat to 170 C (340 F). (If you don’t have a kitchen thermometer you can test if the oil is hot enough by dropping in a small cube of bread; it should sizzle and turn brown in 20 seconds.) Working in 3 batches, cook the pies for 4 minutes on each side until golden and cooked through. Remove them using a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel. Leave to cool slightly.

To make the glaze, whisk together all the ingredients in a bowl until smooth. Dip the pies in the glaze and drain them on a wire rack set over a tray. Serve while still warm.

The Pie Project: Hot, Cold Hand, Cheat, All Of Them Sweet by Phoebe Wood and Kirsten Jenkins. Published by Hardie Grant, £18.99