BENGALURU : Apple pie
Ingredients
Cinnamon stick: 5 gm
Icing sugar: 50 gm
Maida: 100 gm
Sugar: 125 gm
Apple: 400 gm
Eggs (big): 50/60gm
Dry grapes: 80 gm
Margerine: 10 gm
Vanilla essence: 2 ml
Unsalted butter: 240 gm
For the pie crust
Flour: 160 gm
Salt: 3 gm
Sugar: 8 gm
Unsalted butter: 112 gm
Water: 60ml
Method
1. Preheat oven to 425° F.
2. Place the flour, salt, and sugar into a food processor and pulse until well combined.
3. Add half of the butter cubes and pulse 8 times. Then add the other half of the butter cubes and pulse 6 more times.
4. You should have a mixture that resembles a coarse meal, with many butter pieces the size of peas.
5. Add two tablespoons of ice cold water (without the ice!) to the food processor bowl and pulse several times.
6. Then add more ice water, slowly, a teaspoon at a time, pulsing several times
after each addition, until the mixture just barely begins to clump together.
7. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it’s ready, if not, add a little more water and pulse again.
8. Sprinkle the dough with a little flour on all sides. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
9. When you are ready to roll out the dough, remove the disk from the refrigerator and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes.
10. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in 3 table spoon flour then simmer for 1 minute, whisking constantly. Whisk in 1/4 cup water, 1 cup sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and continue simmering for 3 minutes, whisking frequently then remove from heat. And keep it aside to chill.
11. Peel, remove cores and
thinly slice the apples and place them in a large bowl. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon and toss to combine. Pour the sauce over the apples and stir to coat the apple slices.
12. Sprinkle your work surface with flour and roll out bottom pie crust to a 12’’ diameter
circle. Wrap it around your rolling pin to transfer it to the 9’’ pie plate. Add apple mixture, mounding slightly in the centre and being careful not to get the filling on the edges which would make it difficult to seal.
13. Roll second crust into an 11’’ round and cut into 10 even thickness strips. Arrange strips in a woven lattice pattern over the top. Beat together egg and 1tbsp water and brush the top with egg mixture.
14. Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350°F and continue baking another 45 minutes. Rest at room temperature 1 hour before serving.
– Prakash Kumar D, executive chef, The Woodrose Club by Brigade Group
Greek Feta Honey Pies
Ingredients
For the dough
All-purpose flour: 500 gm
Olive oil: 90 gm
White wine vinegar: 2 tbsp
Water: 230 gm
Salt: A pinch
For the filling
Feta cheese: 200 gm
Cream cheese: 200 gm
Egg: 1
Oregano: 1 tbsp
Pepper: A pinch
Orange zest
Vegetable oil: 250 gm
To serve
Honey: 2 tbsp
Toasted sesame seeds: 1 tbsp
Mint leaves: A few sprigs
Method
1. For the dough, take a bowl and add the flour, olive oil, vinegar, water and salt. Mix and knead for 5 minutes. Brush a big bowl with oil and add the dough. Cover with a wet kitchen towel and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. For the filling, in another bowl, add the feta cheese and break up with a fork. Add the cream cheese, egg, oregano, orange zest and pepper. Mix with a spoon until incorporated.
3. Divide the dough in 10 equal-sized pieces. Dust your working surface with flour and roll out each piece of dough to a thin rectangular sheet. Add 1 tablespoon of the filling in the centre of the dough.
4. Brush the edges of the dough with water all the way around so that the dough can stick together.
5. Fold over like an envelope and flatten with your finger.
6. Place a deep pan over medium heat and add vegetable oil for frying.
7. Once the oil is hot enough, fry the cheese pies, sealed side down. Fry in 2 batches for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden. Transfer to a pan lined with paper towels.
8. Serve with honey, sesame seeds and mint leaves.
Strawberry Custard Tarts
Ingredients
For the crust
Flour: 180 gm
Icing sugar: 35 gm
Salted butter: 115 gm
Egg yolk: 1
For the filling
Strawberry jam or
strawberry compote: 110 g
Milk: 375 gm
Sugar: 75 gm
Cornflour: 25 gm
Vanilla extract: 1 tsp
Butter: 35 gm
Egg yolks: 5
Strawberries for topping: 300 g
Strawberry Custard Tarts
Method
1. Place the flour, icing sugar and the butter in a bowl. Rub the butter into the flour and sugar until it resembles bread crumbs. Add in the yolk and knead it into a dough.
2. Place the dough in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
3. Roll out the dough and line tart. Refrigerate again for 30 minutes.
4. Blind bake the tarts by placing butter paper over the tart shells and some weights over. You can use rice or beans.
5. Bake at 180 ° C for 10 minutes. Take off the weights and the butter paper and continue to bake until golden brown, another 5 minutes. Cool completely.
6. For the custard filling, heat the milk in a sauce pan. In another bowl whisk the egg yolks and sugar together till creamy. Whisk in the cornflour and the vanilla extract.
7. Drizzle in the warm milk, whisking all the time. Pour it back into the sauce pan and cook until the custard bubbles and thickens. Make sure to stir it continuously with a whisk all the while.
8. Take it off the heat and add in the butter. Cool completely. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
9. To assemble, spread the tarts with a little strawberry compote or jam.
10. Pipe them with the custard and decorate with fresh strawberries.
– Thripti, chef, Happy Belly Bakes