Apple pie

by Ed Halmagyi

Ingredients

  • 125g cream cheese, cold diced
  • 300g plain flour
  • ¼ tsp baking powder
  • 200g unsalted butter, cold diced
  • 2 Tbsp cream
  • 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1.25kg Granny Smith apples
  • juice of 2 lemons
  • ⅔ cup caster sugar
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1½ Tbsp cornflour
  • vanilla ice cream, to serve

Instructions

1 Preheat oven to 200°C. Combine cream cheese in a food processor with the flour and baking powder and pulse several times until crumbly. Add 150g butter and pulse only until the butter is still visible as thumbnail-sized pieces. Add the cream and vinegar, then pulse again, until the butter is still visible as large specks. Divide in two, flatten into discs, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
2 Peel and core the apple, then slice ½ cm thick. Combine in a large bowl with the lemon juice, sugar and spices, then toss well to combine. Set aside for 2 hours to macerate.
3 Strain the apple liquid into a small saucepan, then set over a low heat and cook until syrupy. Toss the apple pieces in the cornflour, then add the syrup.
4 Roll out the pastry pieces to ½cm thick and line one into a 22cm pie dish and fill with the apple mixture. Top with the remaining pastry disc and seal using a little water. Crimp the edges, cut a cross in the centre, and bake for 45 minutes, until the pastry is deep-golden and the apples are tender. Cool in the tin for 2 hours, then serve warm with vanilla ice cream.