My first apple pie! (1 Viewer)

[Gill Osborne]

Ok, I know it's not wildlife but I'm just SOOOooo excited at actually achieving this that I just HAD to share it with someone :-O

Neil and I have been together since October 1997 so coming up to 15 years. In all that time I have promised Neil that I would cook him an apple pie as the ones his Mum used to make were legendary. Stella has alzheimers now so doesn't have a cooker in the sheltered accomodation where she lives so a few months ago Neil had an apple pie made by Doris, his Dad's 'girlfriend' (that word doesn't seem right for a couple who are both in their mid-70's). I kept meaning to get the recipe from Doris but never got around to it and then this morning I just decided to make one today :eek!: Googled ''idiot-proof apple pie'' and eventually found a recipe, with instructions, which sounded easy to even a novice cook like myself :smoke:

Got the ingredients together and weighed them out. Mixed the flour & margerine together ok (remembered how from cookery lessons 31 years ago) and that went ok too. Hey...this is easy peasy I thought. But then rolling the pastry out went all pear-shaped!!! It wouldn't 'stretch' as far as I needed it to to fit the dish I'd chosen! :C Oh well, get a SMALLER dish out of the cupboard That fitted.....just! Peeled & sliced the apple and placed it as advised in the instructions. Rolled out the lid and on the second attempt it fitted. I 'crimped' the edges together, brushed a wee bit of milk on top to brown it off and am pretty impressed with it if I say so myself! :t: I quite enjoy cooking really....once I DO get around to it......just not very good at it as I don't have much practice.

Now just got to hope it bakes ok. Got the timer set just so I don't forget it.......as I'm rather prone to doing :smoke: I tend to get distracted by a book or, more usually, the internet and end up with charcoal :smoke:

First pic: BEFORE I burn it to a crisp!

 

[Gill Osborne]

All done! Neil told me to put some sugar on the top and this was done five minutes before it was due to come out. Should I have put the sugar on when I first put it in? Any hints & tips gratefully received.
Neil is taking it to work tonight so we'll see what it tastes like then. I personally cannot stand apple pie so couldn't give any idea of whether it IS actually edible but I followed the instructions so it shouldn't poison my dear husband too much.....he's survived 14+ years of my cooking so far :-O

 

[palval147]

Before I read the OP, Gill, I thought you were going to tell us the best way to make an apple pie bed.:-O:-O
I don't like apple pie either, but I have made a few. I am no cook, but I used to add sugar to the apples in the pie before cooking it. Specially if they are cooking apples you used?
It looks good enough to eat anyway.:t:

 

[Gill Osborne]

Yes, I put sugar in the middle with the apple slices. Neil has a terrible sweet tooth so told me to stick some sugar on top too. The only thing he commented on was me using a pyrex dish instead of a normal plate like his mum used to use. I completely forgot about using plates :-O

He's taken it to work anyway so I'll either get a phone call later saying it's nice.....or Neil and the other lads will all have terribly sore tummies tomorrow :-O

I might attempt a Slimming World quiche at the weekend :t:

 

[Wendy Morris]

Well done, Gill!

I cheat with pastry. I can make the complicated ones, but shortcrust eludes me! However, yes, sprinkle some caster sugar on the top before it goes in the oven, not too much, but enough to give a light covering.

Hope they all enjoy it. Didn't you get a slice?

 

[Gill Osborne]

I can only eat apples as raw apples Wendy - cannot stand them in a pie or crumble. Thanks for the tip about the sugar - I'll put it on earlier next time I make on :t:

I rang Neil last night as I always do - when I finish reading in bed and just before I put the light out and go to sleep. Him and the lads had just finished the apple pie and LOVED IT!!!!!!! I told him to stop being nice and just tell me what he REALLY thought and he said it was perfect! Even better than his mother's :eek!:

So I am in shock as I've NEVER got something right first time....it usually only becomes edible on the third attempt :-O

He wants me to make another one :king: I'll probably do so on Sunday as he cannot live on apple pie every single day! His waistline wouldn't appreciate it for one! :-O

 

[Gill Osborne]

Forgot to say: I was in my local supermarket yesterday picking up some cooking apples and flour and I was amazed at the sheer number of different ready-made pastries you can actually buy! :eek!: I was tempted but it all seemed so horribly complicated to me so I stuck with the instructions and recipe that I'd googled :-O Glad I did as it worked out better than I hoped....despite the little blip with getting the pastry to roll out enough to cover the base. Sussed out where I was going wrong when I rolled out the top so I shouldn't make that mistake again.

 

[palval147]

I can only eat apples as raw apples Wendy - cannot stand them in a pie or crumble. Thanks for the tip about the sugar - I'll put it on earlier next time I make on :t:

I rang Neil last night as I always do - when I finish reading in bed and just before I put the light out and go to sleep. Him and the lads had just finished the apple pie and LOVED IT!!!!!!! I told him to stop being nice and just tell me what he REALLY thought and he said it was perfect! Even better than his mother's :eek!:

So I am in shock as I've NEVER got something right first time....it usually only becomes edible on the third attempt :-O

He wants me to make another one :king: I'll probably do so on Sunday as he cannot live on apple pie every single day! His waistline wouldn't appreciate it for one! :-O

Same here, Gill. Daft isn't it, but I hate cooked apple.

 

[Wendy Morris]

I'm the other way round! Love cooked apples, but not keen on raw.

 

[Fozzybear]

I'm the other way round! Love cooked apples, but not keen on raw.

Same here, I really don't like raw apple but cooked is fine... I'm the same with tomato and onion!

Well done Gill, looked very nice! I've never tried an apple pie but I occasionally have a go at cakes, usually stuff like almond cake and Christmas flapjacks (flapjacks with mincemeat and brandy).

 

[Gill Osborne]

Mmmmmm they DO look nice......but I dread to think how many syns they are on Slimming World :-O

 

[palval147]

Same here, I really don't like raw apple but cooked is fine... I'm the same with tomato and onion!
Well done Gill, looked very nice! I've never tried an apple pie but I occasionally have a go at cakes, usually stuff like almond cake and Christmas flapjacks (flapjacks with mincemeat and brandy).

I can't eat raw tomato, fried is ok. Raw onion,:eek!: would anyone want to eat onion raw?:-O Fried is fine in burgers.:-O

 

[George Garner]

Very well done Gill, I love apple pie especially home made they always taste a lot better than the bland shop ones, glad you succeeded.
By the way I still pull my wifes leg, that I like my roast potatoes like my mother used to do them, and thats after 54 years

George

 

[Fozzybear]

Mmmmmm they DO look nice......but I dread to think how many syns they are on Slimming World :-O

A lot I would imagine! I only do stuff like that for special occasions - Christmas and Birthdays mostly. They are:

Almond Cake

225g butter mixed with 225g of sugar (I used half regular white sugar and half demarera), four eggs, 225g self-raising flour (I had plain flour so added two teaspoons of baking powder), 50g of ground almonds and a few drops of vanilla extract. Mix thoroughly and put in a large dish lined with grease-proof paper. Sprinkle some sliced almonds on top and bake at 160 celcius for about an hour.

Christmas Flapjacks

100g Butter (dairy-free sunflower spread in my case)
75g Dark Brown Sugar
75g Golden Syrup
150g Mincemeat
3 tbsp booze (I tend to use brandy or rum as my brother has some)
200g Rolled Oats (large flakes are better)

melt the sugar, syrup and butter in a saucepan and meanwhile mix the oats, mincemeat and brandy together in a bowl. Add the contents of the saucepan to the bowl and mix. Bake in a dish lined with greaseproof paper for 25 minutes at 170 degrees C or gas mark 3, or until brown.

 

[Gill Osborne]

Thanks Paul - I'll have a bash at those in a few months' time :t:

 

[Wendy Morris]

I do a similar flapjack recipe, Paul. Make them instead of mince pies!

 

[palval147]

I don't do cooking.:-O:-O