windfall pie for Esther

what a miserable rainy, windy day… and I think for once, I can speak for the whole of the UK… the weather sucks… it is truly Autumn…

… it’s not all bad… Autumn’s combination of wind and ripened tree fruit means it’s a perfect time for windfall pie!  We were with mum yesterday and just before we left she insisted that I take a bag load of apples from the garden, she has two sorts, one large with a pale yellowish skin which I think is your classic cooking apple and the other looks more like a large cox… they’re both really quite sour but perfect for baking… and you don’t even have to risk life and limb climbing trees to get them as the ones that drop on the ground are fine…

.. so a classic apple pie was in order and because I had so many apples I thought about some simple baked ones as well…

… it also gave me an excuse to use my new Le Creuset pie-dish!…

… I’ve also had a crap day going through budgets for an event we have in a couple of weeks… I hate budgets and the client keeps changing their mind so its fizzing my brain slightly… in fact i’m so frazzled I upset my fellow blogger Esther over at Recipe Rifle… she has a great blog and doesn’t deserve my non-funny blogging tourettes.. so this pie’s for you…

Baked Apples

4 large cooking apples cored and scored around the middle (I used 2 of each type)
3oz of walnuts
3oz of raisins
2-3 tablespoons of honey
2-3 tablespoons golden syrup or maple syrup

– Place your cored and scored apples in a baking dish with plenty of room around them
– fill the empty cores with a mixture of the nuts and raisins and then sprinkle the rest around the dish
– drizzle the honey and the syrup over the apples and around the dish
– bake at 140 for an hour and a half

the long slow bake means the apples don’t lose their shape and you end up with a sticky toasted nutty mess around them!

Apple and Damson Jam Pie


3 large mixed cooking apples, peeled and cut into chunks
Half a pot of home made Damson in Distress jam from dear Annie over at The Reluctant Vegetarian
Shortcrust pastry

– line a pie dish with pastry
– spoon your favourite jam into the bottom and up the sides
– cut the apples into the pie dish in big un-cooked chunks and pile it high
– dollop some more jam over the top
– place a shortcrust pie lid over the top and do the fancy stuff with the edges and the pastry leaves
– brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar
– bake at 190 till golden

eat and of course, enjoy!