It’s Sunday. And Sunday is my regular baking day. I’ve always loved to bake and now that it’s winter, I find myself in the kitchen a lot.

Growing up in Canada, dessert was a constant. Especially fruit pies. I really miss seeing fruit pies on menus in Australia. It’s rare so I make them at home. Expect to see a flow of dessert pie recipes here on Kai Chronicles. It’s my way of helping the world. One pie at a time.

Let’s start with a classic: apple.

Apple Pie Recipe

You’ll need:

A deep pie plate (I use a Pyrex one and it’s awesome)

A rolling pin

Food processor (not essential but much faster to make the pie crust)

Pastry

2 cups plain flour

a pinch of salt

250g butter, chopped

5 TBSP cold water

1 TBSP vinegar – white or apple cider

Put flour, salt and butter in food processor and blend just until ingredients come together. It will look like a crumb mixture. Add the liquid, one TBSP at a time while the motor is running. After the last TBSP is added, turn the machine off.

It’s important that you don’t over process or you’ll end up with tough pie crust. We don’t want that, we want light and flaky pastry.

Turn the mixture onto a piece of Glad wrap and work gently with your hands just until it comes together. Do not knead. It’s not bread dough.

Separate in two even piles and flatten. Wrap in plastic and let it “rest” in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the apples.

Apple Pie Filling

10 apples – a mix is fine. Granny Smith’s are a good choice but you what you have

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup plain flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

a squeeze of lemon

Peel, core and cut your apples into small slices or chunks. I use an apple slinky, it’s a great investment if you have kids. Or make a lot of pies.

Toss all the filling ingredients together. Now get back to your pie pastry.

How to build your pie

Roll out your dough on a well-floured surface. Like I said above, do not over-work. And do not let the pastry get too warm. Quickness is needed here. If the pastry is too cold to roll, put your hands over it (while it’s still in plastic) to soften it a little.

Lay sheet #1 in the pie pan, be sure you have rolled it large enough to have excess pastry hanging off the sides.

Add the prepared filling.

Add a few slices of butter on top of the filling.

Roll out sheet #2. Fold in half and make at least 3 slices to act as vents while cooking. Place the top sheet on the apple mixture.

Fold  and pinch the excess dough from the top and bottom together to make a nice edge. You can press the edge down with a fork for a tight seal. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t.

Paint the top with milk before baking at 180 degrees Celsius for 45 -60 minutes.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

What’s your favourite dessert pie? Let me know in the comments.