Tammy's Recipes

A rich homemade pie of apples, raisins, and walnuts, topped with a crumb topping

Pastry:
160g (1 cup) Bread flour
240g (1 1/2 cups) Cake flour
320g (3 sticks, or 1 1/2 cups) butter (cold)
50ml (1/5 cup) ice water

Filling:
7 Fuji apples (large), peeled and cut, or other green apples
50g (2 Tablespoons) butter
120g (slightly less than 2/3 cup) castor sugar
1 lemon (juice)
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
70g (2/3 cup) raisins soaked in brandy for 1 day
150 g (1 1/2 cups) walnuts (toasted)

Topping:
100g (about 4 ounces, or 1/2 stick) butter
80g (slightly more than 1/3 cup) castor sugar
100g (about 3/4 cup) Cake flour

1. Filling: Boil apples, add sugar, lemon juice, and butter over low heat till soft and dry. Add raisins, cinnamon powder, and walnuts, stir evenly, remove from stove and cool.

2. Pastry: Mix bread and cake flour (no need to sift) in a bowl, cut clod butter into small cubes and use rubbing method to mix into flour. Slowly add in ice water and mix into a dough. Chill for half an hour.
 
Roll out dough onto a floured surface and cut out into pie tin. Prick the base with a fork to prevent puffing when baking.

3. Topping: Use another mixing bowl; pour in cake flour and castor sugar. Cut cold butter into small cubes and use rubbing method to create powdery texture. Do not allow big lumps. Put into fridge to chill for ten minutes.

4. Put apple fillings onto pie tin or pie shells. Preheat oven at 180 Celsius (350 degrees Farenheit), spread a layer of topping on top of apple filling. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until light brown.

This recipe and photos were submitted by guest chef Victoria Yim.

Victoria adds, "This recipe was given to me from my aunt (who’s a pretty good baker and cook) who learned it when she bought a Kenwood mixer which was over a thousand bucks! She went for their cooking classes and when she came to our house to pass this recipe, she was ranting and raving about this recipe. I think what makes the pastry so nice is the mix of cake and bread flour. For the apples, I think the amount of sugar can be reduced."