Dreamy apple pie

Sugar n spice n everything nice. That's what apple pies are made of. Poe's kitchen- a regular cookery show but the other day I saw her making a beautiful apple pie. Non fussy easy recipe. So I quickly ordered a pie mold online and got on with it.

You need

• 2 ½ cups plain organic flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 100g unsalted butter, chilled and diced into 1cm cubes
• 170g cheddar cheese
• ½ cup ice water

Mix salt with flour, then add the butter. Grab small handfuls of the mixture and rub the fats through the flour until you achieve a dry crumble. Add cheddar and repeat this process. When you feel the fats and cheese are thoroughly incorporated, add water, but only a bit at a time.  You only need enough water for the mixture to just hold together. Divide into half, shape into a ball and then squash into thick disks. Cling wrap and refrigerate for minimum of 30 minutes

Filling
• 1 ½ kg of peeled, cored and cut into 5mm slices, red apples
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/3 cup organic plain flour
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 50g unsalted butter, diced 1cm cubes

Combine all ingredients (except butter) in a medium saucepan and cook on medium heat until apples collapse but aren’t quite tender. Allow to completely cool. Set aside.

Remove pastry from fridge and rest for 10 minutes. Flour both surfaces of 1 disk and roll until 3 mm thick. Drape pastry over rolling pin and transfer to pie dish. Lift the overhanging bits and gently tap the pastry into the corners of the pie dish. Trim the sides off with a knife and chill for 15 minutes.
Pour filling into a mound, into the pastry lined pie dish. Gently pat down to even off surface and dot with diced butter. Refrigerate while making lattice.

 After making the basket weave lattice, trim excess pastry off, pinch the edges and seal. Pop it into oven immediately and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, turn heat down to 180ºC, then glaze thoroughly with a brush.(eggless glaze- whisk equal amounts of oil, sugar and milk) Return to oven and bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until the crust is beautifully golden.