One of my main culinary influences has been my grandmother. She has made more apple pies than I care to remember, and each of them has been entirely delicious. I’m not quite sure why FrugalFeeding hasn’t yet encountered this humble pie, but such an oversight couldn’t be allowed to remain at large for long. So, last weekend and with a fairly candid approach, I set about constructing one such masterpiece for my extended family. Though the recipe was slightly different from the one used by the matriarch of the Frugal family, it was extremely tasty and did my history of good apple pie justice.

Usually, the apple pie we have at home is entirely covered, both top and bottom, in pastry. However, this can often lead to a slightly heavier dessert than intended, so it seemed as though a lattice topping was for the best, and it proved to be a most prudent decision. The lack of an overwhelming amount of pastry not only gave the pie a rather nice look, it also made more of a feature of the filling. Indeed, not only could one see the filling itself, but one could also taste it that little bit more. Who knows, perhaps this will become the preferred topping for all of my pies?

One may serve this pie with whatever one pleases. However, my suggestion would be to serve it with a good quality vanilla ice cream or a drizzle of double cream. Please refrain from using whipped cream, squirty cream or the dreaded single cream – they simply don’t do the pie justice. Though, I suppose I can’t force you to listen to the ramblings of a jumped up Welshman.

Apple Pie

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

• 1kg Bramley apples, peeled, cored and sliced

• 120g golden caster sugar

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

• 2 tbsp flour

• 1 egg, beaten

• 1 home-made shortcrust pastry case

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190C. Tip the sliced apples into a saucepan with half of the sugar, cook on a medium heat for 5 minutes. Put the rest of the sugar, along with the flour and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl. After the apples have been cooking for the required period of time, remove them and add to the flour mixture. Leave any juice behind, it actually tastes rather nice as a drink. Coat the apples in the flour, sugar and cinnamon and leave to cool.

2. Prepare the pastry case according to this previously written guide. Tip the apples into the prepared pastry case. Cover with the remainder of the pastry cut into strips around 1.5cm wide. Sprinkle with a little sugar, brush over a little beaten egg and bake at 190C for 40-45 minutes. Sprinkle with a bit more sugar and serve hot.

Cost: As we already know, the pastry costs roughly 30p to make. The filling is, I suppose, relatively expensive. However, the entire pie still comes in at an extremely reasonable £2.50.