Denise Phillips’s whisky salted caramel apple pie
300g plain flour
2 tbsp caster sugar
250g unsalted butter/parev margarine Pinch salt
2 tbsp whisky
One egg yolk and 1 tsp water, for glazing Demerara sugar, for sprinkling
For the apple filling
3 large Granny Smith apples
3 large Braeburn apples
½ lemon, zest and juice
2 tbsp light brown sugar
5 tbsp cornflour
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tbsp whisky
EQUIPMENT
One loose-based 23cm/9in pie dish
METHOD
To make the caramel, put the sugar in a small saucepan, heat gently until it has melted and started to go light brown. Add the margarine and salt, stirring continuously.
Carefully add the cream, turn off the heat and whisk fast to combine until smooth. Remove and leave to chill.
Set aside a third of the caramel sauce to serve separately.
For the pastry, combine the flour, sugar, butter, salt, whisky and 2 tbsp water in the food processor until a dough has formed.
Remove, wrap in cling film and leave to chill for ten minutes in the freezer.
Peel, core and cut the apples into thin slices. Toss together with the lemon juice and zest, brown sugar, cornflour, cinnamon, mixed spice and whisky.
Cut the pastry in half. Lightly dust the work surface with flour and roll out one portion about 3mm thick and 5cm larger than the pie dish. Roll the pastry on to the rolling pin and gently unroll into the tin.
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F/ gas mark 6). Cover with foil and insert baking beans and blind bake the pastry base for 20 minutes.
Roll out the second dough portion as before but this time cut into strips 2.5cm wide.
Lay the apples and two thirds of the caramel sauce into the cooked pie base.
Place a line of strips on top of the pie, then weave in between the strips to form a lattice effect. Repeat until the whole pie is covered.
Trim the strips so they end on the rim of the pie tin. Roll up the overhanging dough into a sausage. Cut in half and plait. Place this around the circumference and push down to seal the edges.
Brush the pie with beaten egg yolk; sprinkle with demerara sugar.
Bake for 180°C for 15 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 160°C and bake for 40 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbling.
Serve with the remaining caramel sauce.