Best Apple Pie – courtesy Cape Town campus
- Ingredients
• 2 sheets of puff pastry, chilled
• 7 to 8 Granny Smith apples
• 100 g light brown sugar
• 100 g white sugar
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
• ¼ teaspoon ground all spice
• ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 egg
- Method
Heat oven to 200°C. Peel apples then cut in half. Remove cores and slice apple halves into thin 6 mm slices. Place apple slices in a large bowl. Scatter both sugars, salt and spices over the apples and toss them with your hands, coating them as much as possible. Set aside for one hour at room temperature.
Roll out half of the pastry on a lightly floured work surface. The pastry should be about 3 to 5 cm larger than the pie dish you are using. Being careful not to stretch it, place the dough into the pie dish and trim any overhanging pastry to within 20 mm of the edge of the dish. Refrigerate while you make the pie filling.
Roll out the second half of pastry to a similar size as before and transfer it to a large parchment-lined baking sheet. Keep this in the fridge until needed.
Toss the apple slices with the corn starch. Transfer the apples into the prepared bottom crust using your hands to really pack them down. Fill until the apple slices reach the edge of the pie crust. Pour the juices that have accumulated at the bottom of the bowl over the apples. About ½ to ¾ cup will suffice. Cut a tablespoon of butter into eight small pieces and dot them over the pie.
For a double crust pie, place the second pie dough round over the filling or cut it into strips and lattice the top. If you are not adding a lattice crust, but are adding the top crust in one piece, use a sharp knife to cut a few slits in the top of the crust to allow steam to vent.
Trim excess dough from the top crust or lattice strips and fold the overhang underneath itself, forming a thick rim. Press it together or crimp it with your fingers or use a fork. Whisk the egg with a tablespoon of water and use as an egg wash by lightly brushing the top crust to add shine and help the crust brown. Place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for about 75 minutes, rotating a few times for even browning.
The pie is done when the juices are bubbling through the vents at the top crust or lattice. Use a skewer to test the apples, and if they feel too crunchy bake for a little longer. Cool the pie, without slicing into it, for at least one hour as the filling does not fully thicken until completely cooled.
Banoffee Pie – courtesy, Nelson Mandela Bay campus
- Ingredients
For the crust:
• 230 g Tennis biscuits (or any plain biscuit)
• ¼ cup sugar
• 110 g unsalted butter, melted
For the filling:
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 6 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 ripe bananas
• 1 cup double cream
• 2 tablespoons castor sugar
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 60 g milk chocolate
- Method
To make the pie crust: In the bowl of a food processor, blitz the biscuits until finely ground. Add the sugar and melted butter and pulse until you have moist crumbs. Place crumbs in a 23 cm pie plate and press the crumbs firmly into an even layer on the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Freeze the pie crust for 15 minutes so the butter hardens.
Preheat oven to 180°C. Bake crust until lightly browned, about 10 minutes, then remove and cool completely.
To make the filling: In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter and brown sugar and stir occasionally, until the sugar dissolves (5 minutes). Pour in the condensed milk and heat until it starts to boil, thicken, and take on a little colour (7-10 minutes). Remove from the heat and stir in the salt. Pour into the biscuit crust and cool at room temperature for 30 minutes, then cover and chill in the fridge for at least two hours. Remove from fridge.
Peel and slice the bananas and arrange on top of the filling. In the bowl, combine cream, caster sugar and vanilla and beat until medium peaks form. Spoon the cream on top of the bananas, then sprinkle over chocolate shavings. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Lemon Meringue Pie – courtesy
Rosebank campus
- Ingredients
• 1 baked rich shortcrust pastry shell
• 3 eggs, separated
• 250 g sweetened condensed milk
• grated rind and juice of 3 lemons
• 5 tablespoons of castor sugar
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Method
Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
Beat the egg yolks, lemon rind and lemon juice together until thick and creamy. Beat in the condensed milk and pour into the baked pastry shell.
In a separate bowl, beat together the egg whites and the castor sugar until stiff peaks form. Spoon the mixture over the lemon filling and bake in the centre of the oven for 25 minutes.
Remove and let the pie cool completely before serving.
Pecan Pie – courtesy Durban campus
- Ingredients
• 500 g shortcrust pastry
• 75 g butter, softened
• 100 g golden castor sugar
• 175 g golden syrup
• 175 g maple syrup
• 3 eggs, beaten
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 300 g pecan halves
- Method
Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and line a 23 cm tart tin. Prick the bottom of the pastry case with a fork and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Heat the oven to 190ºC. Line the pastry case with baking paper, fill with baking beans (or uncooked rice) and bake for 15-20 minutes until the sides are set. Remove the beans and paper and return the tin to the oven for 5-10 minutes until the pastry is golden and the base is set. Remove and leave to cool.
Bump up the oven to 200ºC.
Use an electric whisk to beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy and while still beating, pour in the golden and maple syrups.
Gradually add the eggs, salt and vanilla extract and whisk until well combined. Stir in the pecans then pour the mixture into the tart case.
Bake for 10 minutes before turning the oven down to 160ºC and continue baking for 30-35 minutes.
Leave to cool in the tin before turning out and serving with whipped cream or ice cream.
