Maple apple pie with spiced crust

Spiced Pastry

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp cold butter, cut into pieces

1 egg

1/4 cup sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

 

Directions

Mix the flour, spices, and salt together in a large bowl. Cut in the butter, and pinch with the fingers to make fine crumbs. 

 

Make a well in the middle.  Stir together egg and sugar, and pour into the well. Swiftly mix in with the fingertips until the mixture forms a dough.  Do not over mix. 

 

Divide into 2 disks, one slightly larger, and wrap in plastic. Chill in fridge for at least an hour.

 

 

Maple Apple Pie 

Ingredients

6-8 apples (I prefer Gala, but any ol' apples will do here), peeled, cored, and cubed

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

2 tablespoons flour

Directions
Preheat oven to 218C.

In a medium bowl, toss the apple cubes with the syrup, spices, and flour. Set aside.

Remove the pie dough from the fridge, and roll out, on a slightly floured surface, the larger half into a circle large enough to cover the bottom of your pie dish. Pierce the bottom several times with a fork, and bake for 5-8 minutes. (This - a blind bake - will help the crust from getting all soggy from the filling. You can absolutely skip this step, but I prefer it). Fill will the apple mixture, mounded slightly.

Roll out the smaller half of dough, and cut out star shapes with a cookie cutter. Place them, overlapping, on top of the pie. You can re-roll the dough to get more stars.

Bake for 35-45 minutes, until the filling is bubbling and the apples are soft. If the pie begins to brown too much, tent with foil.