Apple Crumble with Pine Nuts

So…this is my frist ever recipe in english…so…wish me luck! Hope you enjoy!

I miss England. Today is just the typical day where I miss my old english home..to death! I miss living there, i miss my friends, that typical smell you find in the subway, and the smell of indian spices from the Sangam restaurant right next to my apartament in Manchester. I miss English cakes as well, English cakes are just so good!

This was Amy’s favourite cake, Amy was the babygirl of the Family I lived near when I was a student in Manchester. Apple Crumble… every sunday morning she went “Mum, I wanna go to Manchester today and I wanna have me cinnamon apple crumble” …. in that lovely northern accent…

That was Amy’s favourite, defenately not mine. I hate apple pies! Well yeah, i just can’t eat anything with cooked fruit in it, like strudel, apple pies… they’re sooo not for me!

Well, today, for the very first time in my life, since I’ve been blogging and cooking, I feel free to tell you that this cake is just super delicious! When I first tasted it (well you have to taste what you can whether you like it or not), I was sceptic as ever let me tell you but half of it is right down in my digestive system as we speak.

I tried ti customize it as much as I could  according to my tastes, at least I’ve tried my very best, and let’s just say it worked beyond my expectations!

So, let’s just find the right atmosphere to prepare this cake. Well yes, I believe that the you have to find the right moment, the right place and the right feelings to cook in harmony. That for me is just as important as the ingredients. You need to feel inspired. And today I am.

I’ll be pretending to be in my little english house, my white kitchen country style, white windows over looking the garden, fireplace lit, frosty windows, rain pouring down. A nice big vintage oven, and some kids voices playing in the backyard. Ok…I’ m there.

You will need a bowl, quite a big one, as you will need the apples with many other ingredients. We need space and a confortable table to work on, as I’m warning you, this cake takes quite a long time to be prepared.

So again, you need to peel 700gr o f Apples, and cut them into slices
Peel off the zest off a lemon, use a utensil called a zester or a sharp paring knife or vegetable peeler, and add it to the apples together with the juice of the entire lemon. That will help the apples not to turn brown.

So again, you need to peel 700g of Apples, and cut them into slices.
Peel off the zest off a lemon, use a utensil called a zester or a sharp paring knife or vegetable peeler, and add it to the apples together with the juice of the entire lemon. That will help the apples not to turn brown.

Add two big spoons of cinnamon dust, mix well, with your hand eventually which is way better for the food and the person making it. Makes you feel more in contact with what you’re cooking. Quite therapeutic actually
Beat 2 eggs with 200g of sugar and add it to the sliced apples together with 100g of melted butter, a vanilla sachet, yeast, a pinch of salt and a pinch of baking soda.
Now it’s flour’s turn! 200g, add it alternating with 200ml of milk

Once you got everything well mixed, just add 200gr of pine nuts, and 100gr of ground almonds

Let the mixture stand in the fridge for at least 30min, meanwhile  prepare the shortbread.

For the shortbread what you need is 500g of flour, 250g of softened butter, 200g icing sugar, 2 egg yolks, and whisk them all together until you get a nice thickness. Knead it with you hands and wrap it in plastic for at least one hour or overnight. tic toc tic toc…. Before using it, let the dough stand at room temperature until softened, but still firm enough to roll out.

 

Take a standard 25cm baking pan and butter it all over,onto the sides as well, then dust it with a bit of flour so that the mixture won’t stick to the panRoll the shortbread until you get it large enough to completely cover your baking pan. Remember that you will need a 25cm round to cover the cake on top.

Now put the apple mixture into the baking pan, and cover it all with the shortbread round on top. Make sure it sticks well together with the sides.

Now on top of that, as a decoration, add apple slices all over the top, adjust them one onto another, and add 4 big teaspoons of sugar all over them.

 

The sugar will caramelise during the baking and will be lovely to see and amazing to eat with that touch of crispiness

Bake 180°C for 50 minutes. When done, add some extra pine nuts on top.

About the shortbread, never mind if it won’t come out perfectly, you will need to patch here and there to make it compact, but trust me, it will come out just great after the baking.

So it’s time for me to have a big slice of my apple crumble, on my rocking chair, in front of the fireplace of my lovely fantasy English home….

Hope my dream will come true one day….

JPotter

***********************

Italian version here 

*********************

Advertisement