Recipe: Cheesy Apple Pie

Apple pie is my favourite dessert. I could eat it all day long with a massive dollop of creamy vanilla ice cream. Pilgrims Choice kindly sent me a voucher to try out their cheese in the apple pie with a twist. At first I wasn't too sure but loved the sweet and savoury mix. These aren't the prettiest of pictures but who ever said apple pie was pretty?! Excuse my patchy pastry, it was my first time making the darn stuff and it was a lot more fiddling than I thought. Especially when it didn't expand in the fridge due to my lack of cling film. I only had enough for the top! You live and learn!

I slightly adapted the originally recipe to what I already had in the house.

Ingredients:
For the pastry:
225 plain flour, sieved
50g baking spread
75g of lard, cubed
75g of grated mature cheddar
4 tbsps of cold water

For the filling:
450g Bramley Apples, peeled, quartered and cored
450g Braeburn Apples, peeled, quartered and cored
50g caster sugar
1 tbsp of ground cinnamon
1 medium egg - beaten for glazing

You'll need a nice pie dish too.

1. Pre heat the oven to 220 degrees, 425 degrees or Gas Mark 7.

2. Put the flour, better and lard into a large mixing bowl. Rub both the butter and lard together with your fingertips into the flour to make fine breadcrumbs. Add the grated cheese and water to create a soft dough. Knead it for around a minute. Wrap it tightly in some cling film and put in the fridge for 30 minutes. 

3. Pop the apple quarters in a large bowl and mix together.

4. Fetch the pastry out of the fridge and roll out a little less than half to approx 30 cm in diameter to line the base and sides of the dish, trim the edges and keep them to make an apple for decoration.

5. Pop the apple slices in the dish and sprinkle them with the sugar and cinnamon.

6. Roll out the remaining pastry to 40cm in diameter. Brush the rim of the pastry base with a little of the beaten egg and carefully put the lid on top of the filled base. Press the edges together and trim the edges.

7. Knead the trimmings back together to make your apple shape. Then pop it on once you're happy with it.

8. Make a small hole in the centre of the pastry lid with a skewer to help let the steam escape.

9. Cook in the centre of the oven for 10 minutes then reduce the temperature down to 190 degree, 375 degrees or Gas Mark 5 and cook for a further 40 minutes or until golden brown.

10. Make sure you keep an eye on it as different ovens cook at different speeds - mine was actually ready at 30 minutes!

11. Enjoy in front of the telly with your favourite ice cream!

As always I'd love to know if you attempt this, please do tweet me your creations. Thanks for the cheese Pilgrims Choice!