Latticed Top Apple Pie

Among Filipinos, we are slowly becoming a fan of the Apple Pie, although it is not that commercially available like our buko pie, still we learn to love this American pie. With these easy steps you could make this from scratch. It looks complicated..but it is really not that hard! It is so good that you won't believe that you made it yourself.  Best served warm and put some ice cream on top. Yummmm!

Latticed top Apple Pie

Ingredients

For the Crust:

1 cup All purpose flour

1/3 cup Confectioner's sugar

1/2 c unsalted butter 

Filling:

1/4 granulated sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

4 cups peeled apples ( Granny Smith )

Topping: 

8oz Cream Cheese softned

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

Prepare all ingredients.

Prepare the Crust. Combine all ingredients in a bowl, using your hands or a pastry blender -- you can also use food processor to speed things up!  It is worth the time to make this dough. If your dough sticks to your hand, just add flour until it's firm to the touch. Its buttery and flaky. Your dough should look like this. 

Cover it in plastic wrap and chill for 20-30 mins just enough so that the butter hardens and it will not break when you roll it.

Prepare 2 sheets of wax paper, you will need this when you roll your dough and it makes transferring the dough easier .  Divide the dough into 2 disks. One for the bottom crust and one for the latticed top.  Flatten your dough using a rolling pin measure the dough just enough to cover your pan. Line your pie plate with the dough and  trim  the edges. Make sure you poke the bottom of your crust with fork to keep it from bubbling up and warping. 

For the apple filling. Combine all ingredients into a bowl then add the apple mixture into your prepared crust. Piling it slightly in the center.

For the Cream topping: Combine all ingredients in a food processor, blend for a couple of minutes until you see that all ingredients have been incorporated. 

Pour the cream mixture on top of the pie mixture. Be careful not to overspill the cream. 

For the Latticed top crust. Flatten your dough, using a small knife cut your dough vertically about half an inch --as seen on picture. 

Arrange strips across the pie, form lattice by arranging 6 strips diagonally across the first strip. This is the tricky part, but once you get the hang of it, its easy.  I suggest you try using paper strips so that you won't waste your dough. 

Your lattice should somehow look like this, or probably even better! It's my first time making this so it's a working progress. 

 

Using your fork, crimp the edges of your pie and brush your crust with egg wash (water+egg). Sprinkle with a little bit of sugar so it will look shiny.  Make sure that you have preheated your oven first. Bake pie in 160C for about 20 mins or until golden brown. 

I don't normally use a kitchen timer, I use my nose to determine if its ready or not. Let your nose do the magic. It's weird but it works for me! :)