Stem ginger-spiced apple pie with hazelnut pastry
Serves: 6
Total time: 
Recipe photograph by Clare Winfield
Stem ginger-spiced apple pie with hazelnut pastry
Recipe by Lucy Jessop
This is the ultimate comforting pud for those first chilly autumn days. Serve with ice cream, a dollop of whipped cream or lashings of custard
Serves: 6
Total time: 
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
600Kcal
Fat
31gr
Saturates
16gr
Carbs
71gr
Sugars
39gr
Fibre
5gr
Protein
8gr
Salt
0.1gr
Lucy Jessop
Lucy, our former Food Editor creates lots of delicious meals each month. Her recipes are always packed with flavour and they're super easy too!
See more of Lucy Jessop’s recipes
Lucy Jessop
Lucy, our former Food Editor creates lots of delicious meals each month. Her recipes are always packed with flavour and they're super easy too!
See more of Lucy Jessop’s recipes
Ingredients
For the pastry
- 50g blanched hazelnuts
- 225g plain flour
- 2 tbsp icing sugar
- 125g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 1 large egg yolk
For the filling
- 1kg Bramley apples
- juice and zest of ½ lemon
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 100g light muscovado sugar
- 2 balls of stem ginger, drained, and finely chopped
- 40g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 1 egg, beaten, for glazing
- 1 tsp demerara sugar
Step by step
Get ahead
Assemble the pie a couple of hours ahead and chill.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4. Spread out the hazelnuts in a shallow roasting tin and bake in the oven for 6-7 minutes until toasted. Remove, switch off the oven, and set aside to cool before grinding (if ground when hot, they will be oily).
- Once cool, whiz in a food processor until just finely ground, then add the flour, icing sugar and a large pinch of salt. Pulse briefly to combine. Add 125g cubed butter and whiz for a few seconds to make a breadcrumb-like mixture. Transfer to a large bowl. Mix the egg yolk with 1 tablespoon cold water, add to the bowl and stir with a round-bladed knife until the mixture begins to come together. Add another teaspoon of cold water, if necessary. Knead briefly and shape into a disc. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes to firm up.
- Meanwhile, peel, quarter and core the apples. Cut each quarter into chunky slices – if they are too thin, they will turn mushy when cooked. Transfer to a bowl, add the lemon juice and zest and flour and toss together. Add the sugar and ginger and mix well. Pile the apples into a 23cm pie dish that's at least 4cm deep, and dot with butter.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6. Remove the pastry from the fridge. Roll out on a lightly floured surface into a circle about 0.5cm thick and a little larger than the diameter of the top of your dish. Brush the rim of the pie dish with a little beaten egg. Carefully lift the pastry over the rolling pin and drape the pastry over the pie. Press at the edges to seal. Trim away any excess pastry with a sharp knife. Crimp the edge using your fingers or a fork. Bring the pastry trimmings together, roll out and cut out leaf shapes. Use a little beaten egg to stick the leaves on to the pastry lid. Cut a couple of incisions in the middle of the pastry to allow steam to escape. Brush the pastry all over with beaten egg, and sprinkle over the demerara sugar. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden brown.
- Serve with a dollop of whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or custard.
