Birthday season

Birthday season

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Is it just me, or are May, June and July busy birthday months for everyone? Somehow all my weekends are booked up with parties, diners, brunches, lunches and whatnot.. Not that I mind, though. The weather’s picking up, so every day is a good one for any kind of celebration!

My birthday was yesterday (for I’m a jolly good fellow..!). I didn’t really celebrate it, as I will be doing that this weekend, but the bf cooked for me (which is exceptional to start with). He made a scrumptious meal of rib-eye, marinated in rosemary/thyme/olive oil and grilled, accompanied by a fresh and tangy mint/lemon couscous and a simple salad. with grilled cherry-tomatoes. Yum!

For dessert we had some leftover apple-pie which I baked for my mother’s birthday last Sunday. According to her (and everyone else who tasted it), it was the best pie I ever baked. According to my bf, it was the best apple-pie ever made in the history of apple-pies. I’d like to think he is right, but realistically, that’s not very plausible. I mean, in that case, I should have been famous already for baking the world’s best apple-pie! Because that would be quite an accomplishment. Not as much as baking the worlds best chocolate cake but still… (Yes, I said it! Chocolate cake beats apple-pie, hands down!)

Nevertheless, it was really good. And pretty easy to make, so try it yourself!

Apparently, to some extent, the world’s best apple-pie

 

No, it’s not PacMan, it’s PieMan! Here to save you from your pie-cravings
 For the pie-crust
  • 300 grams (2.4 cups) all purpose flour
  • 250 grams (2.2 stick) butter
  • 150 grams (0.7 cups) caster sugar (I used brown, I just prefer the taste)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the pie-filling
  •  4 large apples (preferably jonagold), in large slices
  • 1 heaped tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1 or 2 cups raisins
  • some sugar, add to your liking
For the crumble on top
  • 90 grams (0,7 cups) all purpose flour
  • 40 grams (0.2 cups) caster sugar
  • 1 small bag (9 grams – 0.32 oz) vanilla sugar
  • 40 grams (0.35 stick) butter
Preperation:
You’ll need a spring cake tin with a diameter of 26 cm (10.2 inches)

 

Add all the ingredients for the crust together, knead the dough and let it rest for half an hour, preferably in the fridge or another cool place. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190 degreesCelsius (374 Fahrenheit). Divide the dough over the bottom, make sure to create a good edge, and press the dough firmly.
Fry the apple slices. This will make the apples slightly softer and drain out any unnecessary fluids. Add a little water, so the apples won’t burn or stick to the pan. Mix the fried apples with thecinnamon, raisins and sugar. Add this mixture to the pie crust.
Knead flour, vanilla sugar and butter manually to make a quick crumbly dough, then add thecaster sugar and mix well. It is not necessary to knead it any more. Divide evenly over the apple pie.
Bake in the middle of the oven for about 50 minutes. Make sure the crumbs are nicely colored.

 

Let cool on a cake rack for approximately 10 minutes. Enjoy!!

 

The fun thing about using apple slices instead of apple chunks, is the pretty layers you get in the cake.
It looks like you put some extra effort in it, but you really haven’t!

Saturday I’ll be celebrating my birthday, as mentioned before, so make sure to check in on my blog after the weekend for some partysnack recipes! Think minicupcakes, mini-sliders, mini quiches.. alot of mini things, come to think of it.. Maybe it’s because we don’t feel as guilty eating 3 mini cupcakes insetad of one big one, because they’re so mini? Something to contemplate for my next post..

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