Monday, March 10, 2008

TWD apple pie cake...





I joined a baking group called "Tuesdays With Dorie"!! Once a week a member picks a recipe from Dorie Greenspan's cookbook "Baking, From My Home To Yours" and we all post our results on the following Tuesday. Fun, huh? This weeks recipe is "Russian Grandmothers' Apple-Pie Cake, chosen by Natalie from Burned Bits.
This pie/cake is amazing. It is two layers of dough that is a cross between cookie dough and pie crust...that sandwiches cinnamon apples...need I say more? It was really fun to make, and tastes spectacular.

For The Dough
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Juice of 1 lemon
3 1/4 - 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

For The Apples
10 medium apples (I like to use Fuji)
Squirt of fresh lemon juice
1 cup raisins
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon

Sugar, preferably decorating (coarse) sugar, for dusting

To Make The Dough: Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes more. Reduce the mixer speed to low, add the baking powder and salt and mix just to combine. Add the lemon juice - the dough will probably curdle, but don't worry about it. Still working on low speed, slowly but steadily add 3 1/4 cups of the flour, mixing to incorporate it and scraping down the bowl as needed. The dough is meant to be soft, but if you think it looks more like a batter than a dough at this point, add the extra 1/4 cup flour. (The dough usually needs the extra flour.) When properly combined, the dough should almost clean the sides of the bowl.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it into a ball and divide it in half. Shape each half into a rectangle. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or for up to 3 days. (The dough can be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months; defrost overnight in the refrigerator.)

To Make The Apples: Peel and core the apples and cut into slices about 1/4 inch thick; cut the slices in half crosswise if you want. Toss the slices in a bowl with a little lemon juice - even with the juice, the apples may turn brown, but that's fine - and add the raisins. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together, sprinkle over the apples and stir to coat evenly. Taste an apple and add more sugar, cinnamon, and/or lemon juice if you like.

Getting Ready to Bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Generously butter a 9x12-inch baking pan (Pyrex is good) and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

Remove the dough from the fridge. If it is too hard to roll and it cracks, either let it sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes or give it a few bashes with your rolling pin to get it moving. Once it's a little more malleable, you've got a few choices. You can roll it on a well-floured work surface or roll it between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper. You can even press or roll out pieces of the dough and patch them together in the pan - because of the baking powder in the dough, it will puff and self-heal under the oven's heat. Roll the dough out until it is just a little larger all around than your pan and about 1/4 inch thick - you don't want the dough to be too thin, because you really want to taste it. Transfer the dough to the pan. If the dough comes up the sides of the pan, that's fine; if it doesn't that's fine too.

Give the apples another toss in the bowl, then turn them into the pan and, using your hands, spread them evenly across the bottom.

Roll out the second piece of dough and position it over the apples. Cut the dough so you've got a 1/4 to 1/2 inch overhang and tuck the excess into the sides of the pan, as though you were making a bed. (If you don't have that much overhang, just press what you've got against the sides of the pan.)

Brush the top of the dough lightly with water and sprinkle sugar over the dough. Using a small sharp knife, cut 6 to 8 evenly spaced slits in the dough.

Bake for 65 to 80 minutes, or until the dough is a nice golden brown and the juices from the apples are bubbling up through the slits. Serve warm or at room temp.

I cut the recipe in half and omitted the raisins.I served it up warm with a little vanilla bean ice cream. It was fabulous. This will definitely grace my kitchen many, many more times! Thanks for the great recipe choice Natalie!

20 comments:

diane said...

Fabulous! I wish I could spend Tuesdays with Sis!!

noskos said...

Nice and tasty looking pie-cake!!!!

Madam Chow said...

I agree - this was a fabulous dessert, and I'm thinking of other fruit that I can use with this fantastic crust. Great looking dessert, Annemarie!

Rachel said...

My apples slices were giant. I wonder if the smaller bites had a different texture post baking. I may have to try that next time! Glad to have you with us. :)

Mari said...

Hot fruit pie-cake + ice cream is a winning combo, I served mine with homemade creme fraiche ice cream, YUM!

Btw, I love your banner!!!

amanda. said...

Your pie-cake looks delicious! All these cakes are making me wishes I had done one instead of the turnovers!

Welcome to the group!

ostwestwind said...

That looks yummy!
Ulrike from Küchenlatein

Marie Rayner said...

Great pictures! My husband really enjoyed his, although I did find it a bit dry. I added a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of maple syrup and it really transformed it into spectacular!
PS I like your pie crust cookies. My mom used to do this as well. I had forgotten until your pictures reminded me!

{Le Petit Poulet} said...

I need to live with you. Isn't there a spare corner somewhere I could sleep!! This looks amazing! It all always looks amazing. Those kids and hubby must LOVE mealtime!

Anonymous said...

Your pie-cake looks great! I think the addition of ice cream would be fabulous. I'll have to try that next time!

Katrina said...

It looks great! I love the look the decorating sugar gives it. I must try to find some locally.

Anonymous said...

Looks great! I love the sugar on top!

Melissa said...

Oooohhhh, ice cream...yum!

slush said...

Serving with ice cream is a great idea, we only had coffee ice cream in the house, and that wouldnt do. You did a great job!

Anonymous said...

Tuesdays with Dorie? I hope none of the recipes are for fish!

L said...

Looks divine. I will have to leave the raisins out next time.

Anonymous said...

Great job. Wish I had some ice cream at home ...

Gretchen Noelle said...

Great looking pie-cake. Love the "pie slice" shape, that makes it look even more like a pie! MMmmmm...and with ice cream! Yum!

Peabody said...

I agree, it was spectacular.

Jaime said...

great job! welcome to TWD :)