Lola's easy apple pie

I love almost any dessert with apple in it. This simple apple pie is similar to an apfelstrudel, only without the dough wrapping. It's something in between cake and pudding, with an enormous amount of apple, mixed with raisins and walnuts, and just enough batter/dough to keep the whole thing together. I've adapted it from this lovely blog, tweaked the ingredients a little bit and subtituted agave syrup for the sugar (fantastic photo blog, I recommend it). By the way, I tell you... it 's hard for me to follow cup measurements... and I'm not getting used to it, but this pie was worth the effort.


Easy apple pie adapted from Lola Mansurov's
Yields around 8 servings

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 3/4 cup rhum to soak the dried fruits (the original calls for plain water, but... I don't know, I think this is a bit too cruel on the fruits ;-))
• 4 medium cooking apples
  
• 60g raisins (I would add more next time)
• 60g dried apricots
• 1/2 tsp rising agent
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/2 cup shelled and chopped walnuts (I would also add more of this next time)
  
• 4 medium eggs
  
• 7 tbsp melted butter (or 8 if you're using sugar)
• 1/3 cup agave syrup (or 1/2 cup sugar)
• 1/2 tsp cinammon

Place raisins and dried apricots in a bowl and cover with the rhum. I microwave them for a minute or so on full power to aid the soaking and leave the whole thing to infuse. Leave to cool. Peel, core and slice the apples. Sprinkle the slices with some lemon juice to prevent them from oxidizing. Set aside. Cream the eggs and sweetener until light and fluffy. Sift the flour with the baking powder and add them to the cream. Lastly add the melted butter and delicately stir to incorporate.


Preheat the oven in the meantime, to 160ºC if using agave syrup and to 180ºC if using plain sugar. This distinction doesn't work for me, my oven doesn't make any difference between 200ºC and 150ºC, it just goes back and forth... Well, then mix the apple with half the walnuts, the raisins and the dried apricots, drained from the rhum. I made a mistake by laying the dried apricots on top of the cake for a nice touch of color and indeed I got it... a beautiful black color because they simply charred, so... just mix them with the rest of the ingredients. I had to get rid of my charred apricot bits and cut off the top of the least damaged ones. Let's see... where was I? Then add the egg mixture on the fruits and toss carefully to mix. Butter and flour a large pie dish. I used for the first time a beautiful Le Creuset dish I bought last summer... soooo cute. When everything is acommodated in the dish, sprinkle the remaining walnuts and bake for 40-45 minutes (at least that time was enough for me). Try for doneness with a skewer and take it out of the oven. It can be left to cool in the mold.


The result is a delicious pie with a predominant apple flavor, of course, and a little bit of crunchiness because of the walnuts. This type of pie is my favourite, light and brimming with fruit. Have a serving while still warm, with a scoop of good vanilla ice cream... and a dash of maple syrup or a sprinkle of cinammon...