Dutch Apple Pie (oma's Appeltaart)

Total Time: 3 hrs 15 mins Preparation Time: 2 hrs Cook Time: 1 hr 15 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 2 1/8 cups self-rising flour (300g)
• 3/4 cup butter (180g) or 3/4 cup margarine (180g)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (150g)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence or 1 (8 g) packet vanilla sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 1/4 lbs apples (1kg)
• 3/4 cup raisins (washed and dried, 100g)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar (40g)
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon (or more to taste)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice (or more to taste)
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons semolina (to absorb the juices)

Recipe

• 1 for the dough:.
• 2 sieve the flour, brown sugar, vanilla and the salt into a bowl.
• 3 cut the butter or margarine into small cubes and add these to the flour mixture.
• 4 beat the egg and add 3/4 of it to the flour mixture (you will need the rest for the top).
• 5 using two knives, mix the butter/margarine and the flour mixture.
• 6 using one hand, kneed it to form the dough - you should be able to form it into a ball (this may take quite long).
• 7 put the ball of dough in the fridge for about an hour, in the meantime, make the filling.
• 8 for the filling:.
• 9 peel the apples and cut them in cubes (allow the sizes to vary--it'll taste better).
• 10 in a (large) bowl, combine apple, raisins, (granulated) sugar, cinnamon, the lemon juice and half of the semolina.
• 11 mix well and allow the flavors to blend, stirring occasionally.
• 12 then:.
• 13 butter a 9-inch round springform cake pan, or spray it with a non-stick spray.
• 14 line the pan (bottom and sides) with about 3/4 of the dough - as long as the pan is covered, the layer need not be very thick.
• 15 cover the bottom with the remaining semolina.
• 16 add the filling, but try to leave the juices out.
• 17 on a lightly floured surface, roll out the remaining dough until it's less than 1/4 inch (1/2 cm) thick.
• 18 cut the dough into strips and layer them over the apple pie to form a raster, covering no more than one third of the surface--you should be able to see quite a bit of the apple pieces (see picture).
• 19 if necessary, use (some of) the remaining dough to make the edges a bit higher.
• 20 use the remaining egg to coat the dough strips.
• 21 bake the pie at 175°c / 340°f, just below the middle of your oven, for about 75 minutes.
• 22 if you have any dough left, roll it out, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon (or left-over apple mixture) and bake it on baking paper for a few minutes.
• 23 remove the springform only *after* the pie has cooled.
• 24 serve warm (reheat in oven or microwave) or cold, with whipped or ice cream, or freeze.