Swedish apple pie

My friend Andy introduced me to Swedish apple pie a few months ago and I've been hassling her for the recipe ever since. It's as comforting as a double crust apple pie (my favourite) but without the effort - it only takes 15 minutes to assemble. In my mind, that makes it a perfect weekday dessert and just the thing for this in between period as we transition from winter to spring (it snowed in Canberra just last week!). Here's a slightly tinkered version of Andy's recipe.

Swedish Apple Pie
Serves 4-6

You'll need:
4-6 Granny Smith apples, peel still on and cut into 3cm cubes
125g unsalted butter (half a block), cold and cut into cubes
125g caster sugar (1/2 cup)
125g plain flour (1 cup and 2 Tbsp)
Vanilla ice cream, to serve

Here's how:
Preheat your oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a 24cm pie dish or baking dish with butter.

Wash and core your apples before chopping them into cubes that are around 3cm in size. Put these directly into your pie dish as you go - until it's almost full. You may only need 4-5 apples.

Make the pie crust by adding the sugar and flour to a medium sized bowl and lightly whisking to combine. Add the cubes of cold butter, pinching it into the flour mixture to incorporate. Once a dough starts to form, bring it together with your hands and lightly knead it. Roll it into a ball and then move it onto a floured surface. If you have time to rest it in the fridge for 20-30 minutes, it might be sturdier to work with, and give you a smoother pie topping. I am never this patient.

Dust a rolling pin with flour and then carefully roll the dough until it's about 0.5-1cm thick and slightly bigger than your baking dish. It's a crumbly dough so you might have to stop midway to dust it with a bit more flour. When you're happy with the thickness, gently drape it over the apple mixture. If it breaks (mine always does), you can do it in pieces, tucking the apple in around the edges, and gently pressing the dough down to meld if it's become more of a patchwork crust.

At this point you could rest it in the fridge if you're making it in advance. You could also brush it with some egg wash and a sprinkling of raw sugar for extra crunch. It's also fine to go into the oven as is. Bake for 40-45 minutes on the middle shelf until it's golden brown and smelling great. Enjoy with ice cream!

Angie's go-to winter dessert

We stayed with Angie when we were in Sydney last week and on our first night, just as we were getting settled in front of the fire, she pulled out these amazing peanut butter and chocolate fondants from the oven.

She swears by this Gordon Ramsay recipe, which you can freeze for dessert emergencies. And while some fondants can be full-on, Angie used tiny ramekins, which means equal parts fondant and ice cream :)

To add peanut butter to the original recipe, Angie recommends half filling a ramekin with the fondant mixture before adding some peanut butter. Then you top it up with more fondant batter and bake. Genius!

Easy homemade rocky road

My friend Haline makes her own rocky road, she has a really pretty version with edible flowers and my favourite - a version that includes peanut butter and gummy bears!

Here's how to make both types and just a warning - I somehow managed to get chocolate on my shirt, jeans and feet in the process. But don't let that deter you, it's really delicious and decadent too :)

Homemade rocky road

You'll need:

400g dark chocolate (or use a mix or 200g milk and 200g dark chocolate)
Half a packet of marshmallows chopped into chunks, preferably the dome ones you get from Coles
3 handfuls of mixed nuts, try a deluxe mix with pistachios, almonds, cashews and macadamias
1/4 cup of desiccated coconut
A small packet of edible flowers, found at Harris Farm
Extra nuts and coconut for decoration

Variation:

1/2 cup of peanut butter
Two or so handfuls of gummy bears or jelly snakes

Here's how:

Line a small lamington tray with baking paper and lay out your marshmallows. The recipe is a rough guide, so use as many or as few as you'd like. Same goes with the nuts, which you sprinkle along with the desiccated coconut over your marshmallows. Add your lollies too if you're using them. I tried to cover the whole surface area of the tray with goodies.

Then melt the dark chocolate (you're using a fair bit of chocolate so go with the water bath method and have a tea towel or oven mitt handy for when you're taking it off the stove). Stir in the peanut butter if you're using it and mix until smooth.

Pour the chocolate mixture over your ingredients and then sprinkle with extra nuts, coconut and edible flowers and allow to set in the fridge for 2-3 hours. When it's set, chop into chunky pieces and sample immediately. It makes a nice gift if you're prepared to give it away :)



And a few tips:

Gummy bears once refrigerated are surprisingly hard to chop - so take it easy if you're making the lolly version. This recipe is a great one for the cooler months because the chocolate, not having anything else mixed in (which is how I like it!) can get a bit melty.

Thanks for the recipe Haline!