Name: Classic apple pie
Total time: 1 h
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 tsp ground cinnamon; 3 tbsp demerara sugar, plus a sprinkle for the top; 1 tbsp cornflour; 4 Granny Smith apples, cored and sliced; 25g butter, cubed; 1 egg, beaten to glaze; vanilla ice cream, to serve; 250g plain flour; 125g butter, chilled and cubed; 2 tbsp icing sugar; 6-7 tbsp ice cold water

1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 tbsp demerara sugar
plus a sprinkle for the top
1 tbsp cornflour
4 Granny Smith apples
cored and sliced
25g butter
cubed
1 egg
beaten to glaze
vanilla ice cream
to serve
250g plain flour
125g butter
chilled and cubed
2 tbsp icing sugar
6-7 tbsp ice cold water

Method

step 1
To make the pastry put the flour and butter in a bowl. Use your fingers to rub the two together. Stop when you have a mix of breadcrumb-sized and pea-sized lumps of butter (this will give you a flakier pastry). Stir in the icing sugar and a pinch of salt. Add the iced water spoon by spoon, mixing with a butter knife as you add until it clumps together into a dough. Wrap in clingfilm and rest for 30 minutes in the fridge.
step 2
Heat the oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Cut the pastry into 2, making one piece slightly bigger. Roll out the larger piece and use to line a 20cm x 3½ cm deep metal pie tin.
step 3
Mix the cinnamon, demerara sugar and cornflour together well. Put the apple slices in a bowl and toss with the cornflour mix. Pile into the lined tin then dot with butter.
step 4
Roll out the rest of the pastry to make a lid. Cover, trim and crimp together the edges. Make a steam hole in the middle (decorate the top with the off-cuts if you like). Glaze the top of the pie with egg, chill for 15 minutes then glaze again (this will give you a deep golden crust). Sprinkle the surface of the pastry with more demerara then cook for 40 minutes until crisp and golden. Serve with a scoop of ice cream.