Apple Pie: NYC inspired! Kirsten Tibballs Take on a Classic
Published 18 Jun, 2024Kirsten Tibballs takes a classic, humble recipe, and gives it a New York State inspired twist! The New York State Apple Pie has eight parts, and to assist with the process, Kirsten has divided the recipe into sections. The finished product has layers of Crown Maple maple syrup caramel, cinnamon cake, sautéed Envy apples, apple jelly and a crumple top, finished with beautiful envy apple roses!
YIELDS: 1 (serves: 6-8) | PREPARATION: 180 minutes | COOKING: 38 minutes | SKILL LEVEL: Intermediate
Shortbread Tart Shell
Ingredients
65 g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
45 g caster sugar
5 g vanilla bean paste
45 g whole egg
120 g plain flour
30 g hazelnut meal
2.5 g baking powder
½ tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
plain flour, for dusting
Method
- Place the butter, sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix until completely smooth.
- Once there are no lumps of butter remaining, add the egg and mix to combine.
- Sieve the flour, hazelnut meal, baking powder, cinnamon and salt, then add it to the butter mixture and mix until the ingredients just come together as a dough.
- Press the dough into an even, flat disc, approximately 15mm in thickness, then wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Grease a tart ring, 200mm in diameter and 30mm in height, then place it on a baking tray lined with a Silpain baking mat.
- Heat the oven to 170°C, fan forced.
- On a lightly floured workbench, roll out the chilled dough to approximately 3mm in thickness.
- Cut a disc of dough large enough to cover the base and sides of the tart ring.
- Line the prepared tart ring with the dough, then chill it in the refrigerator for 20 minutes before trimming the excess dough from around the top edge of the ring.
- Line the tart shell with baking paper and fill it with uncooked rice or baking beads.
- Bake in the pre-heated oven for 10 minutes before removing the lining and baking for a further 6-8 minutes, or until golden-brown in colour.
- Once completely cooled, use a microplane to smooth any imperfections.
Mapel Caramel
Ingredients
80 g fresh cream, 35% fat
110 g caster sugar
15 g liquid glucose
pinch of sea salt
30 ml Crown Bourbon Barrell Maple Syrup
Steps
- Place the cream into a saucepan and bring to the boil.
- In a separate saucepan, heat the sugar until completely dissolved and caramelised to a golden-brown colour.
- Remove the caramel from the heat and deglaze with the hot cream.
- Add the glucose and salt, and stir to combine.
- Lastly, add the Crown Bourbon Barrell Maple Syrup and mix to incorporate.
- Pour the caramel into a bowl and cover the surface with plastic wrap. Store in the refrigerator until required.
Cinnamon Cake
Ingredients
30 g sour cream (A), room temperature
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
55 g whole egg
80 g plain flour
60 g unsalted butter, softened
75 g caster sugar
30 g sour cream (B), room temperature
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp bicarbonate soda
pinch sea salt
Method
- Heat the oven to 170°C, fan forced.
- Grease a cake tin, 200mm in diameter, then line it with baking paper and set aside until required.
- Place the sour cream (A), vanilla, and egg into a bowl and whisk by hand to combine.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the flour, softened butter, sugar, sour cream (B), cinnamon, baking powder, bicarbonate soda and salt. Beat on medium speed until fluffy, approximately 5-7 minutes.
- Slowly pour in the sour cream and egg mixture and beat for a further 2 minutes.
- Weigh 100g of the cake batter into the prepared cake ring, spreading it out to create an even surface.
- Bake in the pre-heated oven for 6-8 minutes, or until it bounces back when gently pressed.
- Allow to cool, then store in the freezer until ready to assemble the apple pie.
- Note: This recipe yields more cake batter than required for the apple pie. You can bake the remaining batter to create another small cake for enjoyment or use it for another application.
Sauteed Apples
Ingredients
300 g Montague Envy™ Apples
30 g unsalted butter
35 g caster sugar
Steps
- Peel the apples, remove their cores, and cut them into small cubes.
- In a saucepan, combine the butter, sugar, and 250g of the apple cubes. Saute until the apples are just cooked. Be careful not to overcook them, they should still hold their shape.
- Remove from the heat, strain to remove any excess liquid, and transfer the apples into a bowl.
- Chill in the refrigerator until required.
Apple Jelly
Ingredients
3 g gold gelatine sheets, or 1.5 individual sheets of gelatine
150 g Montague Envy™ Apples
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
10 g pure icing sugar, sieved
Method
- Soak the gelatine in a bowl of cold water until soft and pliable, then gently squeeze to remove any excess water and set aside until required.
- Peel the apples, remove their cores, and chop them into cubes.
- Blend 150g of the apples together with the lemon juice to create a puree.
- Weigh 130g of the puree into a bowl to use for the jelly and set aside.
- In a heat-proof bowl, gently melt the pre-soaked gelatine, then add the sugar and mix to combine.
- Add a very small amount of the apple puree to the gelatine mixture and mix to combine. Then add the remaining apple puree and mix until completely incorporated.
- Set aside in the refrigerator until required.
Vanilla Cream
Ingredients
4.5 g gold gelatine sheets, or 2 ¼ individual sheets of gelatine
415 g fresh cream 35% fat
1 cinnamon stick
1 ½ tsp vanilla bean paste
100 g egg yolks
85 g caster sugar
Method
- Soak the gelatine in a bowl of cold water until soft and pliable, then gently squeeze to remove any excess water and set aside until required.
- Place the cream, cinnamon and vanilla into a saucepan and bring to the boil.
- Meanwhile, place the egg yolks and sugar into a bowl and whisk by hand to combine.
- Pour the hot cream over the egg yolks while whisking.
- Transfer the combined mixture back into the saucepan and continuously stir over low heat until it reaches 80°C.
- Strain the vanilla cream into a clean bowl, add the pre-soaked gelatine and whisk to incorporate.
Crumble Top
Ingredients
70 g unsalted butter, cold
70 dark brown sugar
70 plain flour
35 almond meal
35 hazelnut meal
pinch of sea salt
Method
- Heat the oven to 160°C, fan forced.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine all the ingredients until they reach a crumble consistency.
- Place a tart ring, 200mm in diameter, onto a lined baking tray, and scatter the crumble into the ring.
- Use round metal cutters with diameters of 50mm, 40mm, and 30mm to create different-sized gaps in the crumble.
- Remove the outer tart ring and then sprinkle some extra crumble around the border to make the disk slightly larger than 200mm.
- Bake in the pre-heated oven for 8 minutes.
- While still hot, use the tart ring to cut the crumble into a disc, 200mm in size.
- Return the crumble top back to the oven for a further 2-4 minutes, until dark golden-brown in colour.
- Store in the freezer until required.
Apple Roses
Ingredients
150 g water
100 g caster sugar
1 Montague Envy™ Apple
Method
- Place the water and sugar into a saucepan and bring to the boil.
- Cut the apple into quarters and remove the core. Then, cut lengthways into slices no more than 1mm in thickness.
- Submerge the apple slices into the hot syrup and allow to steep for 30-60 seconds, until soft and flexible, gently separating the slices with a fork if required.
- Carefully transfer the apple slices onto a wire rack to remove any excess syrup.
- Starting with any smaller slices, take one slice of apple and roll it tightly to create the centre of the rose. Then, wrap additional slices of apple around the centre, overlapping them slightly, to create the rose petals. Continue this process until you achieve a rose, 30mm in diameter.
- Repeat this process with the remaining apple slices to create a 40mm and 50mm apple rose.
- Brush the apple roses with some of the remaining syrup.
Assembly
Method
- Pipe a thin layer of caramel, approximately 100g, over the base of the prepared tart shell.
- Place the cinnamon cake on top of the caramel layer.
- Spread approximately 130g of the chilled sauteed apples into a flat layer on top of the cinnamon cake.
- Slightly loosen the prepared apple jelly by stirring with a spatula, then spread approximately 85g of on top of the diced apples layer.
- Once the vanilla cream cools to 30°C, pour it over the apple jelly layer until it reaches the top of the tart shell.
- Place the frozen crumble top on top of the cream layer and insert the prepared apple roses into the gaps.
Voilà! There you have it, an Apple Pie with a fun twist!
Check out Kirsten’s ‘Saint Honoré’ recipe for another dessert that is sure to impress.