Apple, Pear & Hazelnut Pie

Apple, Pear & Hazelnut Pie is a great desset. Lots of apples and pears, along with some chopped hazelnuts, encased in a buttery shortcrust pastry. It is just perfect.

The pie can be served hot, warm or cold, though I prefer the mine cold. The pie is not difficult to make. However it takes quite some time. One reason for that is to allow the pastry to chill thoroughly since it is a wet paste to make rolling out easier. The other reason, of course, is to give time for the filling to cool before filling the pie.

The choice of apples and pears is a matter of preference. Though those people lucky enough to have trees in their gardens may have an abudance of fruit at this time of year. I prefer to use a firm pear as it gives a slightly different texture to the apple after cooking.

The method for making the pastry is somewhat different in this recipe. It uses rather a lot of water, which makes a paste. After chilling the paste well it is very easy to roll out without any cracks.

Mixing the flour and butter in two stages is also different. It leaves a few pieces of butter visible, which helps to make the pastry lighter during baking.

Ingredients For Apple, Pear & Hazelnut Pie

Pastry

Flour – Plain or all purpose flour is best.

Butter – Very cold salted or unsalted butter is fine. I like to use unsalted.

Sugar – Just a little caster sugar, or granulated, sweetens the paste slightly.

Lemon Zest – This adds flavour to the pastry. The juice from the lemons goes into the filling.

Water – Cold water, and rather a lot of it, brings everything together into a paste.

Filling

Apples – Peeled and cut into slices. Lots of them too.

Pears – Peeled and then diced quite small.

Hazelnuts – Chopped roughly. You can also roast them if you wish.

Water – For cooking the filling.

Lemon Juice – to give that little tartness to the filling.

Sugar – Not too much sugar. I use a combination of caster sugar and light brown sugar. But you can use just one type if you prefer.

Vanilla Extract – to give flavour to the filling.

Ground Ginger – A lovely warming spice adds extra flavour.

Ground Cinnamon – Another lovely spice for extra flavour.

Custard Powder – to use as a thickening agent. I just stir it in during cooking. But you can hold back a little of the water to use for making a paste with the custard powder before adding it in, in you wish.

Egg – For brushing over the pie before baking. This is optional.

Demerara Sugar – To sprinkle over the pie before baking. It gives some extra crunch. This is optional.

Process For Apple, Pear & Hazelnut Pie

To Make The Pastry

Put about 200g of the flour into the bowl of a processor and add the sugar along with the lemon zest. Then pulse it to mix together. Add in 277g of the butter and process it until it all clumps together.

Break the clumps into small pieces, adding some of the remaining flour onto the clumps as you do it. Tip the rest of the flour on the top and add the remaining butter. Then process again to break everything down and it will just begin to clump again, leaving a few small pieces of butter visible. Add in the water, in two addtions and process everything to a paste.

Tip the paste out into a bowl and then cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least two hours.

To Make The Filling

Put the apple, pears, cinnamon, ginger, sugars, lemon juice, vanilla and water into a large pan and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the custard powder and hazelnuts and simmer for another 4 minutes. The filling will have thickened nicely and be fully cooked.

Transfer the filling to a bowl and leave it to cool completely.

Rollout The Pastry.

Take half of the paste and shape it into a disc on a well floured surface. Roll it out into a circle about 12 inches/30 cm in diameter. Place the pastry into a greased 9 inch/23cm pie dish. Cover with plastic wra and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out the remaining pastry, on a well floured surface to a rectangle with the short side being at least 10 1/2 inches/26 cm. The long side should be about 13 inches/33cm. Place the pastry onto parchment paper and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven – 220C/200C Fan/420F.

As the oven preheats take the rectangle of pastry out of the fridge and trim to straighten edges. The cut strips about 1 1/2 inches – 3 cm wide and 10 1/2 inches – 26 cm long. Place the pastry back in the fridge until the oven is preheated.

Assembling The Apple, Pear & Hazelnut Pie

To assemble the apple, pear and hazelnut pie place the cool filling into the pie dish, on top of the pastry base. Level the filling off.

Place the strips of pastry over the top, to form a lattice.

Press the edges of the pastry together to seal everything. Trim any large excess and fold the edge under to form a rim.

Brush the top with egg and sprinkle with Demerara sugar.

Bake the pie for 20 minutes. Then reduce the oven temperature to 190C/170C Fan/375 F and bake for a further 30 minutes.

Take the pie out of the oven and leave to cool. You can serve hot if you wish. Leaving for at least an hour will mean you can then serve it warm. Leaving the apple, pear & hazelnut pie for at least 3 hours will let it cool completely.

My Apple, Pear & Hazelnut Pie

I baked my pie and left it to cool for 3 hours. Then I cut a slice to taste. It was simply wonderful. The pastry was so buttery, with a firmness on the top but almost melt in the mouth inside. The filling, so flavoursome and fruity was just right. The hazelnuts gave flavour and texture to the filling and there was just a hint of spice too.

The pie is perfect served with custard, cream or ice-cream.

Another great pie is Perfect Stawberry Pie

Apple, Pear & Hazelnut Pie

Recipe by geoffcoo

Course: Desserts, Pies, TartsDifficulty: Medium

Servings

8

servings

Prep time(excl. waiting)

1

hour 

30

minutes

Cooking time

50

minutes

Cook Mode

Keep the screen of your device on

Ingredients

• Pastry

• 350g(2 1/3 cups, based on scoopling packed flour into a 250ml cup) plain flour

• 25g(2 tbsp) caster sugar

• 283g(1 1/4 cups) cold unsalted butter – divided into 227g and 56g

• 120ml(1/2 cup) ice cold water

• grated zest of 2 lemons

• Pie Filling

• 700g(24 1/2 oz) apple slices

• 450g(1 lb) diced pears

• 90g(3/4 cup) roughly chopped hazelnuts

• 120ml(1/2 cup) water

• 80ml(1/3 cup) lemon juice

• 32g(2 1/2 tbsp) caster sugar

• 12g(1 tbsp) light brown sugar

• 5ml(1 tsp) vanilla extract

• 2g(1 tsp) ground ginger

• 2g(1 tsp) ground cinnamon

• 30g(2 1/2 tbsp) custard powder

• 1 egg(any size) for brushing the pastry

• 12g(1 tbsp) Demerara sugar

Directions

• Place 200g of flour and the caster sugar, along with the lemon zest, into a processor bowl and pulse to mix them together.
• Add 227g(1 cup) of butter and process until everything clumps together.
• Tip the dough out and the add it back into the processor bowl, in small clumps. As you do so add some of the remaining flour to cover the clumps.
• When all the dough is back in the processor add any remaining flour and then the remaining butter.
• Process the mixture again until it all breaks down and then just starts to clump.
• Add the water, in two additions and pulse until the dough has formed a very soft paste.
• Scrape the paste into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap and the chill it in the fridge, for at least two hours.
• Put the apples, pears, ginger, cinnamon, vanilla extract, lemon juice, water and the two sugars (caster and light brown) into a large saucepan.
• Place the saucepan onto the heat and bring everything to a boil. Then reduce the heat to a simmer.
• Simmer the filling for 10 minutes.
• Stir in the custard powder and then the hazelnuts and simmer for a further 4 minutes.
• Transfer the filling to a bowl and allow it to cool completely.
• Place half of the chilled pastry paste onto a well floured surface and form it into a disc.
• Flour the top and roll the disc into a circle 12 inches/30 cm in diameter.
• Roll it over the rolling pin and gently place it into a greased 9 inch/23 cm pie dish.
• Cover the pie dish with plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.
• Put the remaining pastry paste onto a well floured surface and roll it out into a rectangle 10 1/2 inches(26 cm) by 13 inces(33 cm).
• Roll it onto the rolling pin and place on some parchment paper on a baking tray. Then chill it for at least 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/425F, placing a baking tray into the oven to heat up as well.
• As the oven preheats take the rectangle of pastry from the fridge and trim any rough edges.
• Then cut into 8 strips which are 1 1/2 inces(3cm) wide by 10 1/2 inches(26 cm) long.
• Put the strips back into the fridge until the oven is up to temperature.
• Take the pastry-lined pie dish out of the fridge.
• Put the pie filling into the pie dish and level it off.
• Take the pastry strips out of the fridge.
• Lay 4 strips vertically over the pie filling, leaving a gap between each.
• The strips are numbered 1 to 4 from left to right.
• Lift strips 2 and 4 up from the bottom and fold them over the top, then place one more strip, horizontally over the filling. Fold strips 2 and 4 down over the horizontal strip.
• Fold back strips 1 and 3 and lay another strip horizontally, then unfold strips 1 and 3.
• Do the same twice more, first with strips 2 and 4, then with strips 1 and 3 until you have placed the remaining two strips horizontally, making a neat lattice.
• Press the edges of the pastry all around the rim of the pie dish to create a seal.
• Trim off excess pastry, leaving about 1/2 inch(1 cm) overhanging.
• Tuck the overhanging edge under the pastry to rim a nice rim.
• Brush the top of the pastry with beaten egg.
• Sprinkle Demerara sugar over the top.
• Bake the pie for 20 minutes. Then reduce the oven temperature to 190C/170C Fan/375 and bake for a further 30m minutes.
• Place the baked pie, in the pie dish, onto a rack and leave it to cool.