When Dana challenged me to take part in a bakealong – or ‘Friendly Fire’, as she calls it in her naturally belligerent ways, I felt excited and scared at the same time: have you seen Dana’s blog, I’ve Got Cake? Her posts, pictures and recipes are a-ma-zing! I lover her potty-mouth style and envy her for her cool style, both in terms of her clothes and her cooking. I would bring up blog-envy here but my subconscious insists on suppressing it. So, feeling chuffed, enthusiastic and worried, all at the same time, I decided to make an apple pie, the reasoning being that it is quite easy to pull off, so at least I won’t be able to make a complete fool of myself. You seen Dana is a master of all trades, and you can easily see what I mean when you look at her other Friendly Fire contributions: just check out her pork tacos – which she did alongside Food is the Best Shit Ever‘s Graeme. Awe-inspiring, both versions. Before that, it was Moules Frites against Marta of Plate du Jour, and again, impressive stuff. Or scary, depending on your point of view. Therefore, to warm up for this battle I enjoyed a bakealong with Marta, on the topic of cheese cake. It was hard work, but having heroically stood up to and defeated the strudel, I feel that I am now ready to take on Dana. At least I think I am … (cue self doubts and an imaginary rash). As we all know, the best therapy is shopping. And guess what, shopping not only provided the answer, it also solved all my problems! Whilst I was browsing the supermarket shelves blindly searching for one thing or another I encountered Caroline, the lovely shop assistant in our local Sainsbury’s. Discussing a variety of cakes we liked to bake, I told her about this pie challenge, and how it worried me. Thankfully I had come to the right person: Caroline kindly shared her own fail-safe secret for apple pie with a twist with me: a dollop or two of ready-made mince. As in mince pie mince, obviously, although I agree that minced beef would also add an unusual flavour to your apple pie. Unusual, though, not necessarily good. The shortcrust pastry recipe I use has been passed on to me many years ago by the formidable Irene from Sligo, on the west coast of  Ireland. Her trick was to roll out and fold the pastry like puff pastry, to give it the flaky texture that contrasts so perfectly with the mushy apple filling. I have adjusted her egg- and sugar-free recipe though, giving in to my continental European need to add both to any cake I make. In hindsight I don’t think I really needed to add them, so use some cold water instead. Thus harnessed, olde Europe challenges the US, desperately hoping that we can repeat our recent success at the Ryder Cup with this apple pie. The added mince gives it a lovely aroma and an extra twist: I used a few tablespoons to get only a hint of the spices, but you might easily use half the jar, especially to make a delicious dessert in the run-up to Christmas. You might even want to serve it as an alternative to the much heavier Christmas cake or pudding, perhaps with some home-made cinnamon icecream?    

A Chrismassy Apple Pie (makes one deep 28cm pie)

For the shortcrust pastry:

• 330g plain flour
• 225g unsalted butter
• 1 egg
• 2 tbs caster sugar

For the filling:

• 4 baking apples
• 4 tbs caster sugar
• the juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 6 tbs mince mix for mince pies
• 1 tsp semolina

For the glaze: 1 egg white, lightly beaten Begin by mixing the ingredients for the pastry: do this quickly by cutting the butter with a spatula or a knife, then by rubbing the fat into the flour with your thumbs and fingers. Remember not to overdo this: Just as when making shortbread, if the butter gets too warm in the process you end up with a dense block of dough instead of the flaky layers of crumbliness you’d expect. Once the mix starts coming together, don’t worry too much about lumps and on a lightly floured surface roll out the pastry to a large square: Now fold in the sides as you would with puff pastry: fold the right third over the middle third, then the left third over the middle; then fold the top third down and the bottom third up, resulting in a thick but neat square: Roll it out again and fold it as above. Repeat this process 4 or 5 times, then cover the pastry with cling film and leave it to rest in the fridge for at least one hour. Heat the oven to 220C and grease your pie dish with a little butter. Roll out one half of the pastry to a thin rectangle and place it in your dish; cut the pastry to size and pinch a couple of holes into the pasty using a fork. I sprinkled a little semolina on the bottom of the pastry to soak up excess juice from the apples. Peel and quarter one of the apples, then de-core the quarters and slice them into the dish. Sprinkle a little sugar and mince pie mix over it, then repeat the process with the remaining apples. Leave a rim around the edges of the dish, which you glaze with some of the egg white to help it stick to the top. Roll out the rest of the pastry and cut to a slightly smaller size than the bottom one, before placing it on top of the apples.  Punch some more holes into it using a fork and fold the bottom rim over the top one, then crunch it all up using your thumbs and index fingers to create a nice edge. Glaze with the egg white and use the cut offs to cut out any decorations. Sprinkle the sugar on top and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy with custard or ice cream. Or both.   Now I better go and check out Dana’s pie – I bet her pictures alone will be to die for! I might be eating humble pie for weeks to come, though …