We always feel very lucky when we can share in the yield harvested by friends who own trees that bare fruit and nuts. Apples, peers and walnuts, we know what to do with them! Somehow they always taste better than the ones you buy in the store. Maybe it’s because they are simply left alone and not picked until perfectly ripe and ready, or have fallen out of the tree out of their own free will.

The apples I used for this pie came from family friends who are lucky enough to own a big piece of land with impressive old trees. With this recipe you make a little pie, nice to share with your loved one, have a piece today and leave some for tomorrow. That’s how we try to do it. I say try, because I start by serving a slice neatly on a plate. But somehow the pie that’s left on the kitchen table gets smaller and smaller. So funny! Maybe it’s mice, or apple trolls. I know it’s not me!

Making the apple pie
Peel and core the apples and cut them into cubes. Add the cinnamon to the apples and stir. Bake the apple cubes in the butter and sugar until slightly soft. Drain the apples and keep the juices! Mix flour, baking powder, soft light brown sugar and butter in cubes (add a bit of lemon zest if you like). Rub with fingertips until you have a mixture resembling bread crumbs. Add the 1/2 egg and kneed everything into a supple dough. Leave to rest for at least an hour, or make it one day in advance (even better). Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C. Line a small round buttered baking dish (approx 16-18 cm) with 2/3 of the dough. Add the apples. Heat the juices you kept behind and cook them to a light syrup consistency. Pour this over the apples. Make a grid with the rest of the dough to cover the pie. Brush the top lightly with the beaten egg. Bake the pie for about 35-45 minutes, depending on your oven. Leave to cool. You can eat it warm, which is very nice, but I like it even better when cooled completely.

In France we got a lot of lovely walnuts lately.
This is one of our favourite recipes with them:
Walnut Caramel Pie