What she’d tell you
Poland's favourite, and the smell of it is most of the reason to make it. Cook the apples down first: raw apple under a lid of pastry steams and leaves you with a gap where the filling should be.
What you need
Written for 12. Change that in the app and the amounts follow.
Tick things off as you get them ready.
Continue to the method ↓
How it goes
Take the butter out 30 minutes ahead. Rub it into the flour with the icing sugar, then bring it together with the eggs and vanilla into a smooth dough.
Wrap the dough and chill it at least an hour.
Meanwhile peel and coarsely grate the apples and cook them with the sugar over medium heat until soft and most of the liquid has gone, about 20 minutes. Stir the cinnamon in halfway.
Heat the oven to 170°C. Press half the dough into a lined tin, prick it all over, and bake 10 minutes.
Spread the cooled apple over the base. Coarsely grate the remaining dough straight from the fridge over the top.
Bake at 160°C for 1 hour until golden.
Cool at least 30 minutes before cutting, and dust with icing sugar.
If you haven’t got it
Apple
a sharp cooking apple is best: Bramley above all. Sweet eating apples need less sugar.
Icing Sugar
caster sugar in the pastry; the texture is very slightly coarser
Keeping it
Four days in a tin, and it does not need the fridge.
150°C for 10 minutes brings it back completely. Freezes for two months.
