Chai Spiced Apple Pie

Welcome to autumn, my favourite season of them all. Today I am teaming up with Hotpoint for their 'Fresh Thinking' campaign to create this chai spiced apple pie. The ‘Fresh Thinking’ campaign inspires homes to maintain the new positive habits and connections families and individuals have made over the last few months, by continuing to champion home cooking and reduced food waste. Food waste is something I am so passionate about, it's one of the main reasons I eat seasonally. In the UK, we throw away 6.6 million tonnes of food every year on average. With each year, that is getting higher.

FOOD WASTE

The main things people throw away are:

1. Bread (40%)2. Bagged salad (35%)3. Fresh vegetables (35%)4. Leftovers (30%)5. Fresh fruit (30%)6. Milk (16%)7. Eggs (9%)8. Cheese (8%)

Some of my top tips for stopping food waste are:

1. Doing a stock take before you shop. Checking your cupboards and fridge is one of the main ways to stop doubling up on things you already have.2. Stick to a list. Don't deter from it and get sucked in by special offers and cheap deals on things you really don't need.3. Use your freezer wisely. Your freezer is one of the best tools in your house. It can be used for a number of things you may not think of. Find more about this in this post.4. Be leftover wise. Stale bread makes great breadcrumbs. Freeze wilting herbs in olive oil for stock and soups. If a recipe only calls for an egg yolk, freeze the egg whites.5. Composting. Composting is a great way to stop things going in to landfill. Instead, all of the goodness can go back into your soil.6. Eat seasonally. Eating seasonally means that the food you buy wont spoil as quickly. Because its been grown in the correct environment it's suited for.

Chai Spiced Apple Pie

Today I have decided to create a recipe with number 5 on the most wasted food list. Apples are perfect at this time of year and it is most certainly pie season. This gently spiced pie is simple to make and delicious with vanilla ice-cream.Serves: 6Prep time: 15 minsCook time: 50 minsTotal time: 1 hour, 5 mins

Ingredients

• 4 granny smith apples
• 2 sheets of shortcrust pastry
• 1 egg, beaten
• 4 tbsp light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• Juice of 1 lemon

• For the chai spice:

• 2 tsp cardamom
• 2 tsp nutmeg
• 2 tsp all spice
• 2 tsp cloves
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 3 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp coconut sugar (optional)

Directions

1. Peel and chop apples into 1 inch chunks. Add to a bowl with 1 tbsp of the chai mix, sugar, lemon juice and cornflour. Mix and set aside.
2. Roll your first pastry sheet out wide enough to fit your pie tin, leaving an over hang of at least an inch. Using a fork, poke holes into the bottom. Brush with beaten egg, then add your apple filling.
3. Before you add the top layer of pastry, brush beaten egg around the edge of the pie base. This will help to seal both layers and stop your filling from exploding out. Top with the second rolled out pastry sheet. Poke holes in the top with a fork, or if you are a whizz at knife skills, you could create a pattern.
4. Press the edges of the pie down with your fingers to seal it together, cut off any excess pastry with a sharp knife. Brush the top with beaten egg and put it in a pre-heated oven at around 170c-180c for 50 minutes. Or until the top is golden and bubbling.

The oven

As a recipe developer, I need the best tools and for the past week I have been testing out the Hotpoint MultiFlow oven. With automatic settings, the oven creates the ideal cooking environment for all of your favourite things. Such as; pastry, cakes, bread, meat, poultry and pizza. It also has a keep-warm function, as well as a slow cook (perfect for autumn). But for me, the best of all is the 'rising' setting, so you can perfect that sourdough.

Since using the oven I've really noticed it's silence, so quiet. Also, it's ease of use. Switching from my old oven to a digital interface was a little overwhelming, but it’s so easy. I can now pick the setting, choose a temperature and set a timer all in just a few seconds. It also has a light, so I can visually see how things are doing without having to open the oven door and waste heat and energy. It’s been a great asset to my kitchen and a model I would highly recommend.