Apple Pie Amsterdam – Round Two – Did I Nail It?

Well, do you think I nailed round two of Apple Pie Amsterdam? Hopefully my guests…read…guinea pigs from the second go round will weigh in and answer that for you!  Personally I felt good about the outcome.  Making the few changes I mentioned in my first post – read it here – made a big difference in the final pie.

These are the changes I wanted to make:
1. Pie needs to bake for another 7-10 minutes
2. It needs additional spice mixture
3. Use all 10 apples and press repeatedly until apples chunks are compact
4. Cut bigger chunks of apple
5. Use less dough in the bottom of the pan – reserve a bit more for the topping

Here are the results:
1. Baking for another 10-15 minutes ensured the crust was done through and through.
2. Adding one extra teaspoon of Speculaaskruiden (Dutch Spice Blend) supplied just the right amount of all those delicious flavors – but was not overwhelming.
3. Adding the apples a few at a time and then pressing them into the crust as I went, allowed all the apples to go into the crust  leaving few gaps in the filling. This meant that the pie “stood up” better.
4. Bigger chunks of fruit also helped the pie “stand up” but were not too big to eat!
5. Decreasing the amount of dough I used on the bottom and sides of the pan I believe, also helped the crust bake up better and I like having more dough on top to cover all the filling.

The only new tip I have to add is that after a day the pie begins to get juicer – of course it does – and my slices don’t hold up as well as they did on the first few.  (At Winkel 43 in Amsterdam they never have leftovers – there is always a line to get a slice of this pie.)  Refrigerating any pie that is not eaten when you first slice it helps alleviate this problem but I only figured that out after it sat at room temp for 2 days.  Another solution would be to bake this pie when you have house full of pie eaters!

The photo of the slice above was after 2 days on the counter.  You can see it still held up pretty well.  Full of chunky apples, golden raisins and walnuts this pie has “fall” written all over it.  I am ready to share the recipe with you now and would love to hear any comments or suggestions if you try your hand at it!  What I did miss was taking any photos of the fluffy fresh whipped cream dollops that I serve on top.  You can do ice cream or whipped cream – they do both in Holland.  I like the lightness of the whipped cream, I just had too many folks with their hands out for a slice when I served it and so failed to take a pic.  You get the idea! Hey, by the way not only is this pie delicious as dessert but it’s damn delicious for breakfast with a hot cup of tea or coffee – just saying’!