Tartumaa’s best apple pie combines buckwheat and almond flour

ERR reported that Kai Laas, maker of the best apple pie in Tartumaa’s food region, prepares her “Õunapralle” pie with Antonovka apples, hazelnut praline, almond flour, buckwheat flour and eggs. The pie takes about an hour to make, Laas said on the Terevisioon programme.

“My fiancé came up with the name after I read out the ingredients to him,” Laas said.

For the base, Laas combines 70 grams of almond flour, 140 grams of buckwheat flour, 50 grams of butter and vanilla sugar, working them into an even mixture. She then adds two eggs and presses the dough over the bottom and sides of a round cake tin.

“I always do everything by feel. I wrote the recipe down later,” Laas said.

She advises not to make the dough too thick, as it can become hard. Laas covers it with baking paper and adds dried peas to prevent the base from rising too much. She bakes it at 180 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes.

For the filling, Laas heats 30 grams of butter in a pot and adds cardamom, vanilla sugar and seven or eight chopped apples. A little water and lemon juice can also be added, she said.

The hazelnut praline is made by turning sugar into brown caramel and adding peeled, roasted hazelnuts. Laas blends the mixture into a cream in a food processor, adding a little grapeseed oil.

She spreads the praline over the cooled base, followed by the softened apple pieces. Thin apple slices go on top, and the pie is covered with caramel sauce. To make the sauce, Laas melts sugar, adds butter and lemon juice, then bakes the pie for another 10 minutes.