I had the pleasure of spending the day with my Tante Elizabeth last week. She and I spent the day together cooking up some of her favorite recipes. I will be sharing more of her recipes in the coming weeks.
She is legend in our family for her Apfel Bitten and once you try these you will understand why! Divinely scrumptious! I always search them out at every family gathering, they are my favorite!
Start by peeling and coring 5-6 apples, about 32 ounces.
Dice them into small pieces and place them in a deep saucepan.
Turn the heat to medium and add 1/3 cup raisins, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and the zest and juice from 1/2 a lemon. Add up to 1/4 cup of sugar if using tart apples.
Stir in 1/2 cup rum. My Tante Elizabeth says to use this one. She sys it gives this recipe the best flavor. I have to agree!
Bring apples to a low simmer and cook for about 10 minutes until most of the liquid has cooked off.
Remove from heat and set aside. Allow the mixture to cool down to room temperature.
In a large bowl combine 1 cup flour, 1 cup softened butter, 1 egg, 2/3 cup powdered sugar, zest from 1/2 lemon, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 cup ground almonds.
TIP: Grind almonds in a food processor or use a nut grinder to do it by hand like my aunt does.
Work the dough until all the ingredients come together. Place the dough onto the counter and knead it into a ball. Wrap the dough in waxed paper and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours, overnight is better.
Once the dough is firm, unwrap it and place it on a floured work surface.
Cut the dough in half. It will be quite hard so be careful when cutting it in half.
Slowly roll out the dough. It will be quite stiff and will take a bit of time to get it thinned out. Keep turning it and adding flour so it doesn’t stick to your surface or to the rolling pin. A dough scraper comes in handy for this.
Once the dough is rolled out as large as your baking dish trim the edges and place it in the bottom of the baking dish. No need to grease the pan since there is plenty of butter in the dough that will keep it from sticking to the baking dish.
Use a dough scraper to loosen the dough if it begins to stick. Carefully lift the dough into your baking dish.
Using your fingers, press the dough into the bottom of a 9X13 inch pan.
Top the dough with the cooled apple mixture,
Spread the apples out as evenly as you can.
Roll out the other piece of dough and place it on top of the apple filling.
Brush the dough with a beaten egg.
You can now bake the Apfel Bitten but I added a sprinkling of cane sugar to the top of my Apfel Bitten. I had it in my cupboard from another recipe and thought it would be a nice addition.
If using a glass pan, bake at 325 degrees and check after 30 minutes. Bake until nicely browned. Mine took almost an hour to bake. If using a metal pan increase the temperature to 350 degrees.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before slicing and serving.
Apfel Bitten
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup softened butter
- 1 egg
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar
- zest from half a lemon
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- ½ cup ground almonds
For the filling:
- 5-6 apples, peeled, cored and cut into thin slices or small dice
- ⅓ cup golden raisins
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- zest and juice from half a lemon
- ¼ cup sugar if using tart apples
- ½ cup rum
Instructions
For the dough:
- In a large bowl combine flour, softened butter, egg, powdered sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon and ground almonds.
- Work into a stiff dough. Wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate for 2 hours, overnight is better.
For the filling:
- In a saucepan over medium heat cook diced apples, raisins, cinnamon, lemon zest and juice, sugar and rum.
- Cook until apples are soft and most of the liquid has cooked off.
- Remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool down to room temperature.
To assemble:
- Remove chilled dough from the refrigerator. Cut the dough in 1/2 and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness. Place in the bottom of a 13X9 inch baking dish.
- Top the dough with the apple filling, spread out as evenly as you can.
- Roll out the second piece of dough and place on top of the apple filling.
- Brush the top crust with beaten egg and a sprinkle of cane sugar if desired.
- Bake at 350 degrees, or 325 degrees if using a glass baking dish for 30 minutes. Check for doneness after 30 minutes and continue to bake until light golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before slicing and serving.
Apfel Bitten is delicious on it’s own but even more scrumptious when served a la mode with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream! Oh my!
Thank you Tante Elizabeth, I had the nicest time spending the day cooking and baking with you in your beautiful kitchen! I will think of you every time I make these!