Classical Charlotte: Light Apple Pie

The original recipe of charlotte was created in Germany and implied a classical German dessert baked from wheat bread, whipped cream, fruit, and liqueur. In the aftermath, charlotte became popular as an English dish, one of the pudding derivations, which is usually served warm.

Ingredients

• Egg 7 pcs.
• Sugar 2 cups
• Melted butter (or margarine + a piece for pan coating) 0.5 cup
• Wheat flour 2 cups
• Apples to one’s taste

Directions

1. Beat up eggs and sugar in a dry bowl. If the eggs are large, take 5 instead of 7. Too many eggs will make the dough too deadish. Thoroughly froth eggs and sugar. A usual whisk will not be able to do the task, that is why use a blender.
2. Melt butter with the help of double boiling and add frothed eggs and sugar. Beat up the mixture once again until butter melts completely.
3. Sieve flour. The better it is sieved, the puffier the charlotte, because sieving does not only eliminate unwanted lumps and cleans flour, but also plays the role of a natural leaven.
4. Delicately pour sieved butter into the foamy mixture of eggs, sugar, and butter. Dole out the poured flour, constantly mixing it to eliminate lumps. If the mixture is not smooth, the dough would not pluff, and there would be no lightness in the pie.
5. Thoroughly cut out seed cases from the apples and then slice them. Some prefer cutting apples into slabs, however, it is not the best choice for baking a charlotte. The thinner the apple slices, the better they bake in the dough.
6. Before adding apples to the dough, sieve them with flour. Some butter will not let the fruit sag to the bottom and will help them settle proportionally in the dough. Shake off spare flour.
7. Pour some dough into the coated pan, then add the apples and pour the rest of the dough over them. It is this adding sequence that will help the apples spread proportionally and favor the pluffing.
8. Put the pie in the oven preheated to 160C/180C. Cook the pie under the same medium temperature for charlotte not to burn and to bake thoroughly. Baking duration depends on the size of the cooked pie and approximately totals 40-50 minutes. If the oven is old and weak, cooking may take 10-15 minutes more.