(Apple) Pi Day!

NERD ALERT!

So being the absolute geeks the pair of us are, we felt it necessary to celebrate a day dedicated to a mathematical constant.

Yeah, we’re cool like that.

It’s Pi Day!

Please withhold your excitement.

According to the US date format, today -March 14th- marks the annual celebration of π. 3rd month of the year. 14th day of the month. π = 3.14. You get it.

Naturally we decided to bake a ‘pi’. Aren’t we just hilarious?

All dem angles. Pun intended.

So yeah, on Saturday morning we found ourselves in a cloud of flour… listening to the Rock of Ages soundtrack… baking an Apple and Wensleydale Cheese pie in homage to a mathematical symbol.

We have a problem.

Next we’ll be cooking a mole for Mole Day! (all you chemists will understand ;)!)

Actually that’s not a bad idea…

Ingredients

For the shortcrust pastry:

350g plain flour

175g unsalted butter, cold and cubed (plus extra for greasing)

75ml cold water

For the filling:

3 granny smith apples (roughly 250g)

3 bramley apples (roughly 250g)

juice of 1 lemon

50g walnuts, roughly chopped

1tbsp cornflour

75g caster sugar (extra for sprinkling)

100g Wensleydale cheese, crumbled

1 egg, beaten

Method

To make the pastry, place the flour and butter into a large bowl and rub it in to form a breadcrumb texture. Slowly add the cold water and bring together till the dough just comes together. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Once rested, cut into two pieces (roughly one-third and two-thirds). Dust the surface with flour and roll the larger piece of dough to a round circle of a ¼ inch thickness.

Grease a baking tin/pie dish with butter (ours was a round dish of 20cm diameter). Line the base and sides of the tin with the pastry and trim the excess, crimping the edges. Leave to chill in the fridge whilst you make the filling.

To make the filling, peel, core and slice all of the apples. Add the lemon juice to the apples keep them from going brown as you’re slicing. Then drain the apples into another bowl and add the sugar, walnuts, cornflour and cheese. Mix thoroughly.

Preheat the oven to 200ºC.

Roll out the second smaller piece of dough to a ¼ inch thickness and cut out pieces shaped like your favourite mathematic symbol!

Tip the filling into the pie dish and pack down the apples. Lay the mathematical symbols on top of the pie, brush with egg and sprinkle with sugar. If you’re not a big geek like us you could always opt to roll out a circle pastry lid, seal the edges and make a couple slits in the middle for the steam to escape.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.

Serve hot.