Appeltaart (Dutch apple pie)

Living in Amsterdam, you cannot escape its famous appeltaart, and one of the best places to enjoy it is a little corner café named De Winkel 43. The line of people waiting outside on Saturday morning (across the weekly organic market) doesn't lie! Even though the original recipe is kept secret, there is a number of versions available on the net. I tried a couple of them (disappointing) and after tweaking a few measurements here and there, I finally came up with something extremely close to the original.

CRUST
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
250 grams unsalted butter, cubed, room temperature (approx. 1+1/8 cups)
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (I used sunflower)
4 cups of all-purpose flour 
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
 
FILLING
7 apples (I used Elstar, but a combination of sweet and tart apples works great too)
2 Tbsp cinnamon
Zest of ½ orange
Zest of  ½ lemon
Juice of ½ lemon
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup raisins

FOR SERVING
2 cups heavy cream (35% fat)
confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In the bowl of your mixer, mix the room-temperature butter and your brown and white sugars until they are creamy. Add in the egg and the oil, and mix well.
In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flour+salt+baking powder), until they are fully combined. Then, slowly add your dry mixture to your mixing bowl. Make sure the dry mixture is all incorporated by scraping down the sides of your bowl as you go.
The dough should be a little sticky and look like the consistency of a cookie dough. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit while you work on the filling.
Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F).


Peel, core and chop your apples into chewable-sized pieces.
Place them into a large bowl, add all the other ingredients on top and toss it all with a wooden spoon, or your bare hands. Pour into a large frying pan, on medium heat, until the apple pieces are coated with a sticky brown syrup, about 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat.


Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform cake pan with parchment paper.
Uncover your resting dough. Place 1/4 of it into a separate bowl for the pie topping.
Spread the dough out on the bottom and on all sides of the pan (use your fingers to coat). Coating must be evenly thick.
Pour filling in the pan, pressing lightly to smooth the top and make sure it all fits in there.
Break the remaning quarter of dough into ball-size pieces and flatten them into a cookie shape. Place them on top of the pie, starting from the edge, towards the center, connecting the pieces together. The entire surface should be covered, but make sure to leave a few holes here and there so that the steam from the baking apples can escape.

Bake for one hour, checking in at about the 45 minute mark to ensure the top isn't browning too fast.
If it is, place some foil over top so the top doesn't burn. I baked mine for an extra 10 minutes.

Let your pie cool for a few hours if you don't want it to fall apart when cutting it. Serve with fresh made chantilly cream (whip the heavy cream until thickened and add confectioner's sugar and vanilla to taste). Alternatively, a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream will do just fine.