Niki Louca from My Greek Kitchen shares her favourite recipe for tsourekomilopita (Cheat’s Apple Pie) with The Greek Herald. You can follow her on Instagram @mygreekkitchen for more!
Niki often bakes extra tsourekia over Easter and freezes them to either eat as is or use them to make this scrumptious, quick and easy apple pie.
If you don’t have any tsoureki you can always buy them from Greek delis as they seem to be available pretty much all year round now. If that fails, you can always substitute with brioche or challah bread. Happy eating.
Ingredients
- 1 loaf tsoureki (or brioche or challah bread) – cut into 1 inch cubes
Apple filling:
- 5 golden delicious apples (or any other apples you have)
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup water
Egg custard mixture:
- 1 ½ cups full cream milk
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 5 large eggs
Method
- Preheat oven to 175C. Grease a 25cm baking pan.
- For the apple filling – cut and peal apples into 2 cm cubes. Melt butter in a pan and add the flour, cinnamon, sugar, vanilla and water. Add the apples and cook for about 10-15 mins till slightly soft but yet still holding their shape and bite. The sauce will caramelise so keep an eye on it. Once done set aside.
- For the custard – whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl making sure they are all well incorporated.
- Layer half of the tsoureki bread in your greased pan. Top with the apple mixture, then the other half of your bread. Push down so that it compacts a little and fills in the gaps.
- Pour your custard mixture slowly over the bread and apples and let it sit for 5-10 minutes so it is fully absorbed. If you baking dish is a little small, you can keep topping it up with the custard mixture as it absorbs it. You will need all the mixture otherwise it will be too dry. Sprinkle a bit of brown sugar and bake.
- Bake for approximately 50 minutes will it is a dark golden colour. Let is stand for 10-15 minutes before you serve it. It is best served warm with some icecream.
Niki Louca runs cooking classes in Melbourne. For more or to book classes visit My Greek Kitchen at www.mygreekkitchen.com.au or Instagram @mygreekkitchen. You can email Niki at: niki@mygreekkitchen.com.au.
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