In case you haven’t noticed it’s almost Pi Day! While I am not a huge pie fan (cake girl over here… actually make that cupcakes! Yum!) I do enjoy a pie once in a while. For example, I made a yummy Rustic Pear Apple Tart last year for Pi Day!
Unfortunately most commercial American pies are extremely sweet. Like, they are almost all sugar. That’s the main reason why I don’t eat them very much. I am used to eating less sweet baked goods – my mom has always reduced the sugar in recipes by a lot so my sensitivity to sweet foods is higher than most people. That doesn’t mean I don’t have a sweet tooth though. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you already know I love my sweets!
I wanted to share something a little different than the typical pie recipes you are probably seeing around the Web right now. Since I grew up in Poland, I love sharing this little piece of myself and my culture with you! I have already shared a few Polish recipes, made healthier than traditional, because truthfully, Polish food is not very healthy at all haha. But just as with any other cuisine, there are ways to tweak it to make it better for you!
This Polish Apple Pie is a traditional pie named Szarlotka. The only thing that is really different about it from the original recipe is the fact that I did not add any sugar when making the apple filling.
The original recipe called for ½ cup sugar but I personally think apples are already sweet as they are (especially once you cook them and let the juices flow, makes it even sweeter!) and I like the crisp and tart twang these apples can provide this lovely apple pie without the sugar. I think sugar would camouflage the true flavors of the apples. If you dislike tartness in your pie or you just like your pie very sweet, you are welcome to add up to ½ cup of sugar to the apple filling as it’s being cooked.
I thought this szarlotka turned out so great! There is a LOT of filling, which was perfect. I am also a huge fan of the crumble on top and the crust – it’s a very typical and traditional crust recipe but it is just so good. There are a lot of Polish cakes that involve making a crumbly topping like this and I’m thinking I might try making more Polish cakes in the near future. The only thing stopping me is that making the crust is a little tedious as you have to make sure you do not make the dough warm by overly touching it with your hands. You have to work very fast once you get to rolling the dough out.
This recipe was slightly adapted from Gziki Pyry. Even if you don’t speak Polish you should check out the blog just for the photography – it is breathtaking!
Also check out our honey szarlotka recipe with nuts and raisins – it’s yummy!
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