This is my mother’s own recipe and was one of my favourite pies (tarts or crostata) growing up.  The smell and taste of it always bring me back to simpler times, and although I don’t have it as much, making it is always a treat – the final look of the lattice work just makes it completely impressive.  Easy to make and I can never say no to anything with an apricot flavour – certainly not to a delicious pie.

Time:

50 min

Serves:

8 (easily)

Good for:

• Impressive final look
• Easy to make
• Great with tea and tea time gatherings

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup salted butter at room temperature
• ¾ cup of granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• 3 tspn of baking powder
• 3 and ¾ cup of white flour
• ½ cup of Apricot jam
• 1 tspn of vanilla extract

Kitchen things you’ll need:

• 12-inch baking pan (preferably round and shallow)
• Large bowl
• Mixer (hand or standing)

Making it:

• Preheat your oven to 350 F (180 C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven.
• Mix the butter, and sugar until combined well into a fluffy light mixture.
• Mix the eggs into the mixture one at a time until each is combined fully.
• Add the vanilla and baking powder until combined, and then the flour and mix on a low-speed setting, once the flour is combined increase the speed to medium setting until a dough is formed.
• Butter/grease the pan.  Cut the dough in half and one-half of it evenly into the pan with your fingers.
• Add a thin layer of the jam evenly throughout the dough base.
• Use the other half of the dough to make ribbons (they can be thin and thick depending on how ambitious and the amount of time you have.
• Make a lattice design over the apricot jam layer (crisscross the ribbons equally and have them go over and under in a pattern – plenty of online tutorials to provide some tips for this).
• Cook the pie for about 30 min and check if the ribbons are golden brown.

Tips/notes:

• You can egg-wash the ribbons to have a polished glossy look.
• If you have more dough I usually do a quirky tic tac tow design with additional dots and x’s with the ribbon lattice design.
• You can add some powdered sugar and cinnamon to the top for an additional flavour dimension, but this is optional.