apple phyllo pie with pecans and maple

I have been dying to make a crispy ‘Morroccan’ style phyllo pie like this for ages, and you can go in either a savoury or sweet direction with it. I opted for the latter. I love the combination of apple with pecans and maple, and next time I may be a bit more generous with the syrup and drench it – baklava style.

Regardless, this method really does take the stress out of using phyllo pastry (if you have any), as you simply roll the filling up into four rolls and then tightly pack them into each other in a greased cake tin. Very pretty looking too.

I used the Mediterranean Delicacies Phyllo pastry which is fabulous to work with.

A few pointers on using phyllo:

1. work very quickly as the pastry dries out
2. have all the elements ready before you start working with the  pastry
3. dampen a tea towel and cover the pastry that you are not using
4. clear a space to do the rolling

Phyllo is very forgiving. If you tear a bit you just keep on rolling and the tear will get covered in another layer.

I have also buttered the inside of each sheet and scattered it with brown sugar so that when you role them up, this keeps the layers a little separated and adds a nice crunch.

Recipe | makes one pie | serves 4 – 6

• 4 x phyllo pastry sheets
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 3 star anise pods
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/2 cup raisins (I used a mixture of sultanas and raisins)
• 3 slightly heaped cups of cut up apple (peeled, cored, and cut into smallish cubes) – I used Red Cripps which are sweet and tart
• 1/2  a cup of roughly chopped toasted pecan nuts (+ a few extra for decoration)
• 1/2 t – 1t cinnamon powder (optional if you like cinnamon flavour)
• 2 T maple syrup + 1/4 of a cup for drizzling
• +-80g butter melted (in a small dish – in the microwave)
• +-1/4 cup of brown sugar for sprinkling

Add the sugar, star anise, cinnamon stick  and raisins to a pot with 2 cups of water and bring this to the boil. Allow it to boil for about 5 minutes so that the raisins plump up and re hydrate.

Add the cut up apples to the boiling sugar syrup and boil for about 8 – 10 minutes. Strain and remove the cinnamon and star anise. Allow this to cool slightly.

Pre – heat your oven to 180 C / 350 F

Spray a 22 – 26cm cake tin (or any appropriate size pie dish) with cooking spray or butter.

Add the chopped pecan nuts and 2 T of maple syrup to the cooled mixture *You can dry fry the whole nuts in a non stick frying pan until they are toasted and golden, or roast them in the oven. Add your cinnamon powder if you are using it.

Melt the butter in the microwave and have the pastry brush ready.

Working with one pastry sheet at a time, place a 1/4 of the apple mixture on the bottom edge of the pastry. Brush the rest of the sheet lightly with melted butter, trying to cover as much of the surface area as possible. Sprinkle over about 1 T of the brown sugar over the buttered sheet. Roll the pastry log up starting from the filling end, rolling over the sugared buttered phyllo. Tuck the edges in as you roll so that the filling doesn’t come out.

Place the rolls snuggly in  the cake tin and brush each log with butter over the top. It doesn’t matter if the middle roll breaks as you try to bend it, just patch it up with a few small pieces of phyllo.

bake for 25 – 30 minutes until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and whilst hot, drizzle over the 1/4 of a cup of maple syrup. Scatter over extra chopped nuts and serve warm or at room temperature.

* tip: if you want to make your pie extra crispy, use 2 layers of phyllo to roll the filling.

*This post has been sponsored by Mediterranean Delicacies. You can keep up to date with all their delicious products on their Facebook page.

A few of my other phyllo recipes can be found here:

zesty spinach and feta pies

mushroom and parmesan phyllo pies

roasted vegetable strudel

christmas pudding strudel with chocolate

I look forward to connecting with you again