Apple palm pies

These are so easy and quick, because there is no peeling of apples, no coring or chopping, so you can have your pie and eat it too. The filling is a mixture of apple sauce mixed with spices, dried fruit and nuts, then wrapped in filo.

Ingredients

• 2 x 285g/10oz jars chunky apple sauce
• ½ tsp ground mixed spice
• 50g/1¾oz mixed nuts, roughly chopped
• 50g/1¾oz raisins
• cooking oil spray
• 270g/9¾oz pack filo pastry, or 6 sheets
• demerara sugar, for sprinkling
• ice cream or custard, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Put the apple sauce, mixed spice, nuts and raisins into a bowl, stir well and set aside.

2. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6. Have a 12-hole muffin tray at the ready and spray the inside of each hole liberally with oil.

3. Unroll the filo pastry onto a work surface. Using kitchen scissors, cut out all the pastry in one go to make eight equal squares per sheet, totalling 48 squares. Keep the squares you’re not working with under a tea towel to prevent them drying out.

4. Take one square of filo and spray it with oil, lay another square on top, spray again, then lay another on top and spray again. You should have three squares oiled together. It doesn’t matter if the squares are a bit off-centre.

5. Place inside the oiled cavity of the muffin tray, press down, and repeat this process until you have filled all 12 holes in the muffin tray.

6. Fill each hole with an equal amount of the apple filling.

7. Take another square of filo and spray well, then fold in half and in half again to create a small square. Place the small square on top of the apple mixture and fold the pointy edges inwards. If any areas feel dry, spray with oil. Repeat for all 12, then sprinkle with sugar and bake for 14–16 minutes.

8. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes.

9. These are best eaten warm, with ice cream or custard.

Apple palm pies