Name: The Papeneiland Café
Address: Prinsengracht 2, Amsterdam, 1015 DV, NL
Telephone: 020 624 1989
Price range: €€
Rating: 3.8

Netherlands

Amsterdam

Centrum

The Papeneiland Café

Apple pie in the American sense is a double-crust pie: sliced apples tossed with sugar, cinnamon and a little flour or starch, sealed between a bottom and top crust of shortcrust pastry and baked until the lid is brown and the filling bubbles through the vents. The English were baking apple pies by the fourteenth century and the Dutch have their own tall appeltaart, but the version that became a national symbol in the United States is the flat, nine-inch, lidded pie of the diner counter and the Thanksgiving table, usually served warm with vanilla ice cream or a slice of sharp cheddar. The apple is argued over endlessly: Granny Smith for acidity and structure, Honeycrisp and Braeburn for flavour that survives the oven, and most serious bakers use two or three varieties in one pie so the filling has both bite and softness.

The pastry is the half that goes wrong. American pie dough is flour, cold butter or a butter-and-lard mix, salt, ice water and nothing else, worked only until the fat is in pea-sized pieces, rested, then rolled thin; too much water or handling gives a tough crust, too little fat a dry one. The apples are peeled and sliced to about six millimetres, tossed with sugar, cinnamon, a squeeze of lemon and a tablespoon or two of flour or cornstarch to bind the juice, and either piled raw into the shell or briefly cooked first so the filling does not shrink and leave a gap under the lid. The pie bakes hot, around 200°C, for the first twenty minutes to set the bottom, then lower for another forty, and it has to cool for at least two hours before cutting or the filling runs.

Cut a slice and look at the cross-section. The bottom crust should be baked through and golden, not pale and damp, and the top should flake; the apples should hold their shape as distinct slices in a thick, glossy, lightly set juice, with no hollow between filling and lid and no puddle on the plate. Cinnamon should be present but not the main flavour, and the apple should still taste tart. Mark down a soggy bottom, apples cooked to sauce, a filling that is mainly thickener, a tinned-pie flavour of excess sugar and spice, a crust made with shortening that coats the mouth, and a slice served straight from the oven that collapses. The ice cream is optional and does not rescue a poor pie.

Apple Pie

Cozy and vintage vibe.Great for romantic afternoon coffee dates. Apple pir was delisch! Apple slices were juicy and pie was crusty. Frosted milk on top of cappuccino was another level

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