Recipe for Christmas Apple Pie from a reader in Carlisle
Ingredients
6 medium sized apples (They don't have to be baking apples.)
8 0z SR Flour
4 0z marg
5 Oz mixed dried fruit, ie raisins, sultanas, candied peel
3 0z caster sugar
2 teaspoons cinammon powder
8 dessert spoons of water or 2.5 fluid Oz of water

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180 oC or equivalent.
Place marg and flour into a mixing bowl and rub in marg until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.
Add the water and knead into a pastry doe.
Peel and slice the apples and place them in a pan with the dried fruit and cinammon powder and caster sugar, only add a little water to the fruit and place on a medium heat until the fruit begins to simmer, leave the fruit to simmer on a low heat until it becomes soft. (If you have a microwave, fruit will cook quickly in there, place all the fruit in a glass bowl with the cinammon and sugar and cook on high for 3-5 mins depending on your microwave settings until the fruit is soft.)
Once the fruit is cooked. Leave it to cool and roll out pastry.
Divide pastry doe into two halves and knead the two halves into two separate equal sized balls. Grease a deep pie dish and place some flour on a clean surface, rub some flour onto a rolling pin and roll out the pastry ball, turning it at intervals in order to create a flat circular shape. The circle of pastry should be slightly bigger than your pie dish.
Once it is big enough, flour the pastry and the rolling pin and lift the pastry onto the dish using the rolling pin to move it across. Press the pastry into the sides of the dish until all the dish is covered and trim off any excess pastry with a sharp knife.
Place cooled fruit into the middle of the pie dish and spread to the edges with a palette knife.
Repeat the steps above for rolling out pastry, go around the edge of the half finished pie with some water to help the top layer of pastry to stick and transfer pie top across by using the rolling pin to lift it until all the fruit is completely covered.
Press the two edges together with your fingers and trim off any excess pastry with a sharp knife.
Using the sharp knife cut two slits in the middle of the pie and sprinkle with a little cinammon powder and caster sugar.
Place in the oven and cook for 1/2 an hour or until the pastry is a golden brown colour.