SZARLOTKA (POLISH APPLE PIE) – Cheap Meal Recipes

Szarlotka (Polish apple pie) is a staple found in every cafe and bakery in Poland. Imagine my surprise when I looked back and realized that, although I have eaten a lot of szarlotka in Poland, I’ve never prepared one.

SZARLOTKA VS. APPLE PIE

Szarlotka is different than American apple pie in both the crust and the filling. It also tends to be less sweet. After looking at all of these szarlotka recipes, I now know that szarlotka differs from szarlotka! Some have raisins and almonds, some have meringue on top, some get a crumble topping.

We liked this dessert even better on the second day. The flavors meld, the texture improves. So that’s my recommendation, make this the day before you intend to serve it. Don’t you love dishes that can be made in advance?

As for Barbara’s filling, it’s only apples. I’ve edited a bit by adding cinnamon, but that’s it, no sugar in the filling. The only sugar is what goes into the crust. It is noticeably less sweet than American apple pie and tastes more like apples.

If you’d rather not deal with rolling out a pie crust, this is the dessert for you. You can just pat it into the pan. It’s rustic and very forgiving .

This Polish apple cake is a hugely popular Polish dessert and there are countless ways of making it. Polish szarlotka can be made with either cooked or raw apples, with or without a layer of meringue sandwiched between the apples and the crumb topping. It can even include different fruits, such as pears or peaches.

The one consistent feature in all szarlotka recipes seems to be the pastry, which is always some type of shortcrust pastry. This is also what makes szarlotka different from Polish ‘jablecznik’ apple cake, which can be made using different types of pastry, even yeast based.

POLISH APPLE CAKE INGREDIENTS

For the filling

Apples: I used Braeburn apples (see below for alternatives).
Lemon juice: prevents the apples turning brown and adds citrussy notes.
Cinnamon: this apple crumb cake has just a hint of cinnamon, but you can increase the amount if you like.
Sugar: If your apples are very sour you may want to add more sugar than the recommended amount.

For the dough

Flour.
Baking powder.
Fine sea salt.
Sugar.
Vanilla extract: in Poland this would normally be replaced with vanilla sugar, which is a common baking ingredient (it’s essentially vanilla flavoured fine sugar).
Eggs: use the yolks in the dough and reserve the whites to make a meringue layer (see Instructions).
Butter.
Yogurt: use any thick yogurt, including Skyr, alternatively low-fat sour cream.

WHAT APPLES TO USE

The most popular Polish apple varieties used to make szarlotka recipes include ‘reneta’ and ‘antonowka’, but many other varieties can also be used. I chose Braeburn apples for their sweet and tangy flavour and also because they hold their shape in cooking (this is important!). Granny Smith or Honeycrisp apples would also work well (Golden Delicious or MacIntosh, on the other hand, would not as they break down easily in cooking).

Bramley apples are also a good option, but keep in mind they are very sour which means you’d need to increase the amount of sugar in the filling mixture (and omit the lemon juice!). Consider perhaps using a combination of Bramley and a sweet apple variety.

Ingredients

For the filling

▢3.3 pounds (1½ kg) apples unpeeled weight, Braeburn, Granny Smith, see the post for more detail
▢2½ tablespoons sugar
▢1½ teaspoons cinnamon
▢3 tablespoons lemon juice