Recipe: Schoenlapperstaart a.k.a. Dutch Cobblers Pie

Today I will be sharing a Dutch recipe with you, which I got from friends. It’s called ‘Schoenlapperstaart’, which basically translates into cobblers pie (The shoe mending kind). People supposedly used to make this pie with stale bread. Nowadays however they use rusk, or ‘beschuit’ as they call it in the Netherlands.

You will need:

Rusk

Applesauce (homemade or just from a store)

Sugar

Vanilla extract or sugar

Eggs

You will also need:

Two large bowls

Two cups (you will be splitting the eggs and putting the egg whites in a cup first will help you when you accidentally get some of the egg yolk in the egg white)

A mixer

A cake tin

When it comes to measurements, there is a lot of variation between different recipes. I will give you the measurements I used, but feel free to change them to your own taste. I’m told there is a lot of space for personal adjustments when making this pie, so don’t worry about it coming out a disaster.

The measurements I used were:

8 pieces of rusk (about 4 inches in diameter)

About 700 ml or 24 ounces of applesauce

55 grams or 2 ounces of sugar

A tablespoon of vanillasugar

3 eggs, taken out of the fridge as you start the recipe, so they will get to room temperature

Before you begin; preheat your oven to 175 degrees Celsius, or 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Now you get to do the fun part: smash up the rusk until it’s nothing but crumbs. Mix the crumbs and the vanilla with the applesauce in one of your bowls. Check the consistency; it should be moist but somewhat dry.

Now take your other bowl and make sure it’s completely fat free. You will be beating your egg whites in this bowl and if it’s not completely fat free you will be whisking until your arm falls off without anything happening. Now split your egg yolks and egg whites. Make sure you don’t get any yolk in the whites. A good idea is to split one egg, putting the white in one cup and the yolk in the other. Then, put the white in your big bowl and split another egg. Do this with all three eggs.

Now whisk your egg whites until they’re stiff, adding the sugar bit by bit. A good way to check is holding your bowl upside down. If it doesn’t fall out of the bowl, you’re good to go. If it does; clean up and start over. You should end up with a stiff, white and shining mass.

Now beat up your yolks just a bit, and add them to your applesauce and crumbs mixture. Mix them well. Add the applesauce mixture to your egg whites spoon by spoon, gently flipping it over. Don’t stir, you will stir all the air out of your whites and undo all your hard work.

Now butter up your cake tin and put the mixture in. Bake it in your oven for 45 minutes, and enjoy it warm!