HOW MANY of you have ever baked an apple pie?

Okay, I see quite a few hands go up. But how many of you have baked a great apple pie, one you were completely satisfied with?

Down go hands.

It is a great British iconic treat – yes, apple pie was invented in medieval England and not America.

It is something which I've fussed over endlessly over the years: butter crust, Bramley apples, and nutmeg or cinnamon, yes or no?

The paths to pie perfection are endless for all to enjoy.

I didn't even realise, Wensleydale cheese was a Yorkshire thing and traditionally baked within an apple pie, although I've had the odd chunk of cheese with my Christmas cake.

This might sound ridiculous when you think of Wallace and Gromit's accents in the popular animated shorts A Grand Day Out and Close Shave. The main character Wallace, a cheese connoisseur, counts his favourite cheeses as anything Yorkshire, especially Wensleydale.

This classic Yorkshire cheese was originally produced in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, by the French Cistercian monks who settled there and took with them a recipe for cheese made from sheep or goats’ milk. This was later replaced with cows’ milk, making it a firmer cheese today.

The flavour of Wensleydale is sweet to combine with sweeter produce, such as fruits like apples. These go together perfectly well and create a varied, but interesting texture.

The cooking apples which I find the best for baking are Bramley apples, giving a sour, sharp, crisp and tarter taste. However, I like to use a mixture of cooking and eating apples uncooked, preferring the texture of larger chunks to a fluffy mush, in order to create a more varied, but interesting pie.

Us Yorkshire folk like to add this fabulous Wensleydale cheese to our apple pies, giving rise to the saying “an apple pie without cheese is like a kiss without the squeeze”.

To those of you who are still not quite convinced, strange as it sounds Wensleydale cheese doesn't have a noticeable flavour and instead adds a certain something, complementing the apples very nicely.

I highly recommend having a go at this classic Yorkshire apple pie recipe as it’s really tasty and absolutely gorgeous. I might even eat some for breakfast tomorrow if there is any left, it's that good.

More cheese Gromit!

Baker Mike's top tips

* Save the pastry scraps for the kids to make jam tarts

* Cinnamon is traditionally used to flavour apple pies

* If you don't want the fuss, buy a good quality ready-made pastry

* Apple pie can be served hot or cold with custard, cream or ice cream

* Cheddar cheese also works very well within a apple pie

Have you missed any of Baker Mike’s previous Friend In Knead articles in previous issues of the Keighley News? Don’t worry, there are a host of Mike’s recipes available to see Keighley News website. Simply visit keighleynews.co.uk, click on What’s On then Food & Drink.