Recipe: apple crumb pie

I think I have multiple personalities.  While at day I am immersed in the harsh reality of the working environment, the minute I get home in the evening, I'm as soft as pie... apple pie, that is! There is no better scent than having an apple pie baking away in the house - whatever you may be stressed about, it will surrender to the beauty of the apple and magically disappear...

Note:  don't be afraid by the list of ingredients.  Most are staples, and once everything is in the counter, the assembly is a piece of cake (but this recipe is for pie - not cake!!!)

Apple crumb pie

adapted from The Pie and Pastry Bible

For the cream cheese crust:

120g butter, cold

what a great pie!

185g flour

85g cream cheese, cold

1/8tsp baking powder

(a pinch of cinnamon, if you like)

1 1/5tbsp cold water

1 1/2tsp white vinegar

salt

egg white, lightly beaten

For the filling:

6 medium apples, in chunks

1tbsp lemon juice

2tsp cornstarch

70g brown sugar

55g white sugar

(a pinch of cinnamon, if you like)

salt

And the first piece... is for me!

For the topping:

75g brown sugar

25g white sugar

140g flour

110g butter, softened

100g chopped walnuts

(a pinch of cinnamon, if you like)

1 1/2tsp vanilla extract

salt

Start with the crust.  In a food processor, blitz flour baking powder and salt.  Add cream cheese, blitz.  Add butter and blitz.  Add water and vinegar and blitz until it detaches from the sides.  Roll to a circle to line a 25cm (deepish) pie dish.  Put in refrigerator for about 20 minutes. 

In the meantime, preheat the oven at 200 degrees C.  In a bowl, peel, core and cut the apples in chunks.  Add the remaining ingredients, cover all pieces well, leave to rest.

Blind bake the crust:  line with aluminium foil, spread baking beans (in my case old dried beans) and bake for about 15 minutes.  Remove foil, brush crust with egg white. Now, you can pour the apples in the dish.  Cover it with a foil dome (so that the apples will not get black when baked), slit some holes with a knive.  Bake for about 50 minutes.

As you wait, make the topping:  put all ingredients in a bowl.  Lightly pinch with fingertips until all is crumble...

Get pie out of the oven, discard foil dome and spread topping evenly. Lower temperature to 180 degrees C.  Protect edges with foil (so that they don't overbrown)  and bake for a further 15 minutes.  Cool on a rack.

This post is my entry into Weekend Cooking, a weekly event hosted by Beth Fish Reads.