Apple Crumble Pie

Before moving to the UK, apples were well, just apples. I could never tell one variety of apple from another, all types just merging into one. To be completely honest, apples were never really my thing. The thing is, you can't help but know your apples (at least some of them) in this country and after three years, I've decided that apples are in fact, my thing especially those lovely, sweet gala apples. So it doesn't come as a surprise when I decided one afternoon that the only cure to the brain-muddling that came with trying to decipher equation after equation was apple pie.

Adapted from LEHOUX's Apple Crumble Pie Recipe and B1BMOM's Easy Pie Crust Recipe

Ingredients:

Pie crust:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons milk

Filling:
5 apples, thinly sliced (I used gala, of course)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Crumble:
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius.
Place all pie crust ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
Pat mixture into bottom and up sides of a 9 inch pie pan. Using a fork, pierce the bottom and sides of the crust lightly.
Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until light brown.

Once the baked pie crust is sufficiently cool, arrange the apple slices in the shell.
Mix 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over apples.

Mix 1/2 cup sugar with flour and mix in butter until crumbly (your fingertips are the best tools for this).
Spoon the crumble mixture over the apples and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until apples are soft and crumble is a golden brown.

Alright, so it's not really your traditional apple pie but I love how the crumble adds that extra texture to it (and really, who doesn't love toasty, slightly crunchy, crumble?). I have to admit that (yes, another admission) before I came to the UK, I never truly appreciated the the magical powers of custard. I reckon that this could be due to the Malaysian rendition of custard always being a tad too sweet and tasting too much like condensed milk. I discovered in my time here that smooth, creamy custard can be extremely addictive and is often the perfect complement to dessert. So, while warm apple pie with a generous side of vanilla ice cream will always be the winning combination for me, I highly recommend giving the pie-custard pairing a go.

And yes, apple crumble pie does wonders for the muddled brain.