Apple Crumble Pie

I wish I had the time to go pick up apples myself in the trees but I don’t… instead, I’m doing like a ton of city people and I bought them at the grocery store.  Next year, I will make the time to go outside the city and go pick them up myself to them prepare a ton of tasty goodies for this blog but this year I have to make sacrifices to work on my online business full time with barely any time to play.  Boohoo so sad 🙁

I was stressed out yesterday before making this.  Not for any particular reason but I guess I was just working too much and because of my overdose of productivity I started getting all annoyed and stressed out so I decided to step away from my computer for an hour to be creative in my kitchen.  Removing the skin of the fresh apples, touching the flour and smelling the aroma of cardamon and cinnamon was exactly what I needed because right after making this apple crumble pie, I felt amazing and accomplished.  Then the day went by, I had to go to my yoga class and the second I came back, the only idea I had in mind was to try my crumble.  It was orgasmic!  I sincerely hope you get around to try out this recipe because it’s worth it 🙂  I used Spartan apples because they were the only fresh one at my grocery store but feel free to use the one you prefer.  I honestly prefer a more sour tasting apple so that was perfect for me.  I’m even thinking on trying out this recipe with green apples this winter.  If you do it before me, let me know how that turned out!

– INGREDIENTS –

For the crust:

1 1/3 cup of flour

1/2 cup of tightly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup of margarine

2 tablespoons of cold apple juice

For the crumble:

1/2 cup of the crust mixture

1/4 cup of flour

1/4 cup of quick oats

1/4 cup of tightly packed brown sugar

1/3 cup of hazelnuts, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon of cardamon

2 tablespoons of margarine

For the filling:

4 apples, diced without the skin

2 tablespoon of lime juice

1/2 cup of tightly packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon of cardamon

1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1 tablespoon of flour

1- Pre-heat your oven at 300.  In a mixing bowl, add all the ingredients of the crust except the apple juice and mix everything till it look like wet sand, then add the apple juice and mix again with your fingers.

2- Grease a 9 inches pie plate with margarine (don’t be scared to put some, the last thing you want is your crust sticking at the bottom).  Take 1/2 cup of your crust mixture out in another bowl and use the rest of create your crust in your plate.  Start by sprinkling the bottom of the pie plate with some mixture and press it down with a tart pamper or with the bottom of a glass if you don’t have a tart pamper (I suggest you buy one, it’s super cheap and so useful).  Then make the sides and press it down with your fingers, it’s easier this way.

3- Time to blind bake your crust.  I always use the same batch of navy beans to blind bake.  Just put the beans inside your crust and put it in your pre-heated oven (at 300) for 20 minutes.

4- During that time, prepare your crumble… Mix well all the ingredients together with your hands till you get this “wet sand” texture again.  Reserve.

5- Prepare your filling, remove the skin on the apples and cut them in small cubes.  Place them in a mixing bowl with the lime juice so they don’t get brown.  Once all the apples are cut and well mixed with the lime juice, add the rest of the ingredients, mix and reserve.

6- Once the 20 minutes is done, take out your pie crust from the oven and remove the beans gently with a spoon.  Watch out because the bottom of the pie will be very fragile.   You can then rinse and dry the beans to use them next time you need to blind bake a crust.

7- Put your oven at 400.  When it gets to temperature, put back your crust for another 4 minutes.  That will make sure the bottom of the crust is well cooked.  Don’t forget to protect the side of your crust with a small sheet of aluminium paper place just around the sides for the 4-5 minutes.

8- After the 4 minutes, add your filling and your crumble on top.  Put it right back in your oven at 400 for 25 minutes or till the crumble is brownish to your liking 🙂