Apple Pie

Some like it plain, some like it with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream, some with custard and some with a generous dollop of whipped cream. You cannot refuse somebody dessert, especially for someone just out of the hospital. Yeah! on our weekend over to my inlaws, my bro in law says "Chech don't come empty handed!" Asked him if an apple pie was alright, and he goes, "just bring it on chechi"....

Ingredients:
Short Crust Pastry
All Purpose Flour - 2 1/2cups
Salt - 1tsp
Granulated Sugar - 2tbs
Unsalted Butter - 1cup, cut into i inch pieces
Chilled water - 1/4cup
Apple Filling

Apples - 6 large, peeled, cored, sliced into 1/4inch pieces
Granulated Sugar  - 1/4cup
Brown Sugar - 1/4cup
Lemon Juice - 1tbs
Cinnamon Powder - 3/4tsp
Nutmeg Powder - 1/4tsp
Unsalted Butter - 2tbs
One egg with a couple of tablespoons of milk whisked - to brush the pastry

For the Short crust pastry (Pate Brisee) - Into a food processor, place the flour, salt and sugar and mix until well combined. Add in the cold butter and process the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Pour about 1/4cup water through the feed and the mixture holds together to form a dough. Do not process for more than 30-40seconds. Turn the mixture onto a floured surface and gather into a ball. Divide the dough into two halves, cling wrap and refrigerate for an hour. Grease a 9inch pie dish. Take out one half of the dough, roll and flatten the dough to cover the base of the pie dish. Roll the dough outwardly from the center to get uniform thickness. Brush off any excess flour and gently place pastry to fit the base of the dish.Cover with cling wrap and place back into the refrigerator.

In the meantime, the apple filling can be made, by combining the apples, both the sugars, lemon juice, cinnamon and nutmeg powder and butter into a medium saucepan. Then cook the apples for a medium to high flame for about 3-4minutes till the apples turn soft and the liquid reduces and becomes thick. The liquid will turn syrupy and caramelized. Place the apple filling into the base of the pastry filled pie dish.

Then take out the other half of the dough. Roll and flatten the dough to cover the apple filling. Moisten the edges of the base pastry with water so as to tuck and seal the top pastry. Crimp the top pastry as desired. Once the top of covered, trim off excess pastry. In the middle of the top pastry, make a slit so as to let the steam escape while the pie is being cooked. Lightly brush the top pastry with egg and milk mixture and bake into a preheated oven of 180C for 40-50minutes till the top is golden brown and juices are bubbling. Its tempting to cut the pie right away, (I did that to take my photo, plus we were heading out to my inlaws).Resist as much as you can and let the pie sit for a couple of hours so that they turn out to be perfect wedges.