Date: 1 Jul 2009 Comments: 5 so far

My younger sister is one ambitious person. She wants to learn making pate brisee and she wants to learn it fast. Given her track record of attention span, its a wonder that we managed to have any baking project done at all. Together we flipped through recipes and pored through websites, and realize that its best to stick to the only pate brisee recipe that we both think would work.

But of course, we cannot eat only pie shells! We rummaged through the fridge for anything, anything to fill the pies, and we found apples and strawberries, so apple and strawberry crumble pie it is! Gotta love my Ikea apple slicer for the efficiency. Although its not quite suitable to have such cuts for an apple pie, but I still like to use it!

I halved all the ingredients to make Pate Brisee for the pie shell to make a smaller pie.

Ingredients for the pie shell:
175 grams all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon (4 grams) salt
1/2 tablespoon (14 grams) sugar
115 grams unsalted butter, chilled, and cut into 1 inch (2.54 cm) pieces
1/8 to 1/4 cup (30 - 60 ml) ice water
Click here to refer to pate brisee recipe and instructions in full

Ingredients for the fillings:
3 medium sized apple
1/2 cup strawberries
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
4 tbsp granulated white sugar, or more, if a sweeter pie is preferred

Method for the fillings:
Core and slice the apples thinly. Mix 3 tablespoons of sugar with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder. Mix evenly with apple. Set aside. Slice the strawberries and stir in the remainder tablespoonful of sugar. Set aside for 1/2 an hour.

Ingredients for the crumble:

75 grams all-purpose flour, sifted
60 grams butter, chilled
1/2 tablespoon sugar

Method for the crumble:

Mix the butter with the flour in a dry bowl until mixture resembles coarse meal. It’s alright to have differently sized crumbles, its just gonna add to the rustic, homecooked character. Optional ingredients of oatmeal or corn flakes can be added now, but I prefer to go the simpler way by omitting them. Mix it all in well.

This crummy picture is is making me feel uneasy. Sheesh.
Now is the time to heat up the oven. Heat the oven to 180C / 350F for 10 minutes.

While the oven is heating, assemble the pie. Take the pre-baked pie shell and load in the fruits.

Pour crumbles all over the fruit, spread it smooth and nicely. Bake for 20 minutes or until crumbles are slightly brown. I usually judge by smell. If the delicious smell of buttery pastry and apples are all over the house, it is done.

Time to cut the pie and scoop the vanilla ice cream, or any other cream, although I like it just on its own. Yum!