Varun's 30th Birthday !!!

Happy Birthday Varun Sangal !!!

Varun and my friendship goes back to our school days, bonding over playing Dumb Charades and discussing cars and bikes sitting on the last seat of our school bus !!! From being good school friends we are today the best of buddies and our friendships have extended to our families too.

For his birthday this year I wanted to bake something for his party. With winters at their best in Delhi right now, nothing seemed better than a rich warm dessert ....and for once I was not thinking chocolate. Apples it was !!! The crumbly base, the sweet apple pulp with a hint of cinnamon and the crunchy walnuts - all good things in life !! Oh yes it was the Quintessential Apply Pie on my mind !!

The Crunchy Apple Pie

Short Crust Pastry
200g Flour
100 g Yellow butter - cut into small cubes and chilled (I used Amul)
2 tbsp Powdered Sugar
A Small pinch of Baking Soda
4-5 tbsp Ice cold Water to bind
A Flan dish of 9"-10"diameter (preferably loose bottom)

Apple Filling
5 Large apples - peeled and cut into thin small pieces
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 Cup Sugar
2-3 tbsp Walnuts - coarsely pounded
1/2 - 1 tsp Cinnamon Powder

Topping
1/2 cup Porridge Oats (I used Quaker)
2 tbsp Brown Sugar
2 tbsp Melted Butter
Honey to drizzle

Procedure
1. Cut cold butter into small similar sized cubes and refrigerate again.
2. Mix together the flour, baking powder and the powdered sugar.
3. Now blend the flour mixture with butter at low intermittent speed in a blender, till the mixture turns crumbly. Remove from the blender into a large plate and combine it with your hands to form a dough. DO NOT KNEAD the dough.
4. Wrap in cling film and keep in the fridge for 15-20 minutes. You can even leave it over night.
5. Mix the apples, lemon juice and sugar and cook on low flame till it becomes pulpy and dry. Add the nuts and cinnamon.
6. Keeping aside a little dough, roll out the rest into a round disk of 1/8th of an inch in thickness. Make sure it covers the base and the sides of the flan dish.
7. Grease a loose bottom flan dish. Spread the pastry in it. Press it down on the sides so that the dough takes the pattern of the mould. Prick lightly with a fork. Keep in the freezer for 10 minutes. Bake at 200 degree in a preheated oven for 20 minutes light golden.
8. Remove pie from the oven and let it cool. Arrange the filling over the pastry.
9. Mix all ingredients of the topping and crush roughly. Sprinkle on the apples.
10. Roll out the left over dough very thinly and cut into thin strips with a pastry wheel cutter. Arrange the strips in a criss-cross pattern on the pie.
10. Brush the strips with melted butter and finish by drizzling some honey. Sprinkle sugar and bake for 20 minutes in a preheated oven at 200 degrees centigrade till the top turns light brown and slightly crisp.
Serve hot or cold with ice-cream or whipped vanilla cream.