apple pie

My favorite kind of pie-rich with bite-sized fruit, dressed in dough that melts in your mouth. 

Apple Pie in Walnut Crust

For the crust:
75 walnut halves
180 g whole wheat pastry flour
50 g packed light brown sugar
Pinch fine sea salt

55 g butter

60 ml milk, as needed

For the filling:
6 medium apples, peeling optional, cored, quartered, cubed into bite-size pieces
2 tablespoons (28 g) nondairy butter
3 tablespoons (45 ml) milk
60g packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Pinch fine sea salt
1 tablespoon (8 g) cornstarch

To make crust: Preheat oven to 190°C. Lightly coat a 23-cm pie plate with spray or butter.
Add walnuts, flour, sugar, salt and butter to a food processor. Pulse a few times to grind pecans and combine.
Add milk, a little at a time, just until the dough sticks together when pinched.
Evenly crumble dough into the prepared pie plate, and press it down to cover the whole bottom and sides of the plate. Make sure no cracks are left so that the filling has no chance to seep down through them. Alternatively, you can roll out the crust on a lightly floured surface and carefully transfer it into the pie plate to fit it in. Reserve a generous handful of the crust to crumble on top of the filling as it bakes. Pre-bake for 24 minutes.

In the meantime, make the filling: Combine all ingredients (with only 2 tablespoons [30 ml] milk and save the cornstarch for later) in a pot. Bring to a boil, lower heat and cook on medium for few minutes, stirring often. The syrup must be rather thick and the apples just barely tender without falling apart. Combine remaining milk and cornstarch in a small bowl. Add into the apple mixture, stirring well, and cook for another 2 minutes until thickened.
Place filling evenly into crust and crumble the crust you reserved on top. Bake for another 24 minutes, or until the edges of the crust are golden brown. Cool and serve (with icecream).