Apple Pie

                  I had many apples at home and I don't like apples much. But still, apples at my house never

get thrown away, because I always make sure that I make an Apple Pie with them !!! Everyone in my 

family loves them and it doesn't take much of a hard work !!! This is a perfect dish if you dont have 

much energy and want to eat something sweet and delicious. You can even make some changes in the 

apple filling and have a completely different pie in front of you!!! Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

For The Pastry:

• All purpose flour : 225gm
• Butter                  :150gm
• Sugar                   :1 ½ tsp
• Vanilla Extract     : 4-5 drops
• Cold milk            : As required

For the Filling:

• Apples,peeled and sliced :½kg
• Sugar                                          :½ cup
• Cinnamon powder                   :1 tsp

Method:

              Mix the flour,1 1/2 tsp sugar, vanilla extract and butter till it becomes crumbly like breadcrumbs.Then slowly add the cold milk, 1tbsp at a time and keep kneading till the mixture converts in to a soft but firm dough.Wrap the dough in a cling film or put it in an airtight container and put it in the fridge for one hour.

              Meanwhile, take the sliced apples, ½ cup sugar and cinnamon powder (i prefer to sieve the cinnamon powder to ensure that no granules enter my dish) in a non-stick pan and cook on low flame till the apples have become very soft. There should be no extra water in the filling. Mash them just a bit with a spoon and keep aside. You do not need to add any water and if the apples are not cooking, then consider covering them with a lid for 4-5 mins.

               Line your pie dish with aluminium foil (It's not necessary, but I do it as it becomes easy to remove the pie from the pie dish). Take 2/3 rd of the dough and place it between two sheets of cling film. Roll out the dough into a circle of thickness of about 3-4 mm. Remove the upper cling film. Now the tricky part: To put the dough on your pie dish. For this, pick up the sheet of dough on your hand from the side, with the cling film side down. Carefully flip the dough on your pie dish ( The cling film should be on the top now). Now gently push the dough inside your pie dish to line the botton and sides of your dish.This is how it should look now:

           Now remove the cling film and trim off the excess dough from the edges.Poke the base with a fork to prevent the base from rising during baking. Put the dish in a 250 C preheated oven till it turns light golden brown. If the base starts rising during baking, simply poke the rising area with a fork.

            Then take the apple filling and put it in the dish. Roll out another thin sheet of dough like the previous one. Put it on the apples, seal the edges of the baked base and the dough with the help of some thick conflour paste and make a few holes or vents in the layer of dough. You can do this while even giving a design to the top of your pie. If you want, then instead of making a covered pie crust( i.e. the top) you can also cut the flattened dough into 1 cm strips and put a criss-cross pattern on the top of your pie!!! Do as you please!!!  Put it in the oven at and bake it with only the upper element of the oven on (grilling). Remove when the top crust turns light golden brown.

            Serve it with some whipped cream or ice-cream and strawberries!!!