Apple Crumble Pie

How to make 4 individual delicious Apple Crumble Pies, easy step by step instructions, from start to finish.

Ingredients

Making the Apple Filling:
Wash, peel, core and cut the apples into 25mm / 1inch pieces and coat them in lemon juice. (see the video for the apple varieties I use in the video)
Sprinkle the sugar in a hot frying pan, and allow the sugar to melt.
Once melted and golden brown, carefully add the apples to the pan, toss and stir fry them for 2 minutes.
Add the spices and continue tossing and stir frying the apples.
Once the apples are coated with spices, add the butter and continue cooking for 2 minutes.
Carefully get the cooked apples into a bowl, cover with cling film, allow to cool.
Blind baking the pastry cases:
Preheat your oven to 180°C / 355°F / Gas mark 4.
Grease four of your 5-inch pie tins.
Roll out your pastry to 3mm thick, and cut out 4 circles 6¼in / 16cm in diameter.
Place the pastry into the greased tins leaving a little sticking up over the edge of the tin.
Prick a few holes in the pastry base, this is called “Docking” the pastry, it prevents the pastry from bubbling up when baking.
Scrunch up 4 pieces of 18cm / 7in round parchment paper, place them on top of the pastry in the tins.

Fill the cases with ceramic or dried beans and gently press it down, (I use raw uncooked rice in the video).
Place all 4 tins on a baking tray, bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.
Once baked remove from the oven.
Leave the oven running at the same temperature.
Lift out the blind baking beads and back into their container, save the parchment papers, as they are reuseable.
While they’re still hot, brush egg-wash inside the pastry cases and allow them to dry, this will waterproof the cases.
leave the pastry cases in the tins, and allow them to cool.
Making the Crumble mix:
Simply add all of the crumble ingredients to a large bowl.
Rub everything together with your fingers, until you have a loose crumbly dry mixture, this should take around 4 minutes in real time.
Place the bowl in the fridge until needed.
Assembly:
Fill the pastry cases three quarters full with the cooked apple mixture.
Carefully spoon on the crumble mix, try to dome it, higher in the middle, running down to below the edge of the pastry.
Place all 4 tins on a baking tray, get them into the oven, which should still be running at 180°C / 355°F / Gas mark 4.
And set you timer for 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven, and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
These can be served hot or cold.
They are especially nice, served hot with vanilla ice cream or vanilla custard.
Or cold with ice cream, or whipped cream.
Enjoy.