My mother never made apple pie growing up. Those pastry case filled with pie on American movies and shows had me salivating and a few times I wished, that just once she would make something magical with apples. Something besides Sunken Apple cake which wasn’t encased in pie and never looked as amazing as those pies that sat on windowsills to cool and shared over fun dinners like on TV.

Our dinners were more of my brother’s chatter, who so regularly talked too much and didn’t eat enough that we would abandon ship before he would finish. We got sick of waiting for him to eat between mouthfuls of words and my parents constant “eat your food”, that it became a family habit for the us to get up and put our plates in the kitchen and get back to life while he sat at the table, finishing up what was left on his plate. And there would never be dessert other then maybe an apple later.

I would dream of coming home and eating apple pie. I always thought the world was little more magical with it in existence instead of the plain apples we were always given. Now this story has point, I swear, in my teens I came home and my mother declared she had made an apple slice, and for a heartbeat I thought it might just be apple pie.

Instead it was apple crumble slice, which frankly disappointed me until I ate it and then I was thankful for her effort. This slice also wasn’t easy to transport to school so I would have to wait until I got home to consume it which was a second cruel trick of this treat. That slice of apple crumble soon became a regular feature with each fall and I enjoyed it to the point of requesting it every once in a while. Though the disappointment of that slice not being pie was something I never uttered to my kind mother.

Wanting to recreate her slice while so far from her kitchen talents meant I decided to give this a go. Frankly, this melts in your mouth so much that I’m going to request my mother make this version over her own when I go back. The base ingredients are soft and the apples fold in the middle so perfectly that this is quite possibly one of my most favorite recipes I may have ever made.

Apple Crumble Slice
Recipe by Roamingtaste
Serves 8

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons corn flour
1/2 cup confectioner’s/icing sugar
170 grams butter, chilled and cubed
5 medium gala apples, peeled, cored and cubed
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons superfine/caster sugar

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350F.

Place the flours and confectioner’s sugar in a bowl and stir to combine. Make a well in the center and add the butter. Combine with a fork until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Pour two thirds of the crumb mixture into the base of a slice tin and flatten down tightly. Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly golden on top. Remove and set aside.

Place the apples into a pot with the water on medium-low heat, add in the sugar and stir through. Cook for a further 5 minutes or the apples begin to look translucent on the edges.

Spoon the apples over the base and spread evenly.

Press the remaining crumb mixture together and sprinkle over the apples. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until lightly golden on top.

Remove and allow to cool.

Slice and serve.