I love biting into a succulent apple. But cooked apples? I don’t think so! My first experience with apple crumble, at a friend’s place, made me change this constricted opinion of mine. The only thing I was thinking with every bite was how could cooked apples taste this good? I could not stop myself from digging into dish. I kept saying to myself, “this is going to be the last bite!” Looking at me frolic like a 4 year old my friend finally packed me some. :) After that, I made apple crumble for the next couple of days.
Apple crumble is one of my favourite things to eat without being sent on a guilt trip. It is not as sinful as other desserts and yet it is absolutely delicious! And it is so easy to make that after you’ve made it a couple of times, you do not need to follow a recipe, just make it on the whim. Unlike cakes, crumble toppings don’t really require exact measurements, which is a good thing. It allows you to play with the ingredients and modify your crumble layer depending on the fruit filling underneath and personal preferences.
Apple Crumble recipe (for 4): Peel and slice 3-4 apples thinly (Granny Smith is the preferred variety, but I use whatever is available). Place that in a bowl, mix them with 2 tbsp honey, 1 tsp flour, 1tsp cinnamon and the juice of half a lemon and toss them lightly. I then place in a medium baking dish. For the topping I mix 75g of either muesli or rolled oats, 3 tbsp flour, 75g melted butter, cinnamon, 2-3 tbsp brown sugar and spoon it on top of the apples and bake for an hour or until done. You could throw in some shopped nuts or raisins for added texture. You could also make them in individual soufflé dish so that the layers can be seen looking pretty.
It comes out wonderfully juicy and nice. Serve this warm with some vanilla ice cream and the crumble will be gone in a jiffy!