Ultimate Apple Crumble
The crumble is a hero of a dish that never fails to be an absolute hit at dinner parties, Sunday lunches or even a midweek indulgence. It's one of those winter essentials, likes stews, puddings and soups.
Servings
6-8
Ingredients
- 4 large cooking apples, such as Bramleys, peeled, cored and diced
- 1½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 50g butter, at room temperature
- 250g caster sugar
- 200g plain flour
- 50g porridge oats
- 50g walnuts and/or hazelnuts, chopped
- 1½ tbsp demerara sugar
- To serve:
- custard or vanilla
- ice cream
Method
- Preheat a fan oven to 160C (320F/gas 4) and line a baking sheet with baking parchment.
- Place the diced apples in an ovenproof dish, sprinkle with half the ground cinnamon and a couple dollops of the butter.
- Put the sugar, flour and the remaining butter into a large bowl and mix together with your fingertips. You should combine the ingredients by rubbing between your fingers and thumbs to create a breadcrumb-like texture. Then add the oats, walnuts or hazelnuts, sprinkle in the remaining ground cinnamon and mix thoroughly.
- Once the dry mix is combined, spread it out evenly on the prepared baking sheet and bake it in the oven for 10 minutes. (This part is optional, but I love doing this to create a particularly crunchy crumble topping.)
- Spread the topping over the apples and sprinkle the demerara sugar over the top. Then, cook in the oven for 45 minutes until golden brown and bubbling round the edges.
- Serve with a healthy dollop of custard or vanilla ice cream. Or simply with a big bowl and spoon.
Apple by James Rich (Hardie Grant £20) Photography ©Jacqui Melville
