This one is no secret, it’s nothing difficult and I can almost guarantee that if you’re reading this you’ve made one of these yourself anyway but in honour of logging some of my favourite culinary achievements during this horrible time, here’s my individual apple crumble experience. It is definitely more of an experience than a recipe because let’s face it I barely measured anything.
In an attempt to be more eco-conscious whilst also minimising the number of visits to the shops, we decided to try Oddbox. Oddbox is a fruit and veg subscription box that is delivered to your house either weekly or fortnightly and contains surplus produce that didn’t make it onto the supermarket shelves. The majority of the food is not packaged in plastic and would have gone to waste (for being too big, or the wrong shape or having marks on the skin for example) were it not for Oddbox collecting it up and delivering to customers. There are lots of 50% off codes available at the moment for your first Oddbox so if you’re interested in trying it out then I recommend having a quick Google and finding a code.
We ordered the medium fruit and veg box and when it arrived the first thing I spotted were three huge apples. Yum. The apples were definitely a little larger than you might see in the supermarket, with the odd mark here and there on their skin but I knew that they would make perfect apple crumble apples!
Filling Ingredients:
- 750g of chopped apples (around three large apples)
- 50g of sugar (I like to use brown but whatever you have in the cupboard will do)
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- Half a teaspoon of ginger
- Quarter of a tea teaspoon of nutmeg
- A handful of sultanas
Crumble Ingredients:
- 75g of flour
- 30g of butter (cubed)
- 25g of sugar
- 25g of oats
This made three very generous individual crumbles, and could happily make four slightly smaller ones. I cooked these in oven save ramekins.
Essentially, peel, core and chop your apples, add to a pan with your sugar and spices and leave on a low heat until the apples are of your desired consistency. My family like them to be soft but still hold their shape, but you might prefer them firmer or even right down to an apple sauce like consistency. I leave the lid on my pan whilst the water is building up, and then take it off for a few minutes to evaporate the water off so that the crumble filling isn’t too liquid.
For the crumble I simply whack all the ingredients in a bowl, and using my (very very clean) hands rub the butter into the flour, sugar and oats until it forms a fine breadcrumb like consistency. If you like your crumble topping a little gooey-er then up the quantity of fat in it! If you’ve got any nuts in the cupboard (pecans and walnuts are particularly good) then crush some and pop into the mix at this point too.
Then simply pop a layer of your apple mix at the bottom of your dish, and a layer of crumble mix on top and place in the oven for around 25-minutes at 180 degrees, or until the crumble topping looks to your liking! If you like a real caramelised topping then around five minutes before the end of cooking, sprinkle a tiny bit of sugar on the top of your pies and switch them to the grill. If you’ve got a bit of a sweet tooth then trust me, this can be delicious!
Serve either on their own or with custard, cream or ice cream and voila, the ideally warming Sunday pudding. Yum.
Stay safe x
that emily 