Apple Crumble
There’s something deeply comforting about apple crumble — the kind of dessert that fills the kitchen with the scent of butter, cinnamon, and softening apples. It’s unfussy, nostalgic, and endlessly satisfying, whether served straight from the oven or reheated the next day, topped with a scoop of ice cream. This apple crumble recipe is a reminder that the simplest desserts are often the most satisfying.
I’m one of those people that enjoys an apple crumb with lots of crumble topping on top of the stewed apples. And that’s crumble without the oats. Don’t get me wrong, I love oats, but I don’t think they belong in the crumble of apple crumble.
Ingredients
Apple filling: apples, flour, white sugar, salt, cinnamon, lemon juice and zest.
Crumble: butter, flour, salt, brown sugar and cinnamon
What kind of apples should I use?
I like to use a mixture tart apples like granny smith and sweeter apples that are in season like red delicious, fuji or gala. It depends on how tart or sweet you like your apples. This is a great recipe to use up those leftover apples that are lying around. Aussie Apples is a great resource, listing what type of apples are most commonly grown in Australia, when they’re in season and their flavour profile.
Can I add other things to my apple crumble?
It depends, I love sultanas so you can add some to be mixed in with the apples. You can also swap some of the apples for pears to make an apple, pear mix. Peel, slice and dice the pears the same way you would for an apple, avoiding the core and its seeds. I’ll even give you some tips down in the recipe for making extra crumble for the topping if you’re like me and like it to be heavy on the crumble.
My Best Tips
If you like oats in your crumble, swap out some of the flour for rolled oats.
Many recipes call for cooking the apples beforehand, I don’t. I think baking in the oven makes them soft enough without making them too mushy, they still have a slight bite to them.
Apple crumble can be prepared in advance: follow recipe as usual from step 2-4, cover with cling film and follow the baking instructions when ready to.
Make sure to serve the apple crumble with a yummy topping like a cold custard or a few scoops of ice cream.
Apple Crumble
Ingredients
Apple Filling
- 1 kg apples Note 1
- 1.5 tbsps plain flour
- 1 lemon zest and juice, Note 2
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 110 g white sugar
Crumble Topping
- 125 g butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 200 g plain flour Note 3
- 180 g brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
- Prepare the apples: peel, slice around the core and dice the apple into small pieces. Place into a bowl, add in the flour, lemon juice and zest, cinnamon, salt and sugar and stir to combine.
- Prepare the crumble: melt the butter in the microwave, add in the flour, salt, brown sugar, and cinnamon and stir to combine. The crumble mixture should resemble wet sand.
- Place the apples into an oven safe dish and spread evenly across the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle the crumble evenly across the top of the apples.
- Bake in the oven for 30-45 minutes or until the top of the crumble is a slightly deep golden.
- Remove from the oven, allow to cool for 15-20 minutes before scooping into a bowl and serve with custard or ice cream. Note 4
Video
Notes
- Apples – pick whatever apples you like, I like doing a mixture of tart like granny smith and sweeter like red delicious.
- Lemon – if you don’t have fresh lemons, use 50ml of prepared lemon juice or water.
- If you like oats in your crumble, swap some of the flour for rolled oats, such as swapping 50g of flour for 50g – 100g of oats
- It will end up being very saucy so that’s why it needs to rest. The liquid will thicken as it cools down.
