If you asked me for my top 5 favourite desserts, apple crumble would be one of them. Soft, cinnamon-laced apples sitting under a blanket of crunchy streusel topping – this is the stuff I grew up with.
For more easy fruit desserts, try this mixed berry crumble or this apple and plum cobbler too.
This recipe is a combination of my cinnamon apples and apple and plum cobbler with the topping adapted from my ginger loaf cake. The three merge perfectly into one super cosy dessert.
Ingredients
I love a recipe without a massive list of ingredients and this is definitely one of those. Here’s the most important.
- Apples – Granny Smiths work best for this as they keep their shape well when baking.
- Sugar – two types; white in the apple filling and brown in the streusel.
- Spices – cinnamon and nutmeg are the perfect cosy partners for the apples
- Oats – these go into the crumble topping with flour, butter and brown sugar. You can use traditional or quick oats.
- Cornflour / Cornstarch – this is used to thicken the juices that release from the apples as they bake.
And that’s all there is to it.
Crumble vs Crisp
Back in the day a crumble was less likely to have oats in the topping but these days a crumble and a crisp are very much the same thing. A baked fruit filling covered with a streusel with or without oats and sometimes with nuts.
How to make it – step by step
You may be surprised at how easy it is to make a cosy apple crumble like this.
- The streusel is made first, with all ingredients pressed and rubbed together until it looks incorporated and starts clumping (images 1,2,3).
- Next, the filling. Peel, core and chop apples into roughly 1.5cm (1/2 inch) pieces. Combine them with spices, sugar, cornflour and a touch of water and give them a good mix (images 4 & 5).
- Scatter the streusel over the top (image 6), then bake. That’s it.
When I was growing up, apple crumble would be served nearly swimming in custard (as in the vanilla sauce style custard) just like below and that’s still how I prefer it but you can also serve it with ice cream or just plain pouring cream is good too. Whatever takes your fancy.
Tips and Tricks
- Grating the butter into the other streusel ingredients helps to combine it quickly.
- Once the apple mixture is combine, try to level it out as much as possible so that the crumble topping sits on top as opposed to falling through all the gaps.
- This recipe works well for other fruits too. Try stone fruits or pears too. You could also use berries but this would not need to bake quite so long.
This simple apple crumble is best eaten freshly baked but it will keep for a few days covered in the fridge. The longer it sits, the more the topping will soften but you can crisp it up in the oven again.
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With it’s crunchy topping, and soft cinnamon apples, it may be a big call, but I believe this is truly the best apple crumble and the only recipe you’ll ever need.
More comforting dessert recipes
- Fresh Pear Crumble
- Blueberry and pear crumble
- Self Saucing Lemon Pudding
- Easy Baked Rice Pudding
- Easy Pumpkin Cobbler
- Raspberry Peach Cobbler
- Coconut Mango Crumble
Simple Apple Crumble
Ingredients
FOR THE CRUMBLE
- ¾ cup rolled oats 85g (85g / 3oz)
- 97 g plain (all-purp) flour (3/4 cup / 3.4oz)
- ⅓ cup, packed brown sugar (66g / 2.3oz)
- 115 g unsalted butter, cold (1 stick / 4oz)
FOR THE APPLE FILLING
- 1 kg granny smith apples (2lb)
- ⅓ cup white sugar (66g / 2.3oz)
- 1 tablespoon water (notes)
- 1 tablespoon cornflour (cornstarch) (notes)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / 160C fan forced.
FOR THE CRUMBLE
- In a medium bowl, combine the oats, flour and brown sugar. Grate in the butter. Use your fingers to mix and press it all together until well combined and clumping (notes). Place in the fridge.
FOR THE APPLE FILLING
- Peel the apples, remove the cores then cut roughly into 1.5 cm (1/2 inch) cubes. Place them in a casserole dish (about 6 cup capacity).
- Add the white sugar, water, corn flour, cinnamon and nutmeg, then mix well until everything is evenly combined. Level them out and try to flatten it down a little.
- Scatter the crumble topping over the top.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes until the top is golden and it's bubbling at the sides. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Notes
- I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (=4 teaspoons worldwide)
- For best results, you should always weigh ingredients where a weight is the first measurement given. Kitchen scales are relatively cheap but if you can’t weigh the ingredients, use the spoon and level method (don’t scoop).
- All ovens vary – test for doneness 5-8 minutes before the recipe suggests
- The streusel mix should be well dispersed and creating small clumps but don’t take it so far that you have a dough.
- Serve it with cream, ice cream or creme anglaise
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4 Comments on “Simple Apple Crumble”
This recipe looks amazing, the ratio of sugar and butter is much more appealing than any other recipe I’ve looked Up. Going to bake it right away. I’m sure it will become a favorite of mine. Thanyou!.
I hope you love it as much as we do. Would love to hear how you like it 🙂
I love a good apple crumble/crisp (As actually any other crumble); it has a perfect ratio of the filling to the dough. You’ve got a delightful combination here with all these cozy flavours of cinnamon and nutmeg. And believe it or not, I have never had my crumble with custard…I guess I need to fix this!
You definitely need to fix that, Ben 🙂 Thanks so much for your support