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Ingredients:
Filling:
4 large Golden Delicious apples (about 3 pounds)
1/4 cup sugar
1 lemon, juiced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Topping:
1 cup walnuts or pecans, roughly chopped
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch fine salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces
Vanilla ice cream, for serving, optional
Instructions:
Begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees and placing an oven rack in the center of the oven. Next, prepare the apples for the pie. Peel, core, and slice the apples into approximately 1/4-inch slices. Once the apples are cut, place them in a large mixing bowl and toss them together with the sugar, lemon juice, flour and cinnamon. Make sure the apple slices are coated evenly with the ingredients.
Next, pour the apples out into a lightly greased 9 by 13-inch baking dish and spread them into an even layer. Then, set the dish aside.
In another large bowl, begin to put together the topping for the crumble. Mix together the flour, oats, nuts, sugar, cinnamon and salt for the topping. Next, using a pastry cutter, or your fingers if you don’t have one, gently work the cold butter in with the rest of the ingredients until pea-sized lumps are formed.
Once the crumble is formed, top the coated apples in the pan with the mixture and place the dish into the oven to bake. Bake the crumble until the apples are bubbly and the topping is golden-brown. This should take approximately 45 minutes. Make sure to rotate the crumble once halfway through the baking time, to ensure there is an even bake.
Once you take the crumble out of the oven, serve it hot or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream.
Commentary:
Apple crumble is one of my favorite fall deserts. Its cinnamon and apple combination are perfect for the season. For this recipe I like golden delicious apples or granny smith apples which are a little more tart. It has a great contrast with the sweetness of crumble. However, you can’t really go wrong with any fresh apple, so you can use whatever you have. You can also adjust the recipe to suit your needs, for example if you’re allergic to nuts you can take those out or if you don’t want a crispier crumble you can take the oats out. On the other hand, if you want a crispier crumble you can change the oats for granola which is already crunchier.
This recipe yields six to eight servings, so if you’re needing it for more people gathering you can double or triple the recipe as needed.
It’s a nice dessert that’s like an apple pie but without the crust, so you get more of the apple flavor. To store this, I just cover it with foil or saran wrap and place it in the fridge, then put it in the microwave for a few minutes to reheat it.