Apple and red fruit crumble
A crumble is apple pie without the stress. No rolling dough, no chilling, no lattices. Fruit in the Dutch oven, crumble on top, into the oven. The British eat it all year round with custard; in the Netherlands it's usually whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Oats in the crumble are optional but add a bit of extra bite.
- 500 g apples (Elstar or Reinette)
- 200 g mixed red fruit (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, fresh or frozen)
1 Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Peel and core the apples and cut into 2 cm pieces.
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- zest and juice of ½ lemon
2 Mix the apples and fruit with the sugar, cinnamon, cornflour, lemon zest and juice in the Dutch oven. The cornflour thickens the juice that comes out.
- 150 g plain flour
- 100 g light brown sugar
- 50 g oats
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 125 g cold butter, diced
3 Mix the flour, sugar, oats, cinnamon and salt. Add the butter and rub in with your fingertips into coarse crumbs. It should look like coarse sand with some bigger pieces.
- 50 g chopped almonds or pecans (optional)
4 Mix in the nuts for extra crunch. Scatter the crumble evenly over the fruit. Don't press it down. Loose crumbs get the crispiest.
5 Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the top is golden and the fruit bubbles at the edges. Leave to rest for 10 minutes so the juice thickens a little.
Ingredients
Step 1
- 500 g apples (Elstar or Reinette)
- 200 g mixed red fruit (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, fresh or frozen)
Step 2
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- zest and juice of ½ lemon
Step 3
- 150 g plain flour
- 100 g light brown sugar
- 50 g oats
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 125 g cold butter, diced
Step 4
- 50 g chopped almonds or pecans (optional)
Method
- 1 Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Peel and core the apples and cut into 2 cm pieces.
- 2 Mix the apples and fruit with the sugar, cinnamon, cornflour, lemon zest and juice in the Dutch oven. The cornflour thickens the juice that comes out.
- 3 Mix the flour, sugar, oats, cinnamon and salt. Add the butter and rub in with your fingertips into coarse crumbs. It should look like coarse sand with some bigger pieces.
- 4 Mix in the nuts for extra crunch. Scatter the crumble evenly over the fruit. Don't press it down. Loose crumbs get the crispiest.
- 5 Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the top is golden and the fruit bubbles at the edges. Leave to rest for 10 minutes so the juice thickens a little.
