Basic Apple Crumble Recipe
This basic Apple Crumble recipe is the perfect introduction to classic English puddings and pudding-making in general. It is very quick and easy to make, can be produced a day ahead and is great either hot from the oven or at room temperature. Pretty much everyone loves apple-based desserts – from apple pie to baked apples – so it is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser too. I love to eat it with a drizzle of double cream but you can also eat it with custard, which is probably more traditional, or with a good vanilla ice cream.
I use only cooking apples in my crumble. These are apples which will disintegrate to a mush when cooked so that you have a thick apple puree at the base of your crumble. Eating apples will retain some firmness when cooked. If you want a bit more texture to your crumble, you can use a combination of half cooking apples and half eating apples. In my view, just using eating apples for a crumble doesn’t really work as they do not give that soft, thick apple sauce that you need for this kind of pudding. Keep the eating apples for deserts such as tarte tatin where you want your apples to keep their shape.
The only flavouring, apart from apples, is cinnamon which is a classic flavour companion. The smell of warm cinnamon-spiced apples is guaranteed to make you feel warm and cosy on a cold winter’s day.
Rub the fat and flour together 
Add the sugar 
Peel, core and chop the apples 
Place the apples in a baking dish and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon 
Top with the crumble mixture 
Bake for 30 minutes
Apple Crumble Recipe
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: Serves 6
- Category: Pudding
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: English
Description
This basic Apple Crumble recipe is a classic English pudding which brings together cinnamon-flavoured apples with a crisp, buttery topping.
Ingredients
- 1 kg cooking apples (eg Bramleys)
- 25 to 50 g caster sugar
- A little ground cinnamon
- 175 g butter or vegetable fat
- 350 g plain flour
- 175 g caster sugar
- Pinenuts or flaked almonds
Instructions
- Set your oven to 180 C, 400 F or Gas Mark 4.
- Peel and core the cooking apples. Cut into pieces of approximately 1 cm.
- Put the apple pieces in a large baking dish (20 cm x 28 cm). Sprinkle with caster sugar. You will need between 25 g and 50 g. The amount of sugar depend on the sourness of the apples and also how sweet you like your crumble. You can taste a piece of the apple to see how sour it is. Add a little ground cinnamon.
- Next make the crumble topping. Put the 350 g flour and 175 g butter (or vegetable fat) in a bowl and “rub in” using your fingers, or use a food processor, until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Then stir in the 175 g of caster sugar.
- Pour the crumble topping on top of the apples.
- Place the baking dish in the oven and cook for 30 minutes.
- If you wish, you can sprinkle some pinenuts or flaked almonds on top of the crumble for the final 5 minutes that it is in the oven. They should get brown and toasted (but not burnt) if they are added at this stage.
Notes
You can eat your crumble hot from the oven or at room temperature. I think it is best at room temperature, not a traditional view (!), as it brings out the flavours of apple and cinnamon.
This recipe has been shared on #CookBlogShare with Apply to Face Blog and #FiestaFriday with Fiesta Friday
Great recipe, although my preference is to add cream when serving!!
Thank you – I think cream is good too ????
Apple crumble is one of my favourites, and we’ve got an apple tree in the garden, so it’s pretty much one a week for 5 months in the summer/autumn! Can’t wait 🙂
Sounds good to me – can’t have too much apple crumble in my opinion ????
I love an Apple Crumble. Simple food done well can be outstanding. This one looks incredible. Thanks so much for sharing with #CookBlogShare
Thank you – most of my recipes are pretty simple ????