Traditional British: Perfect Apple Crumble

Apple. My favourite fruit. Especially in autumn, when the first fresh red apples start to appear, it is almost a ritual for me to make apple crumble. Generally, you need to use sweet apples for this dessert, but if you are crazy for apples (like me) it really doesn't matter which type you use. Sometimes, I use green apples with red apples or yellow apples. I tend to mix them. Crumble is a traditional British dessert, especially made in the winter. Any type of juicy fruits can be used in this dessert. Pears, plums and cherries are the second best in my opinion. I even made a cherry and plum crumble. It was amazing. Sweet and sour, perfect with whipped double cream or vanilla ice cream. Imagine this: The house smells like delicious cinnamon and butter, you take the crumble out of the oven and immediately serve with cold ice cream. You take the first spoon  and see the steam coming out of the cooked apples while the ice cream is softly melting on top. Use my crumble topping to make  delicious desserts. It is so good! Crumble is not preferable in the summer, so before those heat waves hit us, try this mouth-watering indulgence. =)

Ingredients:
150 gr brown sugar
300 gr flour
5 medium sized cooking apples
200 gr butter
A pinch of salt  
2 tea spoons of cinnamon
1 tea spoon of ginger
Juice of 2 lemons
Juice of one orange
Grated rind of one orange or lemon (preferably orange)

How to:

1. First of all, take out the deep baking dish for your crumble. The deeper the dish, the juicer the dessert. Flat and wide trays are not suitable for this recipe because you want your crumble to be juicy. Remember, this is not a pie, it is a British crumble.

2. Squeeze the lemons and orange inside the bowl, add the cinnamon an rind of one orange. Next, wash and peel the apples. Peeling is not mandatory, but it is better if you do it. Chop the apples into small dice and put inside the bowl. Since they will be waiting inside lemon juice, they will not go brown.

3. For the crumble topping, we need room temperature butter. You should mix the butter and flour first by using your fingertips, and then add the brown sugar, cinnamon and ginger. Alternatively, you can put everything in a food processor and mix in high speed. Don't forget to add a pinch of salt to highten the flavours. 

4. Now the mixture looks like bread crumbs. Pur over the fruits in the bowl and press lightly with your palm. 

5. Cook in the pre-heated oven of 190 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes. When the topping is crispy and golden, the apples are soft inside the juice take it out of the oven.

6. Serve when warm in a small bowl with some ice cream or whipped double cream. Eat and enjoy! 

  

 Ready to go in the oven!

This is my plum and cherry crumble. If you like sourish sweet desserts, you should give this a try.