What do you do when you visit Stanthorpe and buy half a case of apples? You eat a lot of apples. A lot. They are in your lunch box. They are an afternoon snack. They are morning tea. They are in fruit salad. They make their way onto the cheese plate. They are sitting in a pile on your dining room table, waiting to be consumed. There’s a need to be creative so apple consumption can be increased and the pile decreased.
This isn’t a traditional Apple Crumble. It’s an easy recipe that’s quick to make and just as quickly consumed. Some help from the microwave cuts the cooking time. You probably have all of the ingredients in the cupboard and sitting in a pile on your dining room table. It will cement its place as a weeknight dessert, combining a serve of fruit (or so we tell ourselves) with a simple crumbly topping. It’s a great last minute option.
Tips To Make It Quick
- There’s around 10 minutes prep and 20 minutes cooking time
- The difference in apple numbers depends on the size of the apples
- If you don’t have Granny Smith, try Pink Lady or Jonathans. Any apple is fine though.
- 50g of butter is 1/5th of a 250g block of butter
- White, raw or brown sugar or a combination is fine. Whatever you have in the cupboard.
- You can make up the crumble before or during dinner preparation and it can be put in the oven once everyone sits down to eat. It will be ready when everyone has finished their main meal.
- If you can, make a double batch of the crumble topping and freeze half in a ziplock bag to use in a second crumble for when you’re really in a hurry
At the end of the recipe are some ideas for extras, as long as you’re not a stickler for the ‘5 Ingredient’ catchphrase!
5 Ingredient
Apple Crumble
Ingredients
- 3-4 Granny Smith apples, peeled
- 3/4 cup plain flour
- 50g unsalted butter + pinch salt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tspns cinnamon
Method
- Pre-heat the oven to 200c (fan forced if you have one).
- Cut the apples into quarters lengthwise and the cut each piece in half lengthwise again. You should have 8 pieces. Cut each piece into 3 chunks.
- Place the apple chunks in a microwave proof container, cover and cook on high for 1 minute. You are looking to soften the apples slightly and speed up the cooking process. They shouldn’t be completely soft.
- Place apples into a greased baking dish approx 25 x 20cm. Sprinkle half the cinnamon (1 tspn) and 2 tspns of sugar over apples and gently toss to coat. Set aside.
- Place flour, the rest of the sugar and cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Cut butter into chunks and drop into bowl. Rub butter into flour using a light pinching motion with your fingertips, distributing it evenly. It takes a few minutes. The mixture should have the texture of sand. You can also use an old fashioned pastry blender or fork to help you break up the butter into the flour.
- Sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over the apples.
- Bake the apple crumble in the oven for 20 minutes or until top has browned and apple is cooked (don’t worry – it will be!)
- Serve with the apple crumble with ice cream, cream or custard. Or all of them.
Serves 4 – 6
Other Additions
+ 1/4 cup coconut or rolled oats to the topping
+ a small handful of sultanas or chopped prunes to the apple filling
+ chopped walnuts, hazelnuts or pecans to the topping
+ dribble 1 tablespoon of maple syrup instead of the sugar, over the apples
If you are interested in reading more about apples, including historical tidbits and nutritional information, pop on over to this post on Well-Being Secrets.
Now this is my type of apple crumble Fiona! YUM!
Based on my food lifestyle, I could substitute xylitol for the sugar!
We are off to stanthorpe this weekend. Am looking forward to the cold and the produce. Olive farm here we come!
Well Sherry – it’s going to be really, really cold this weekend. Probably a little colder than you were hoping. Red wine is the answer!
Lovely recipe Ms Tiffin and here’s another easy one using up some of your surplus apples. Add this to the recipe file
Autumn Apple Cake.
5-7 apples
1 package yellow cake mix
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 stick (approx 130 grms) butter
Directions:
Preheat oven to 170c-180c depending on individual oven
Fill your 9×12 pan 1/2 full with apples which you’ve peeled, cored and sliced thin
(peeling is optional)
Sprinkle the apples with dry cake mix
Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the cake mix
Melt butter and drizzle over
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown
Can be served with ice cream, if desired. You can also use other fruits for this cake
Thanks for the recipe.
I like the idea of using maple syrup instead of sugar 🙂
Yes – Mr Tiffin was surprsied how sweet version was. Normally it’s just a small sprikle of sugar in the crumble topping and over the apples as I prefer it to be slightly tart but as I was publishing the post, I took a more generous hand.
Oh snap Fiona!! I made apple crumble tonight. Tis the season what with snow flurries on the surrounding hills near us. Love the sound of your ‘other additions’. I can only imagine a table sized pyramid of apples from your description of “the pile” 🙂
That is so quick! And I have everything in the pantry!!!
Apple crumble for afternoon tea tomorrow 🙂
My daughter will love that.
I have recently started a food sharing site, photo site. Similar to the likes of foodgawker and tastespotting, only no where near at their scale!!!! We all have to start somewhere, I guess.
I would love to have you contribute your photos. I love food and I love food blogs, my sister, and a couple of friends have blogs and I know how hard they works and how despondent my sister is when something doesn’t make it onto the big sites. So I started Delishogram for all the food bloggers with amazing photos and amazing food. I want it to be a site that just celebrates food and cooking.
I would love to have you contribute, please think about popping over.
Have a great weekend.
Louise x
Hi Louise – I aim to please : ). I took a look at your website and am very interested! It’s so true what you say about hard work and the big sites. Good on you for coming up with a great idea! When I have a moment on the weekend, I’ll get down to the business of registering.