Deconstructed Apple Crumble

One of my favourite things in the whole world; warm, sweet and spicy apples with a cinnamon crumble and fresh whipped cream- double cream in the name of Britain I say! This is the dessert that results in my sister sending me back into the kitchen to make a second batch, and has even been known to lure me to her house in order to get me to make the quick version (stewed apples and ice cream). It is also the dessert I made in an attempt to impress the boyfriend's parents ;)






Apple pies were always a bit of a daunting task for me; pastry is not my strong point and the thought of spending all that time making a pastry only to have it flop and ruin the whole dessert was more than enough to keep me away. With this recipe, the crumble is pretty simple to make, and usually I don't make a whole pie case, I just use the crumble topping- lower in calories and much easier to get right.


Ingredients
Filling
2 apples per person, Granny Smith works best or any green variant
sugar
1 lemon
ground cinnamon
ground ginger
water
Oat Crumble
100g flour
50g oats
75g butter, cubed and only just soft
75g castor sugar
1-2ts cinnamon


lots of thick whipped cream, or ice cream


Method
Rub the cubed butter into the flour to make breadcrumbs; as this is a basic crumble topping, you can pulse the two in a food processor to make life easier, just make sure you don't over mix- you want nice chunky breadcrumbs. Mix the sugar, oats and cinnamon together, and then add to the flour and butter mix, give a good stir. It should resemble coarse crumbs.


Peel and core the apples. Give them a rub with a halved lemon, and dice them into good little chunks.

Pop the diced apple into a medium saucepan; they should not fill the pot more than halfway. Sprinkle over a heaped teaspoon of sugar and a tablespoon of water per apple.

Bring the apple mix to a boil and let it bubble away for a minute or two, then add cinnamon and ginger. I like mine quite spicy, but add whatever quantity suits your taste. I usually use about a teaspoon of cinnamon and half a teaspoon ginger to 6 apples.


Add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.


Leave the mixture to bubble away on a medium heat. The longer you cook it, the stickier the sauce and the softer the apples. I find the best combination is a sticky sauce that still has a bit of drizzle left in it, and a pretty soft apple that still has a bit of firmness in the centre.

A little hint: if you're getting your sauce sticky but your apples are too mushy and soft, cook your mix on a high heat to get that sauce caramelised quickly without cooking the apples to mush. I tend to cook on medium until the apples are about halfway there, then up to high heat to finish the sauce and cooking.


Sprinkle the crumble over a baking tray (ideally preheated and then sprayed with Bake and Cook first) using a medium to fine grater and spread out the mixture as much as possible.


Bake in a preheated oven at about 180c. Test the crumble after about 20 minutes, it's ready when it's cooked through and crunchy. If it's browning too quickly, lower the heat.

Plate up your dish in any way that takes your fancy: you can stack the crumble, apple and cream in layers, place each element side by side, or simply throw it all together. This style of apple pie is great in that you can adjust each serving to suit the eater's preference; lots of crumble with one, a touch with another, extra apples, extra cinnamon, or if you're like my James, extra everything and don't be shy with the cream!