Easiest apple crumble ever...

charlsy · Joined: 08 Aug 2006 Posts: 136 Location: France, Bordeaux

I decided to make an apple crumble the other day and just winged it, eventhough I had perfectly good recipes available (I do tend to collect cookbooks, especially those dedicated to pastry, cake, desserts...).
So here it goes :
Start the oven, thermostat on 6.
Peel, cut and cube 3 apples (the Golden variety, sweet, firm and juicy). Pour them in a baking dish (I used a standard porcelaine one). Skip the buttering the dish step !
Mix some brown sugar with a pack of vanilla sugar and cinnamon (no apple should ever get cooked without cinnamon, in my book !), sprinkle on the apples.
Now, for the topping, shred a cake ! I used a yaourt cake I had made 3 days before, and reduced about a third to crumbs.
Add a few dots of butter on top of the crumbs, everything gets into the oven and comes out only when the top gets golden-brownish.
Let cool just enough to be edible without 3rd degree burning of the mouth. For an extra bit of flavour, serve with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.
Golden syrup on the apple adds a nice flavour, but beware the overdose of sugar !

everythingdarkchocolate · Joined: 08 Apr 2007 Posts: 8 Location: New Zealand

What a great idea! Thanks so much for sharing it. I often end up throwing out the "ends" of cakes that have started to go a little stale but this is the perfect use for them. Of course most of the cakes in my household are chocolate but chocolate and apple go very well together!
I imagine that you could freeze any ends of cake until you had a crumble desire and whizz the frozen cake in a food processor.
I am going to give this a shot next time I get my hands on some rhubarb for a rhubarb and apple chocolate crumble dessert! teeheehee sounds very much like my new comfort food!
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charlsy · Joined: 08 Aug 2006 Posts: 136 Location: France, Bordeaux

I did try it with store-bought gingerbread, but the result was not too great. Instead of the crunchy, fragrant crust I had hoped, I got a kind of sticky-soft cover. But the idea of a chocolate cake-crumb... Worth a try ! Maybe with a mix of apple and pears, pears and chocolate do so very well go together !

Donna · Joined: 14 Oct 2005 Posts: 827 Location: Oakland, CA

Maybe try toasting the gingerbread (or whatever) before you use it on top of the crumble. Laughing

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Rachel · Joined: 22 Oct 2006 Posts: 296 Location: Santa Barbara, CA

I wonder if English gingerbread (which is denser and harder than pain d'epice) might make a crunchier crumble topping? Of course, if you have to make it yourself (I've never seen it for sale in France, though perhaps I haven't looked hard enough) then that rather spoils the idea of a super-easy crumble! In which case Donna's idea is probably much better... Wink

robinorig · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:59 am Post subject: Crumbles

I use granola for my toppings, sometimes mixed with crushed/chopped nuts and butter. The flavored ones are especially great (apple ginger, etc)...
I also throw some dried fruit in along with the cut up fresh fruit, seasonings and butter. You can use frozen berries, too.

Most often I also put in chopped crystalized ginger and lemon peel (I always keep some on hand in the freezer). Once in a while I will add something like cointreau or poire william or calvados as well...

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Judy · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 8:25 am Post subject:

robinorig, how do your store lemon peel in the freezer?

Do you grate it, or peel strips or ... well, how? And then what do you store it in to keep in the freezer?

Sounds like a great ingredient to have on hand all the time.
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Richard Leader · Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 77 Location: London, UK

One way to ensure that the topping is crunchy is to bake it first before it goes onto the fruit...

charlsy · Joined: 08 Aug 2006 Posts: 136 Location: France, Bordeaux

Well the basic idea was to go the laziest possible way ! So toasting the topping "complicates" the process !!! But it's worth a try anyway, and I think I'll give it a whirl ! Now how much to toast ... Maybe I will just make some gingerbread just to see how it comes out ! With some of my great-uncle homemade honey...

robinorig · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 9:14 pm Post subject: re: Crumble and Lemon Peel

Judy,
I usually put both strips and finely shredded zest in ziploc bags in the freezer. I peel every single lemon whether I'm using the peel or not and put it in the bag and keep adding to it. It keeps for a long long time.
I also do the same with Limes and Oranges. That way, it's always on hand.

BTW, I love the small microplane for very fine zest, I've only seen it available at Williams-Sonoma. I no longer have to chop up the zest.

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/cw195/index.cfm?pkey=xsrd0m1%7C15%7C%7C%7C0%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7C%7Cmicroplane&cm%5Flid=65536&pgid=sku7651110
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"Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."
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Judy · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 11:39 pm Post subject:

Thanks robinorig, that's a great idea - I'll do the same from now on. So many times I have wished I had some zest for something or other.

I love Microplane and Cuisipro graters. I have 3 sizes and the small nutmeg grater/keeper that I bought at Williams-Sonoma a couple of years ago.
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robinorig · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:28 am Post subject:

I love microplanes, too... I have 4 of them, all different. They're great tools!

BTW, I usually label the bags of frozen peels w/a sharpie permanent marker... sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between a lemon or orange peel after it's been frozen for a while!
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"Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."
- Albert Einstein
http://www.robinoriginals.com/eats.html

monkey · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 4:00 pm Post subject: craig's gran's apple crumble

i have to say that i stand by the apple crumble recipe my friend craig gave me. it's his gran's recipe and it makes just one perfect serving, but, can be easily expanded to feed a crowd.

garnished with a wee bit of cream, custard or a dollop of ice cream (a large dollop....) it is apple-y delicious, comforting and seems to make any day a little bit better.
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Acadiana · Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Posts: 41 Location: Washington DC

I love it when I just wing it in the kitchen and things turn out good - thanks for sharing.

MissC · Joined: 20 Jun 2007 Posts: 18 Location: Washington, DC

Monkey, thank you so much for posting this single serving recipe. I live by myself and am always craving a little treat, but it seems so unreasonable to make an entire pie or cake for myself. I suppose I could always give the rest away, but I don't trust myself not to eat it all! Either way, thanks for this, it was a very pleasant surprise!