Recipe: Granny's Proper British Apple Crumble
The heat will be roaring back across our sunburnt country in no time, so to make the most of the August cold-blast I'm cooking this, a lot.
It's my British Granny's recipe and, because she's 95 years old, you can rest assured it's been tried and tested over a hundred or more dinner parties.
What makes this crumble unique to the millions of recipes out there is that she clumps the topping together to form large, doughy islands instead of specks of sandy crumbs.
Granny's Proper British Apple Crumble
- 120g butter
- 120g sugar
- 150g plain flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 4-5 apples (Granny Smith work well)
- 1/4 cup water
Cream butter until pale, add sugar, then add flour and cinnamon until mixture is doughy and combined.
Peel and quarter apples then cut into thick slices, place in saucepan with water and simmer until apples are soft, about 8-10 minutes.
Arrange crumble in a dish about 9cm in diameter, then sprinkle dough over fruit so it's more or less covered (it joins together). Place in 160C fan-forced oven until fragrant and golden, about 20-30 minutes.
Serve with pure cream, vanilla ice cream or the classic, custard.
TIP: Sprinkle the crumble with a handful of rolled oats before baking to add create a slightly crisp texture.
PS - This photo was of a rhubarb pie crumble I made for a family dinner a month ago. It's in a simple shortcrust pastry base. And if you have rhubarb you'd like to add to fruit mixture simply reduce amount of apples (2 will do) and chop about 20 stalks of rhubarb into 5cm pieces, cook down with apples and 1/2 cup a sugar.
