Recipes - Apple Crumble

OK, so the whole philosophical thing is fun and all, but hardly a great source of entries, so Gina suggested I should start posting some recipes and I shall. Only stuff I made up myself.

I cooked this one for Christmas in July with Gina and Ty at the weekend. Taste things as you go because that's all I did and as a result I've got very little idea about actual quantities but these should work:

Ingredients

Filling
• 5 fuji apples
• 1 cup (250ml) Magners cider
• 1/2 cup soft brown sugar
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• lemon juice

Crumble
• 125g butter
• 125g flour
• 50g rolled oats
• 50g caster sugar
• ground cinnamon
• brown sugar

Method

Peel, core and roughly chop the apples. Large chunks, not dicing. Put them in a saucepan with the cider, then add enough water to nearly cover the apples. Add the cinnamon sticks. Cover, bring to the boil, and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Stir in a squeeze of lemon juice and the brown sugar. Simmer, uncovered, until there is only a little liquid left. Remove the cinnamon sticks (and keep an eye out for any little bits that may have flaked off).

To make the crumble, soften the butter and rub in the flour. Once you have crumbs, add the oats and stir. If the crumbs are too lumpy and buttery, the oats should sort that out. Once the oats are mixed in, stir through the sugar.

Spoon the apple mixture into the bottom of a dish, and then sprinkle the crumble in an even layer over the top. Sprinkle a little ground cinnamon and brown sugar over the top.

Bake for about 30 minutes at 180C, or until the apple is bubbling and the crumble is golden brown on top.

Notes

I used Fuji apples because I like them. You can use any cooking apple, it's not crucial.

I guess you could use any cider, but Magners is the nicest and the price difference is not huge. And since you'll have some left over, you don't want to be drinking Strongbow.

You can prepare this in advance, but whatever you do, don't combine the apple and crumble until you are ready to put them in the oven. The juice from the apple will soak up into the crumble and it'll get soggy. Also, best to keep them in the fridge.