Easy Apple Crumble Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to good crumble? ›

An apple crumble is a baked dessert consisting of tender pieces of cooked apple tucked under a buttery, crumbly topping made from flour, sugar, butter, and other ingredients, such as rolled oats, spices, and nuts. The apple crumble is a play on traditional apple pie that requires less time, effort, and baking prowess.

Use the Right Amount of Butter

Too much butter and your topping will become a greasy blob or disappointingly soggy. Some recipes will ask you to cut in cold butter along with your dry ingredients, resulting in pea-size pieces that are sprinkled across the hot fruit filling.

The main reason your crumble topping isn't crunchy is probably because you haven't used Demerara sugar. Although, it could also be that you've got your topping ingredient quantities wrong: either too much or not enough flour and butter alongside the sugar.

To do this properly, you first need to make sure that the topping is still a little lumpy. A crumble topping is made by rubbing butter into dry ingredients (flour, sugar and sometimes ground almonds, too). Once this is done, wet your hands, and mix the topping even more, allowing it to form into larger clumps.

A well-made crumb should be firm yet tender, and chewy, with big chunks—like granola. The best way to achieve this is to use cold cubed butter. Using room-temperature or melted butter will cause the topping to spread out and flatten when it bakes, rather than standing pert and perky.

Put 175g plain flour and 110g golden caster sugar in a bowl with a good pinch of salt. Slice in 110g cold butter and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like moist breadcrumbs.

In a large bowl, toss together apples, granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon salt; transfer to prepared dish. In a bowl with an electric mixer, beat butter with brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in 1 cup flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt until large pieces form. Scatter over filling.

Like an apple crisp, an apple crumble is a baked fruit dessert with a layer of topping. But unlike the crisp, the crumble topping rarely includes oats or nuts. Instead, a crumble's topping is more like streusel, made with flour, sugar and butter.

Go too hot and the crumble topping with get too dark before the fruit is ready. You'll be left with too-hard fruit and a burnt topping, which will make both you and us sad. If the top could use a little extra browning, jack the temperature or broil it after it's fully baked. Just keep a vigilant watch!

What happens if you put too much butter in crumble? ›

If you use more butter than the recipe calls for, the crumb topping will be melted and greasy. If you don't use enough butter it will be dry and floury.

Avoid using overripe apples

Your pie will turn out very mushy and lack the flavor apple pie is known for. Apple pie relies on the tartness of apples to offset the ultra-rich ingredients of brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Southern Living says the perfect apple pie is not too sweet.

First, adding a teaspoon of baking powder to the flour mixture makes the crumble topping more tender. Second, using cold butter and working it into the flour mixture makes for a pastry-like topping reminiscent of pie crust. Pro tip: Crumble topping freezes incredibly well and can be kept on hand for crumble anytime.

So what's a crumble vs. a crisp? A crumble is just a crisp without oats in the streusel. It may feature nuts, but the streusel topping is usually a simple combination of butter, flour, and sugar that is more clumpy than that of a crisp.

Do you peel and core the apples? Peel sometimes adds bitterness.

You can use white or wholemeal flour for a crumble topping, plain usually, but if all you've got is self-raising it doesn't really make a difference.

You can get the top to brown faster either by adding some extra sugar to the top (sprinkle it on) or toasting it under the broiler for a minute or two once the rest has baked. It is also possible your oven is miscalibrated. Maybe it is cooler than you think.