Quick and Easy Apple Crumble Recipe | MerryBoosters (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to good crumble? ›

Apple crumble recipe topping is typically made of butter, sugar and flour which gets topped on the cooked fruit filling. To add an extra element of texture and flavour, oats, coconut, nuts and cinnamon can be added to the crumble mix.

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.

“I can't stand crumbles that have a layer of floury sugary dust on top. They're supposed to be chunky and craggy, with big pieces of crumble on top. By freezing your topping, it makes it harden just slightly and that means the texture will be nice and crispy when it's cooked.”

Use cold, cubed butter.

Making the crumble with room temperature or melted butter will cause the topping to spread as it bakes, rather than creating a landscape of craggy, crunchy sweet pieces. Using cold butter will help all the crumble ingredients bind together before baking and then saturate them evenly in the oven.

Since we know that three medium-sized apples (or four small ones) make a pound, you can use this as a guide to know how many large apples make up a pound. In general, 2 large apples can often make up a pound, with large apples that are close in size to a softball.

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.

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. Shake the bowl and any big bits will come to the surface – rub them in.

Why is my crumble topping gone wrong? ›

Why Does My Crumble Topping Go Hard? The most common cause of hard crumble is using the wrong amount of butter. So, be sure to measure carefully! If you don't use enough, your crumble will be too hard.

If using ramekins, fill the cups about 3/4 full with apples and then top with crumbles; the apples will shrink slightly when baked. Bake the apple crumble for about 30-40 minutes or until the topping is perfectly golden brown. Check at the 30 minute mark if using ramekins.

Use Overripe Fruit

Even if you choose the perfect apple variety, if the fruit is overripe, your apple pie filling will turn to mush. The perfect apple pie filling is not too sweet. It has just the right amount of tartness to offset the added richness of brown sugar and cinnamon.

Then, make sure to bake the crumble long enough so that the fruit filling comes to a profuse simmer at the edges of the pan. This shows that the cornstarch has been activated enough to thicken the juices, turning them supple and silky.

Making Crumble Topping

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.

The good news is that light and dark brown sugar are interchangeable: You're not going to ruin your cookies, your crumble, or your banana bread by swapping one for the other.

Classic crumble

Sometimes simplicity is best and a basic crumble topping of sugar, flour and butter is all you need for the perfect pudding. In Raymond Blanc's popular apple & blackberry crumble, the topping is pre-baked so it retains a light, crumbly texture and doesn't stick together.