Apple Crumble

It's that lovely time of year when all the fruit starts falling off the trees and I get to make yummy puddings. I have three dwarf trees, a plum, a pear and a cherry, in my garden but they are only 3 years old and haven't produced any fruit yet. There was a moment at the beginning of the summer when the plum tree had tiny berries on and I got all excited, but then they all fell off!

My Mum on the other hand has a small orchard, lots of apples trees, plums and pears, so I now have two crates of apples in my shed waiting to be used up over the winter. I started off with a really simple apple crumble, simple but oh so tasty. Sometimes there is just that need for proper comfort food and apple crumble is definitely that. I served it with homemade blackberry ripple ice cream.

Apple Crumble (from BBC Food)
(Serves 4)

300g plain flour, sieved pinch of salt
175g unrefined brown sugar
200g unsalted butter, cubed at room temperature
Knob of butter for greasing

For the filling

450g apples, peeled, cored and sliced
50g demerara sugar
1 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp of ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
squeeze lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Put the flour and sugar in a large bowl and mix well. Add the butter and rub together until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

 

Place the fruit in a large bowl and sprinkle over the sugar, flour, cinnamon and lemon. Stir well being careful not to break up the fruit.

Butter a 24cm ovenproof dish. Spoon the apples into the bottom, then sprinkle the crumble mixture on top.

Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes until the crumble is browned and the apples are bubbling.

Serve with ice cream.