Apple Crumble
Ingredients
- 200 gms plain flour
- 100 gms brown sugar
- 75 gms butter at room temperature
Preparation
One of my favourite cookery writers, Margaret Costa, remarked that puddings ( by which I mean any dessert) make a family feel loved. Whether in men’s clubs where the restaurants are predominately masculine or at home, they can feel deprived when the meal tails off into fruit and cheese. Is this not reason enough for an apple crumble?
Crumble Topping
I have experimented with porridge oats and various ingredients but realise that there is nothing as good as the classical version.
Spend a few lazy, zen minutes just sifting and mixing these together; when the mixture resembles bread-crumbs it is ready to sprinkle over your fruit.
Peel and slice about 6 apples, any variety you choose and cook them gently with a little water and a bit of brown sugar; you may add a pinch of cinnamon but avoid any temptation to use cloves as their aroma has a whiff of the dental surgery about it.
Pour the cooked apples into an oven-proof dish, sprinkle the topping over and cook at 180c for about 30 minutes until brown on top.
Serve hot, warm or cold with cream or custard
You may vary this recipe using other fruit such as plums, damsons, blackberry and apple, raspberries and black currants; rhubarb is also wonderful as long as you can find it fresh, young and pale pink.
My favourite literary comment about apples and hospitality comes from Jane Austen’s Mr Woodhouse.
“Miss Bates; let Emma help you to a very little bit of tart- a very little bit. Ours are all apple tarts. You need not be afraid of unwholesome preserves here; I do not advise the custard”