Day 2: Apple Crumble

So… tonight I attempted to make one of my most favourite buffet dessert dishes of all time- Apple Crumble.

I have a confession; this one time, I had some friends over for dinner and I had promised to make apple crumble for dessert… since we had just ordered Pizza. I ended up sticking a Sara-Lee frozen apple crumble in the oven and passing it off as my own. I know, I know- I feel the shame. But in all fairness, how many of you have thought of apple crumble as a simple and kind of boring dessert to make? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

I did my research and found that the secret is in the crumble… some recipe’s keep it simple with just rolled oats and flour, where as some are a little more adventurous with cream cheese,  lemon butter, nutmeg and all kinds of crazy spices. Ha… and I thought apple crumble was simple. Let the love for crumble begin!

http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/9877/the-perfect-apple-crumble.aspx This is the one I'm kind of going with.

All up time: 1 hour to prepare, 30 minutes in the oven.

Serves: 4 dessert lovers 

Here's my recipe: 

Apple Mix:

-5 green apples and two red apples ( I didn’t have 7 green ones)

-½ cup caster sugar

- 1 ½ tsp Cinnamon  (the recipe says just 1, but im a hard core cinnamon lover)

Crumble: 
-1 cup plain flour
-¾ cup (packed) dark brown sugar
-¾ cup rolled oats
-1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
-2tsp ground nutmeg
-2/3 cup melted butter
-2 tsp vanilla essence

Apple Mix:

1-Peel apples: this is the fun part guys! I managed to peal my last apple in one long apple peel string! The feeling of accomplishment is incredible.

2. Cut into 2cm chunks. Make sure your chunks are about equal in size otherwise you will have some mushy apple pieces after you cook them.

Side note: I just discovered that I’ve been cutting apples the hard way my whole life! Instead of cutting it by placing your knife on the core, and cutting down through the core- turn the apple on its side and cut straight in the middle. You get a cool star pattern in the apple, and its so much easier to cut!

3. Place apple chunks in a large saucepan and cover with water

4.Place saucepan on stove, on high for 10 minutes, with the lid on. Take lid off after 5 minutes and stir apples around to make sure they are all cooking okay and to make sure your water doesn’t overflow (like mine did).

5. While the apples are on the stove, mix your ½ cup of caster sugar with 1 ½ Tsp Cinnamon in a large bowl.

6. Mix sugar and cinnamon with the apples

Crumble: 

1. Combine flour (make sure to sift it in to get rid of any lumps), brown sugar, rolled oats,  cinnamon and nugmeg.

2. Put 2/3 cup of butter in a bowl and microwave for 1min. stir and add vanilla essence.

3. Add butter mix to dry ingredients and mix well using a fork. Ensure all ingredients are moist and mixture has a crumbly texture.

Baking:

1. Spread apples evenly in a regular size cake tin, spread crumble mix over the top and place in the oven at 180degrees Celcius. Cook for about 30 minutes, or until top of crumble is slightly brown and crusty.

*Note to self: invest in an apple corer!

How did it turn out?

Well, apart from the fact that it took a lot longer to make than I first thought, this recipe is pretty fool proof. The only thing I would change next time is putting a little less brown sugar, the taste was a little too strong for me. 

It never looks like the picture on the website. I really don't know how one makes apple crumble actually look appealing. But the main thing is...it tasted pretty great. I shared my new found cooking success with my parents. My dad's response- "What-ever this is, it tastes good." Which I think sum's it up quite nicely.