“An apple a day keeps the doctors away” that’s how the line goes.. right? Well if the apples are put to such good use as to make Crunchy Apple Crumble, who would not want to agree to that line more and make full use of the opportunity to have his/her share of Apples !! I know, i would 🙂
I am actually a great fan of apples. They are juicy, tangy and so full on nutrients. They work great as a morning breakfast fruit to go along with a nice bowl of cereals & as a refreshing evening snack. There are so many varieties to choose from & one can make such awesome things with it – jams, jellies, pies, tarts .. even fritters !
I usually pick up the red apples from the store as they tend to be sweeter but my personal favorites are the green apples ! They are usually tangy and last real long. I had a couple of those with me hiding in my fridge for a while and I happen to buy a few more. So, the deal was to finish the previous lot asap. For my family, there is no better way to finish food than to make them into some sort of dessert.
I started thinking about the ‘desserty uses of apple’ at around noon. My first thought was to create the classic apple pie but then I did not want to spend that much time in preparing the dough and just really wanted to whip up a dessert which could be served post lunch that day. What followed next was Crunchy Apple Crumble.
My version of this classic dish has a peanut butter twist to it. I feel that the mellow, subtle flavor and taste of apples really go very well with Peanut Butter and it sets in perfect harmony. I did not want to use lots of butter (which would otherwise be required for the crunchiness in the crumble) and peanut butter did a perfect job for that.
CRUNCHY APPLE CRUMBLE
crunchy apple crumble
Recipe
Crunchy Apple Crumble has 2 components : Crumble & Filling
For the Crumble
- 250 gms All purpose flour
- 125 gms butter(softened) – at room temperature, cut into 1cm cubes
- 100 gms granulated sugar (i used brown granulated sugar as it forms a lovely caramelized crunch)
- 50 gms crunchy peanut butter(can also use smooth peanut butter instead and add finely chopped peanuts to the crumble)
For the Filling
- 2 apples (i used granny smith green apples)
- Pinch of Cinnamon
- 50 gms sugar (i used brown granulated sugar as it forms a lovely caramelized crunch)
- A knob of butter
- 1 tsp All purpose flour/ corn starch
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 375 F.
Let us start with the filling
- Take the apples. Peel them and cut into very thin slices. You can even cut them into small chunks but i like to create thin slices so that they cook well on baking and create a mushy filling.
- Take a bowl and mix all the ingredients for filling except the knob of butter. Mix well so that the apple slices are well covered with sugar mixture. Keep aside.
- In a separate bowl, mix the flour and sugar. Mix well. Now keep adding butter and peanut butter in portions and mix well (using the rubbing technique) till it resembles bread crumbs. Keep aside.
- Now take an oven proof dish (about 9″ dia in case taking one dish or you can take multiple small dish for individual servings, the way i did :)). Grease with butter.
- Now place the filling on the bottom of the dish. Add the knob of butter on top of the fruity mixture.
- Now, sprinkle the crumble mixture on top of the fruity filling.
- Bake for about 45 minutes or till the crumble starts to brown. You will also notice that the fruit start to bubble (which makes your kitchen smell absolutely amazing … i loved that !!)
My temptations led me to peek in the oven from time to time and take a look at the various steps of baking of this tasty dish. It was a total eye feast. The bubbling of the filling which resulted in a divine apple caramelization was simply beautiful to watch 🙂
The result was a comforting, soothing and mushy apple crumble with a biscuity, crunchy crumble on the top. Thanks to the peanut butter addition, the dish tasted like having PB cookies with some apple caramel sauce but just 10 times better !! It is a must try dish for sure 🙂
If u like peanut butter recipes (like i do), you may like to see these :-
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So I tried this recipe….but it seems like either a core ingredient is missing or proportions are warped. My crumble layer turned out like powder. Roasted powder. Also the middle wasn’t cooked at all. Would be great if u could revisit and help me out. I love Apple crumble and crave to master the recipe
Hi Yaatra.
I am sorry to hear that the recipe did not come out right for you. I am not sure what might have been the cause as i have made this crumble, the same way and using the same technique many times and it came out just fine every single time. Did u use enough butter and peanut butter as stated in the recipe? If u did not use PB, then yo are supposed to substitute with that much butter. There is also a technique in mixing the flour with the butters and making it like bread crumbs (provided in the recipe as a link).
Also it seems that you probably did not cook it enough. It should be cooked till the apples inside starts bubbling and start to come to the surface (that is when the crumble on top also gets its moisture and start to cook) nicely. Please answer my queries. I would love to work on this again and make sure the recipe is made to perfection so that u master it.