Not to put too fine a point on it, but in this world there are Apple People and there are Crumble People. If you have read my books or any of these recipes, you will know I am a person of the crumble variety.
Now, for you Americans reading this, people will tell you that British food sucks.
It.
Does.
Not.
British food is awesome. British food rocks!
There is a lot I can say about British food, but I will say it in future recipes. For this recipe, I will wax poetic about one of my favorite British desserts, apple crumble, and my most favorite British culinary masterpiece: Custard!
As far as I know, Americans have not embraced custard. I do not know why. Custard is nirvana in liquid form. That is, thick, yummy, rich liquid form. Brits pour custard on practically everything sweet and they should be heralded as geniuses the world over for doing this. It doesn’t surprise me the Brits ruled the world for so long considering their constant use of custard.
But, being me, and being American, I have to fiddle. Although apple crumble is totally brilliant as it is, once I got the recipe, and being a person of the crumble variety, I changed it. Indeed, when I made my first apple crumble, my ex-husband who, unlike me, grew up eating this yumminess, walked up to me, bowl of crumble in his hand held close to his face, still spooning the custard-covered dessert in his mouth, and garbling through crumble and custard, “This is the best crumble I’ve ever had in my life.” He then went on (after he swallowed) to tell me that, even so, it couldn’t be called Apple Crumble and he christened it Apple Caramelumble.
And now I share this with you.
Apple Caramelumble
Ingredients
- Caramelumble:
- 200-250g (about 1 Cup) Plain Flour, sieved with a pinch of salt
- 200-250g (about 1 Cup) Brown Sugar (dark or light, muscovado in the UK)
- 250g (about 1 Cup) Unsalted Butter, cut it into cubes and take it out early so it is at room temperature
- A bit more butter for greasing the pan
- Filling:
- 3-4 Bramley or 4-5 Granny Smith Apples (now, if you are an apple person, do 4-5 Bramleys or 5-6 Granny Smith Apples). Peel, core and cut them into thin slices.
- 50g (or 2 tablespoons) Brown Sugar (again, dark or light, muscovado in the UK)
- 1 tablespoon Plain Flour
- Several dashes of Ground Cinnamon
How to do it…
- Preheat your oven to 180C /350F and grease your pan well (I use a deep-dish, rectangular Le Creuset pan because the caramelumble can get caramel-sticky!).
- Make Filling First: Place the peeled, cored, sliced fruit in a large bowl and sprinkle on the sugar, flour and cinnamon. You can use a spoon, but I get my hands in there and mix it all around. Pour the fruit into your prepared pan and arrange it so it covers the bottom. Just a note that Bramley and Granny Smith apples are tart so if you aren't into tart with sweet, then you may want to put a wee bit more sugar into the fruit before you put it in your pan.
- Now Get On with the Caramelumble: In the fruit bowl (without rinsing it out), sift your flour and then dump in the sugar and the butter. You can do the butter bit by bit (throw some in, rub it in, throw more in), but I don't bother. I just dump it all in. Again, you must use your hands, squeeze and knead that butter into the flour and sugar until it becomes all yummy gloopiness (or like breadcrumbs but if it looks like breadcrumbs, although it will still be delicious, you don't have enough sugar and butter in there - though, don't freak out - you can totally screw this up and bake it and it'll be fab!).
- Either crumble or sprinkle your topping on the fruit.
- Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes until the crumble is all melted, gooey lusciousness.
- Take out of the oven and see that the butter and sugar have formed a delicious, caramelumble mess that has melted into the fruit.
- Give it about ten minutes to settle, then eat instantly but only after you pour custard (get the good stuff) or heavy cream over it. Or add a scoop of ice cream. Be careful! The apples will be hot so don't gorge yourself as you don't want your taste buds burnt, trust me, you want to experience this without injury! Dee-LISH-us!