Apple Crumble (2024)

This apple crumble is a true family favourite! It has a soft, sweet apple filling with a hint of cinnamon (optional) and a perfectly crunchy, yet chewy, crumble topping.
This is one of those desserts where I guarantee the whole family goes quiet when digging in. Your family will be begging you to make this again and again.

This is actually one of Chris’s recipes. Have I mentioned before he’s a cook too? I’m a lucky girl. 🥰

His Chilli Con Carne is always on recipe rotation, we must have it at least once every 2 weeks and I LOVE the Sesame Prawn Toast he makes too.

So onto his delicious apple crumble recipe.

📋 What do we need?

For the crumble filling, I like to use a combination of cooking (Bramley) apples and eating apples.

The cooking apples will break down more during the cooking process and the eating apples will retain a bit more texture giving the perfect apple sauce center to the crumble.

What’s the crumble topping made of?

To get the perfectly crunchy apple crumble topping you’re going to want to use:

Cold, unsalted butter
2 different types of sugar – caster for regular sweetness and crunch, and soft brown sugar for that slight caramel flavour
Oats for added texture (this is optional, you can leave them out if you don’t have any in your cupboard)
Plain (all purpose) flour
a pinch of salt

📺 Watch how to make it

Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.

Mix the dry crumble topping ingredients together.
Add the cold unsalted butter and rub together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Cook the apple filling in a pan then transfer to a baking dish.
Add the crumble topping and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 180C (375F) until it’s golden and bubbling.

👩‍🍳PRO TIP Squeeze a little lemon juice over the apples as you’re peeling and chopping to stop the apples from turning brown.

You can replace half the apples with rhubarb, pear, or blackberries for a different option. This is quite a forgiving recipe and you can mix up the filling with fruit that you’ve got in.

🍽️ What to serve it with

I love to serve my apple crumble with some homemade custard and vanilla ice cream. That way the family can decide what they want to do, custard, ice cream, or both (does anyone do both? Sometimes it’s just too hard to decide!).

🍲 More fantastic desserts

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🍏 Apple Crumble Recipe

By Nicky Corbishley

The best apple crumble recipe is a true family favourite with a soft sweet apple filling and a perfectly crunchy, yet chewy, crumble topping.

Prep Time:

10 minutes mins

Cook Time:

35 minutes mins

Total Time:

45 minutes mins

Servings: 6 -8 Servings

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: British

Ingredients

Crumble Topping:

▢ 240 g (2 cups ) plain (all-purpose) flour
▢ 60 g (2/3 cup) rolled oats
▢ 60 g (1/3 cup) soft brown sugar
▢ 60 g (1/3 cup) golden caster sugar or superfine sugar
▢ 1 pinch salt
▢ 120 g (1/2 cup) chilled unsalted butter cut into 1 cm cubes

Apple Pie Filling:

▢ 1 kg (2.2 lbs) cooking apples
▢ 300 g (10.5 oz) eating apples such as Braeburn or Jazz
▢ 1 tbsp lemon juice
▢ 3 tbsp golden caster sugar or superfine sugar
▢ ½ tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F (fan).
Peel and chop the cooking and eating apples roughly, no larger than 2cm (or just under 1 inch) chunks and place in a saucepan.
1 kg (2.2 lbs) cooking apples, 300 g (10.5 oz) eating apples
Squeeze, or pour, over the lemon juice. PRO TIP: This is to help stop the apples from browning.
1 tbsp lemon juice
Add the caster sugar and the cinnamon to the apples and give everything a stir.
3 tbsp golden caster sugar, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Place the pan on the hob (stove top) over a medium heat and cook for 10-15 minutes stirring a couple of times, until the apples start to break down.
Whilst the apples are cooking, make the crumble topping. Add the flour, oats, sugars, and salt to a bowl and mix everything together until combined.
240 g (2 cups ) plain (all-purpose) flour, 60 g (2/3 cup) rolled oats, 60 g (1/3 cup) soft brown sugar, 60 g (1/3 cup) golden caster sugar, 1 pinch salt
Add the cold butter and rub the mixture with your fingers until the butter starts to look like breadcrumbs and is starting to form clumps. .
120 g (1/2 cup) chilled unsalted butter
By now the apples should be starting to break down. Carefully pour the apple filling mixture into a baking dish.
Add the crumble topping to the baking dish and spread on fairly evenly.
Place in the preheated oven and cook for 25-30 minutes until golden and bubbling.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly before serving with your favourite ice cream or homemade custard.

Notes

Ingredients swaps

You can replace half the apples with rhubarb, pear, or blackberries for a different option. This is quite a forgiving recipe and you can mix up the filling with fruit that you’ve got in.

Nutritional information is approximate, per serving, based on this recipe making 6 portions.

Nutrition

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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Hi, I'm Nicky and I love to cook! I want to share with you my favourite, delicious family friendly recipes. I want to inspire you to create fantastic food for your family every day.