The Only Apple Crumble Recipe That Makes Me Not Hate Apple Crumble

It's no secret in our household that I deem fruit-heavy 'desserts' to be...breakfast. Oats...fruit...the lack of chocolate. I have an unspoken rule that the ratio of fruit to other dessert-y ingredients must be less than 10% for me to consider a dessert for the very last meal of the day (this is, of course, very much excluding my Mum's cherry pie. MmmmMM!).

So, when I met my husband, Joe, and he revealed he 'probably prefers apple crumble over chocolate cake', (!??!?!?!) I very much reconsidered our relationship. It was either him going (and taking his misplaced choice for no. 1 dessert with him), or I was to learn to love it and accept Joe's love of breakfast as a post-dinner treat.

That's when I started looking at recipes, tweaking them, reducing the apple content, bringing it back up when Joe asked where it was (there's no fooling him)...and I finally landed on the combo below. It's the EASIEST method in the sense that you don't need to rub in the butter with fingers and I never bother peeling the apples because #aintnobodygottimeforthat. Unless you do, then you do you, boo.

I call it 'Joe's Apple Crumble' because I don't want my name associated with a non-dessert, but I will take the credit if you enjoy it. Because it does taste pretty great. For apple crumble :)

Joe's Apple Crumble

Ingredients

The apple-y bit (optional, in my opinion - and you are very welcome to add or replace with cherries!)

• 7 large apples (red, green - whatever you've found rolling around the crisper - I've also done this with 4 apples and it just means a higher crumble to apple ratio)
• 1/4 cup sugar (regular is fine vs caster sugar, it all tastes the same)
• 1 tsp cinnamon

The crumbly bit

• 1 cup plain flour (can be mixed or replaced with almond meal for extra sophistication)
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar 
• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 3/4 cup desiccated coconut
• 1 tbsp cinnamon (trust the process)
• 2 tsp nutmeg
• 2/3 cup butter (melted)
• 2 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Apples

• Peeling = optional. Core and chop roughly into thin slices
• Place apples in a saucepan and cover with water
• Simmer covered with a lid on med-high until apples are just tender (generally 5 mins once simmering)
• Drain apples well into large bowl (then drain again after a minute as I always find excess water and if they're soggy, the cinnamon sugar won't stick!)
• Combine the appley bit mix of sugar + cinnamon separately in a bowl then toss through the apples

• Combine flour, brown sugar/almond meal, oats, coconut, cinnamon and nutmeg (everything bar the vanilla essence and butter) in a large bowl until mixed
• Melt the butter and add the vanilla and stir
• Add the butter mix to the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon and in like 30 seconds, you'll have an even, beautiful crumble mixture. 

This is the point where I usually shovel a few spoonsful in my mouth and am happy to call it a day because it's quite delish. Joe often participates, then redirects me back on track.

• Place the apple mix evenly in a medium-sized casserole dish and pop the crumble mixture on top
• Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 30-40 mins, depending on your oven, until the top is slightly brown, or you can smell it wafting over to you on the couch

Top with ice cream, or custard, or whatever else apple-crumble lovers do. Or, as I like to do, enjoy it for breakfast the next day. With custard. It's pretty much milk, after all.

I truly hope you enjoy this apple crumble recipe more than I do. Because if I can love it and not love apple crumble, and you are a crumble lover, you're in for a real treat. And for those who prefer chocolate cake? Well you might have to stick around for another post one day with my Mum's special cake recipe that always always tastes like home.

Yours in desserts,

Clare

PS. no pics of this one as I keep making it at night and it's half eaten by the morning, but I'll update it when I can. In the meantime, here's the weird backwards recipe out of my book.