Apple and Oatmeal Crumble
Content
"Apple crumble" sounds very beautiful, delicious and extremely mysterious. Meanwhile, it's hard to find a pie easier to make. Crumble is a quintessentially English pastry. The recipe is right there in the name: "crumble" translates as "crumbs" or "to crumble."
The basic recipe is incredibly simple: sliced apples are coated with flour crumbs and baked. The entire process takes about an hour, from preparing the apples to serving the finished treat (photo).
The recipe calls for apples as the base for the pie. However, they aren't the highlight of this dessert, although they do impart a delightful aroma. It's the flour crumble that gives this delicacy its special charm and flavor: it forms a delicious, crispy crust over the juicy filling (photo).
A very flexible dessert
Although apple crumble is traditionally made with apples, other fillings are now often used: any fruits or berries. Savory versions of the pie have even appeared: vegetable, mushroom, and other. However, such baked goods are not considered desserts, so it's worth returning to the classic sweet version.
The pie is very light, so this apple crumble is definitely recommended for those watching their weight. Furthermore, its calorie content can be adjusted by the amount of crumble: reduce or increase it as desired. But that's not all. The pie will be even more dietary if you change the crumble ingredients: replace the flour with, for example, rolled oats (photo).
You can experiment with the crumble itself: add coconut flakes, ground nuts, or flaked almonds. The main beauty of crumble lies in its flexibility: this pie doesn't require strict adherence to the rules. On the contrary, it not only allows for, but welcomes, various innovations.
However, before letting your imagination run wild, it's a good idea to study the basic recipe. After all, you need something to base your creation on when creating your own version of an English pie.
Basics of cooking
The first step is to master the preparation of the main ingredient that gives this dessert its unique character: the crumble. It must be made by hand. The classic recipe is as follows:
- 300 g flour (wheat);
- 200 g butter;
- 150 g sugar.
Directions: In a large bowl, combine the sugar and flour, add the cold, diced butter, and rub everything together with your hands to form fine crumbs, as shown in the photo. Incidentally, you don't need to make the crumbs each time before baking. They store well in the freezer, allowing you to make a batch of crumbs for future use (the recipe's ingredients are enough for several batches). Incidentally, this will significantly reduce the time it takes to bake the pie next time.
One more thing about the crumble. This recipe allows for using not only wheat flour but also any other flour: corn, whole wheat, or oatmeal. You can also substitute semolina, muesli, nuts, or rolled oats for the flour. If you really don't want to mess around with the dough, you can, in a pinch, crumble regular store-bought cookies into the apples.
Next: to make a real apple crumble (photo), you naturally need apples. And where there are apples, there's cinnamon: a more perfect combination of flavors is hard to find.
So, peel and core the apples and cut them into slices. Grease a baking dish, place the apple pieces in it, and sprinkle them with sugar and cinnamon. Speaking of the shape: the original crumble recipe called for one large pie. Nowadays, the dessert is often baked in small tins, individually.
Next, sprinkle the pie with flour crumbs and bake in the oven (the recipe recommends preheating it to 175-180 degrees Celsius) for half an hour. Unfortunately, no photo can capture the enchanting aroma emanating from the finished dessert! Ice cream makes a wonderful accompaniment.
Well, now that we've mastered the general principles of cooking, it's time to move on to the specifics. For example, making fruit crumble with oatmeal.
Apples and Hercules
No one will dispute the health benefits of oatmeal. But while porridge made from it is becoming a bit boring, a pie, especially with baked apples, is something new. To prepare this delicious and healthy dessert, you'll need:
- oatmeal - 2 cups;
- apples – 3 – 4 pieces;
- butter - 100 grams;
- honey – 4 tablespoons.
Now it's time to start preparing the ingredients:
- Slice the peeled apples. The shape doesn't really matter. The key is that the pieces shouldn't be too thick.
- In this case, the recipe suggests melting the butter – this will make it easier to mix with the honey and oatmeal.
The preparation is complete, it's time to move on to the final stage:
- Grease a baking dish and pour the apple slices into it. Sprinkle with cinnamon or, like the British, cloves (but that's a matter of taste). If you have some raisins, dried apricots, or nuts lying around, they'll also come in handy.
- Sprinkle the oatmeal crumble over the apple-flannel quilt, place the pan in the oven, and bake at 180 degrees Celsius. The apple and oatmeal crumble will be ready in 20-30 minutes. During this time, the apples will be cooked through, and the crumble will acquire an attractive golden brown color (photo).
It's best to enjoy this pastry while it's still warm. To enhance the dessert's flavor, serve it with whipped cream, vanilla sauce, or ice cream (photo). This light and delicious crumble is a great treat to treat your family to often: just a few simple ingredient changes allow you to create a completely new treat every time.
Bon appetit!
