Crumbly with a slight chew and enough spice to hit the taste buds, our special crumble will keep you and your guests coming back for more.
When we think of crumbles we tend to think of the cold winter nights (could be any night in Scotland to be fair), or even for the famous family Sunday roast, it is the best comfort food to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. So why share this recipe in the summer? Simple it is so good, and you can cool things down with a helping of creamy ice cream (Cornish clotted ice cream yum!).
It’s a simple pudding that can be whipped up and the ingredients are not that hard to come by. We start with our main ingredient, the apple, there are so many varieties to pick from but I chose Granny Smith’s just because I love the tang and extra sweetness they bring, I feel it really does balance out the whole recipe. If you wanted you could substitute with another type of apple like Bramleys, or even create a different experience with another fruit such as rhubarb.
The sauce I use for the recipe is a really sweet creamy caramel sauce so you don’t have to make caramel which is a total nightmare unless you can get the sweet spot, very hard not to burn. As for the salted part you can either add one teaspoon when making the sauce or you can just do as I do and add as you layer this bad boy.
The proof is in the crumble, basically the crumble is how you know if it’s good or not, too crumbly and it will fall all over the place, and if it’s too doughy it will taste yuck. There are loads of tips for creating the perfect crumble mix, such as pre-cooking the crumble or even adding some biscuits to the crumble. For today I am a being a plain Jane and sticking to just the basics, this will give you a chewy but irresistible topping.
Do not forget these recipes during the summer months as a dollop of ice-cream or a lashing of double cream will cool the dessert down. Just enjoy the sweet and salty treat, I’m sure your dinner guests will love this one.
Salted Caramel Apple Crumble
Our special crumble will keep you and your guests coming back for more.
- 4 to 6 Granny Smith apples
- 180g flour
- 60g caster sugar
- 110g butter (chopped in to small chunks)
- sea salt
- ground cinnamon
- 120g butter
- 120g brown sugar
- 100ml cream
- It really does pay to be organised, let’s preheat the oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4 and grease a medium-sized casserole dish.
- Again back to this organised thing again (seriously you should see my kitchen right now) weigh and get all your ingredients at a handy distance.
- We will start with apples first, peel them and core them. Slice the apples not too thick. It really does help the recipe if you steam the apples first but you could part boil, just don’t completely cook them or you will end up with a puree, very messy.
- Take a large bowl, it’s time to get messy! Add the flour and the butter for the crumble and with your hands rub in the butter to the flour. The consistency you are looking for is crumbled cheese.
- Now add the sugar and give a good stir and just leave the crumble mixture for now.
- We are going to make the caramel sauce, so take your pot and add the butter, melt at a medium heat.
- Now add the brown sugar and cream, keep stirring until it comes to a sauce consistency (I nearly used all the sauce as it tastes so good, you’ve been warned).
- We will now put it all together, start by taking your prepared greased dish and place a layer of apples, sprinkle with some cinnamon and sea salt and then thinly layer the caramel sauce on top. Repeat this till all the apples are gone, do not use all caramel sauce keep it a thin layer.
- Once the apples are gone add a layer of the crumble mix, then a thin caramel sauce layer, sprinkle of salt and cinnamon and do this till the crumble mixture is gone.
- Sprinkle the crumble mix a bit heavier on the top layer, this will make sure that the caramel doesn’t creep through too much when cooking (a wee bit showing through will be ok).
- Place the dish in to the oven for 20-25 minutes, until the top is crispy, golden and bubbling.
- Serve up with a big dollop of whipped cream, custard or ice cream!
Gina is a famous blogger who works as an assistant manager at the Petit Four Cakery. By day, she manages the bakery and by night, she has another job running her cooking blog where she shares her own recipes.
