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Apple Crumble – Apple Crisp Recipe

Run short of flour and butter or just too many apples at hand? Check out this Crisp Apple Crumble recipe and let nature do the rest!

Apple-crumble-apple-crisp-recipe-2-SunCakeMomThe animal kingdom is a cruel place. With no fridge, or just in time supply system to rely on, they have to live for the moment. Spending life foraging or hunting to sustain themselves is a gruesome work though.

No wonder, Eve was fed up with such an unpredictable environment, not to mention the lack of shoes and bags.

Once she convinced Adam and were out to explore the world around them though, they started to make preparations to sustain themselves more reliably.

Sure, it took a couple of turns and thousands of years to develop farming and a few more to make machines that work instead of us but at the end, humanity archived food security never seen before and we lived happily ever after.

Unfortunately, or not, great tales always have a sequel. The second part of this epic journey brought up a new villain that got so fixated on its own importance of saving us that couldn’t see the damage it did by itself on the long run.

Nowadays, when most other dangers are thwarted the only thing that can cause our demise is ourselves or more precisely the intuitive part of our brain that was responsible for our survival for hundreds of thousands of years and still saves us from crashing into each other on the highway but still can’t see further than our next meal.

Apparently though there is gene that’s responsible for overeating which isn’t enabled in all of us, so evolution is trying to catch up, but a couple of decades of prosperity isn’t enough to reprogram centuries of hardship.

Not to mention that having a war every now and then with serious issues in the food supply chain didn’t help much convincing our biology not to store as much energy as it possibly can.

Crisps or more widely known as crumbles in its birthplace the UK, was born out of necessity during the food rationing of WWII. Since flour and other basic needs became a scarcity people had to make do with whatever little they had available.

The lack of enough ingredients to make full pie crusts resulted in crustless pies and sprinkling some buttery flour on top meant a bite of heaven during the hardships.

Due to direct contact to heat the top generally crisped up hence comes the American name Crisp as in Apple crisp that many of us are more familiar with. Those who are more verged in the lore of baking call the top neither crisp or crumble but streusel.

Streusel is a crumbly topping of flour butter and some sort of sweetener, traditionally sugar. The word itself comes from German and simply means “sprinkled” which is exactly what we do with it on top of cakes, muffins, breads, and pies.

Although nowadays food rationing is as farfetched idea to many as buying seasonal fruits, thanks to  economics and the rules of supply and demand apple crisps or crumbles are still largely made during the autumn harvest of apples where the high supply pushes prices down and people don’t mind buying larger amounts of them to bake them away.

It’s worth to mention though that similarly to apple pies, apple turnovers or apple cake, apple crisps don’t require the prettiest and crispiest of apples. Any that has been left behind would do to be shredded, sliced, and then snug under buttery starch.

Once out of our oven and left on its own to roam in the wild, probably won’t have much chance to survive. So always keep in mind to create them in pairs so they both have an opportunity not just to be free but be happy until the end of their time.Apple-crumble-apple-crisp-recipe-4-SunCakeMom

Ingredients

  • 3 lb / 1.5 kg Apple
  • 1 piece Lemon
  • Sweetener of choice to taste (optional)
  • 3 tablespoon / 50g Butter
  • ⅞ cup / 100g Plain flour

Kitchen utensils

  • 8″ x 8″ / 20.5cm x 20.5cm Baking dish

How to make Apple crumble – Apple Crisp

  1. Peel and core apples. Chop them up into 1″ / 3cm chunks. Rinse them beforehand so we can eat the skin and core or use them up later. To keep the apple chunks from browning, mix them gently with lemon juice. Peel core and slice apple --gp-- SunCakeMom
  2. Place them into a saucepan with some grated lemon zest on medium heat. Some like to add sweetener but those, who kicked sugar already, won’t need it at all. Put the lid on and cook the apples until softened, about 10 – 15 minutes.Apple-sauce-recipe-Process-1-SunCakeMom
  3. Meanwhile the apples are being cooked, measure cold butter and flour in a mixing bowl. Add sweetener of choice if desired. Press and knead and rub them together by hand until desired size crumbs are produced. Pressing them together makes bigger while rubbing them will produce smaller crumbs. If the butter warms up, crumbs would become smaller and smaller until we’ll end up with a pie crust. Popping the crumbs into the fridge until the butter cools down will give us a fresh start if needed. Don’t add water!Apple-crumble-apple-crisp-recipe-Process-1-SunCakeMom
  4. Transfer apples into a baking dish that doesn’t allow liquid to seep out. Smaller size dishes will make thicker layers while bigger dishes thinner ones but none will affect the end results.Apple-crumble-apple-crisp-recipe-Process-2-SunCakeMom
  5. Sprinkle over the crumble topping.Apple-crumble-apple-crisp-recipe-Process-3-SunCakeMom
  6. Bake in the middle rack of 390°F / 200°C preheated oven until golden brown, about 30 – 40 minutes. Letting it cool off before serving makes it easier to take the slices out and prettier too. Serve it with custard or vanilla ice cream.Apple-crumble-apple-crisp-recipe-Process-6-SunCakeMom

Enjoy!Apple-crumble-apple-crisp-recipe-3-SunCakeMom

Apple-crumble-apple-crisp-recipe-g16x9-SunCakeMom
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Apple Crumble - Apple Crisp Recipe

Run short of flour and butter or just too many apples at hand? Check out this Crisp Apple Crumble recipe and let nature do the rest!
Course Dessert
Cuisine American, Sugar free recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes

Equipment

  • 8" x 8" / 20.5cm x 20.5cm Baking dish

Ingredients

  • 3 lb Apple
  • 1 piece Lemon
  • Sweetener of choice to taste optional
  • 3 tablespoon Butter
  • cup Plain flour

Instructions

  • Peel and core apples. Chop them up into 1" / 3cm chunks. Rinse them beforehand so we can eat the skin and core or use them up later. To keep the apple chunks from browning, mix them gently with lemon juice.
    Peel core and slice apple --gp-- SunCakeMom
  • Place them into a saucepan with some grated lemon zest on medium heat. Some like to add sweetener but those, who kicked sugar already, won't need it at all. Put the lid on and cook the apples until softened, about 10 - 15 minutes.
    Apple-sauce-recipe-Process-1-SunCakeMom
  • Meanwhile the apples are being cooked, measure cold butter and flour in a mixing bowl. Add sweetener of choice if desired. Press and knead and rub them together by hand until desired size crumbs are produced. Pressing them together makes bigger while rubbing them will produce smaller crumbs. If the butter warms up, crumbs would become smaller and smaller until we'll end up with a pie crust. Popping the crumbs into the fridge until the butter cools down will give us a fresh start if needed. Don't add water!
    Apple-crumble-apple-crisp-recipe-Process-1-SunCakeMom
  • Transfer apples into a baking dish that doesn't allow liquid to seep out. Smaller size dishes will make thicker layers while bigger dishes thinner ones but none will affect the end results.
    Apple-crumble-apple-crisp-recipe-Process-2-SunCakeMom
  • Sprinkle over the crumble topping.
    Apple-crumble-apple-crisp-recipe-Process-3-SunCakeMom
  • Bake in the middle rack of 390°F / 200°C preheated oven until golden brown, about 30 - 40 minutes. Letting it cool off before serving makes it easier to take the slices out and prettier too. Serve it with custard or vanilla ice cream.
    Apple-crumble-apple-crisp-recipe-Process-6-SunCakeMom

Notes

Enjoy!

Pin now, Enjoy later!

Apple-crumble-apple-crisp-recipe-Pinterest-SunCakeMom

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