Apple Crumble

I am not the only one who cooks in our family.  My beautiful wife, Clare, is also a great cook and a great baker.  Every once in a while, I ask my Angel to provide a guest blog post so that I can share some of the amazing and delicious things that she makes for family, friends and, of course, me.  She has already provided guest blog posts about Cuban Bread, Loyalist Bread, Salmon Burgers, Peach Cobbler, Parmesan Soufflé with White Wine Butter Sauce and Meatballs with Orechhiette, Kale and Pine Nuts.   So, without further ado,

A Guest Blog Post by Clare ...

When it comes to desserts, I am the one that makes them in our family.  Keith does not really make a lot of desserts; and, I think that is because he is not really into baking.  When it comes to cooking, he does not always measure things exactly.  He likes to "eyeball"the measurements.  This does not lend itself very well to baking, where exact measurements are much more important, particularly if you want to have a good dessert.

Then there are desserts that are more "Keith-friendly," that is, ones in which being off on a measurement or two would not spell ruin for the dish.  One such dish is this apple crumble, which I made as part of our Wine Club dinner back last September.  (Keith has been really busy at work and at home, which has left some recipes, like this one, waiting to be posted.)  The theme of the Wine Club dinner was The F Word, which was a dinner based on recipes by Gordon Ramsay.  This is Gordon's take on an Apple Crumble.  

The key to this recipe is that the apple is presented in two forms ... puree and chunks.  This helps to provide some interesting texture to the fruit in the dessert.  Gordon adds dried cranberries, which add some interesting flavor to complement the apples.  The granola topping, which adds that crunch one would expect with a crumble rounds out the dish. 

Over all, this is a delicious dessert and a great way to end that particular wine club dinner. 

APPLE CRUMBLE

Recipe from Gordon Ramsay's Cookery Course

Serves 4

Ingredients (for the apples):

6 tablespoons of caster sugar

Pinch of ground cinnamon

1 vanilla pod, seeds only

6 apples, cored but not peeled, 3 of them grated

     3 of them cut into chunks

3 tablespoons of dried cranberries

Zest of one lemon, juice of 1/2 lemon

Ingredients (for the crumble topping):

6 2/3 tablespoons of plain flour

2 tablespoons of demerara sugar

3 1/3 tablespoons of butter, chilled and cubed

Pinch of ground cinnamon

4 tablespoons of nutty granola or muesli

Directions:

1.  Prepare the apples.  Heat the oven to 390 degrees Fahrenheit.  Heat a small hob-proof baking dish. Add the caster sugar and heat for about 5 minutes until it caramelizes.  Add the cinnamon, vanilla seeds and grated apples and cook for 1-2 minutes.  Stir in the apple chunks, then mix in the cranberries, lemon zest and juice.  Remove from heat and set aside.

2.  Make the topping. Place the flour, sugar, butter and cinnamon in a bowl and rub together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.  Add the granola and mix fully until incorporated. 

3.  Bake the crumble.  Scatter the crumble topping over the fruit and heat the dish on the hob.  Once the apple mixture is bubbling, transfer to the preheated oven and bake for 12-14 minutes until the topping is a deep golden brown.  Remove and serve warm.

ENJOY!