When it comes to making desserts, crumbles rank pretty high on my list of favourites. This apple and pear crumble is stress-free to make and is a delicious treat. The apples and pears are slightly cooked in some cinnamon before the crumble topping is added and baked in the oven. Whenever the craving for something sweet comes up and you don't want a muffin or make an entire cake, then this crumble should be your go-to option for dessert.
If you have a sweet tooth or you're just looking for other desserts, you will definitely be interested in this tapioca dessert, this tigernut and biscuit pudding, or this very indulging semolina pudding.
If you are totally averse to cooked fruit in desserts then a crumble is not something you will enjoy. Some apples will turn into mush in no time and in that case, I would suggest not cooking the fruit before baking the entire crumble.
Ingredients
For this crumble you will need apples, pears, butter, sugar and cinnamon.
Instructions
Peel the fruits, remove the seeds and chop them into smaller bits. Then cook them for a few minutes with some cinnamon, sugar and a pinch of salt.
Rub the butter into the flour with the sugar, milk, vanilla essence and salt until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Put the fruit mixture in an ovenproof tray or a baking tray and sprinkle the flour-butter mixture on top and then bake until golden brown.
Some recipes don’t require the fruit to be cooked but I prefer this especially when the apples and pears are quite firm - you want the fruit to be soft but not totally mushy when the crumble is finally out of the oven.
Substitutions
- Pineapples - generally apples are my go to fruit for crumbles but you can try this recipe with pineapple or any other fruit that hold up well in an oven. As long as your fruits do not have too high of a water content (eg. watermelon) you can use this recipe.
- Brown Sugar - you can use brown sugar instead of white granulated sugar.
Tip
What to look out for when making the pastry of the crumble is to use your fingertips to rub in the butter and also to look out for a fine breadcrumb like texture.
This warm apple and pear crumble goes well with ice cream. If you prefer it at room temperature with custard, then that's great too. The contrast of warm crumble with cold ice cream however is unbeatable.
Apple and Pear Crumble
Ingredients
- 250 grams flour sifted
- 100 grams butter
- 80 grams sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- pinch salt
- 4 apples peeled, core removed and diced
- 2 pears peeled, core removed and diced
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Heat oven to about 180°C - 200°C.
- In a large bowl, mix flour with sugar and salt and rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Mix vanilla essence with the milk and add, making sure to keep using your finger tips.
- Sprinkle some lemon juice on the diced fruit to prevent discolouration.
- Add the 4 tablespoons of sugar, cinnamon, a pinch of salt and about 3 tablespoons of water to the fruit. Cook for 5 minutes. Leave to cool.
- Arrange fruit in a baking dish and sprinkle crumble over the top. Grab some of the crumble and squeeze lightly together to form larger chunks and leave the others small. This forms a nice looking top with varying sizes of the crumble.
- Bake for about 35 minutes or until the crumble is golden brown.
- Serve warm with ice cream or custard.
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