Apple and Oat Crumble

While visiting our friends in Jedburgh, I had the pleasure of picking apples from a tree for the first time in my life!  It isn't that I had never seen an apple tree, in fact, we had one in our backyard for awhile. But I just never thought of going out there and even finding out if my apples were edible! 

A gorgeous part of Scotland we had never visited before!

 

But on this particular weekend, Isabel offered to send some apples home with me and out we went to get them!  And I got way more than I thought we could handle.  I was advised how to wrap them in newspaper and store them in a cold room.  Easier said than done right now in our house.....things are all every which way right now as we try to come to grips with whatever it is we want to do with this house!  And at this point, I could not even get to the door of the garage. So I searched and discovered the coldest room in our house is my new office. This was once my Mom's bedroom and she always said it was cold.......she was right! 

With our son now being home from London, it seemed the perfect excuse to bake something. So I decided to see how those apples I put in the room in September were doing 5 weeks later. And they were perfect.  (I have used some of the apples before this, but they had been kept in the kitchen)

I am also trying to get rid of some of my cookbooks, so I am testing which ones I like most.  I decided to try "Bake" by Rachel Allen.  And the recipe was a huge success!  So that is one book I will probably keep!

And I apologize, I forgot to measure into cups after the flour.  I just enjoyed putting it all together and didn't remember to make that adjustment. 

APPLE AND OAT CRUMBLE

Serves 6   (very cleverly done, it is suggested you use 6 ramekins, so of course it serves 6. No danger of a huge serving and then it only serves 4! Unless of course you are a member of this family.  In reality, this served 4 - one of us ate 2 ramekins at a time!  In their defense - 4 of the ramekins were small......

3-4 large cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into big chunks  ( I took this too far and should have cut smaller "big" chunks!)

1`tbsp water

2 - 3 tbsp. caster sugar

Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream  ( I used 0% fat Vanilla Greek Yogurt)

For the crumble:

150g (5oz, or 3/4 cup) plain flour
1tsp ground cinnamon ( recipe says optional, but cinnamon goes so well with apples!)
75g (3oz butter) chilled and cubed 
25 g (1oz) porridge oats  (oatmeal)
75g (2oz) light brown sugar

1 litre (1 3/4 pint) pie dish or six ramekins

1. Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F or Gas mark 4.

2.  Place the apples, water and sugar into a saucepan set over a gentle heat and cook, stirring every minute or so to prevent it sticking, for approximately 10 or so until the apples become a soft pulp.  (Mine took longer than 10 minutes, possibly from being cut in too large of chunks, or else my heat was too gentle!)  Taste and add more sugar if necessary (I didn't think it was).  Transfer to the pie dish or the six ramekins and allow to cool slightly.




3. 

Next, make the crumble.  Place the flour and cinnamon (if using) in a large bowl, add the butter and, using your fingertips, rub it in until the mixture resembles very coarse breadcrumbs.  (Don't rub in too much or the crumble will not be crunchy.)  Add the oats and sugar and mix to combine. 




4. 

Sprinkle this crumble mixture over the slightly cooled apples and bake for 15 minutes for the small crumbles or 30 - 45 minutes for a large one until cooled and golden.  Serve warm with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or vanilla yogurt (in a feeble attempt to make this sound healthy!)





                                                                                                /before going into the oven

                                                 
                                                                the finished product

Here is the recipe without the pictures.


APPLE AND OAT CRUMBLE

Serves 6   (very cleverly done, it is suggested you use 6 ramekins, so of course it serves 6. No danger of a huge serving and then it only serves 4!)

3-4 large cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into big chunks  ( I took this too far and should have cut smaller "big" chunks!)

1`tbsp water

2 - 3 tbsp. caster sugar

Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream  ( I used 0% fat Vanilla Greek Yogurt)

For the crumble:

150g (5oz, or 3/4 cup) plain flour
1tsp ground cinnamon ( recipe says optional, but cinnamon goes so well with apples!)
75g (3oz butter) chilled and cubed 
25 g (1oz) porridge oats  (oatmeal)
75g (2oz) light brown sugar

1 litre (1 3/4 pint) pie dish or six ramekins

1. Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F or Gas mark 4.
2.  Place the apples, water and sugar into a saucepan set over a gentle heat and cook, stirring every minute or so to prevent it sticking, for approximately 10 or so until the apples become a soft pulp.  (Mine took longer than 10 minutes, possibly from being cut in too large of chunks, or else my heat was too gentle!)  Taste and add more sugar if necessary (I didn't think it was).  Transfer to the pie dish or the six ramekins and allow to cool slightly.
3.  Next, make the crumble.  Place the flour and cinnamon (if using) in a large bowl, add the butter and, using your fingertips, rub it in until the mixture resembles very coarse breadcrumbs.  (Don't rub in too much or the crumble will not be crunchy.)  Add the oats and sugar and mix to combine. 
4.  Sprinkle this crumble mixture over the slightly cooled apples and bake for 15 minutes for the small crumbles or 30 - 45 minutes for a large one until cooled and golden.  Serve warm with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or vanilla yogurt (in a feeble attempt to make this sound healthy!)

"The most important things in your home are people." Amish Proverb