I love baking, and I especially love baking with fruits. Apples are one of my favorite ingredients, and they show up in various desserts on my website, like Apple Pie, Apple Cake, and Apple Halwa. Apples also make an excellent base for cobblers, crisps and crumbles. What’s not to love about a dessert with fruit that is lightly sweetened and baked until fork tender and topped with a yummy, carb-y layer? Nothing, that’s what! This is a simple treat that the whole family is sure to love.
What is a Crumble
A crumble is a baked, casserole style dish with a signature crumbly topping that resembles bits of shortbread. Crumbles can be either savory or sweet, so long as they have a yummy streusel layer. The streusel gives a lovely crisp texture that acts as a perfect foil for the soft, tender filling beneath it. Many fruits can be used to make crumbles, including: peach, various types of berries, plum, apricot, and rhubarb. In this apple crumble recipe, the topping is a crunchy whole wheat streusel that pairs beautifully with the thick, jammy apple layer. While some fruit crumbles add oats to the topping, that would – in my opinion – make them more of a crisp. As such, this simple streusel topping features nutty whole wheat flour which gives some of the flavor of whole grains while maintaining a shortbread texture. If you want to learn more about the difference between a crisp, crumble and cobbler, this is an excellent article to read.
About This Easy Apple Crumble Recipe
This dessert recipe is extremely easy, coming together with just about 20 minutes of prep. And unlike some other recipes out there, the apples don’t have to be cooked separately. Everything is baked together in one casserole dish at the same time, making it entirely fuss free. You also have lots of leeway with the type of apples you use, making this entirely customizable. I personally prefer red apples in my crumble, but you can easily use a mix of any varieties that you please. In fact, you can even save yourself some time and opt to use canned apples instead. Once the apple crumble is baked, allow it to cool slightly, then dish it out. You don’t even need a knife to cut the pieces! Simply scoop out portions with a serving spoon. I told you it was easy!
How To Make Apple Crumble
This classic fruit crumble comes together very quickly – just make the apple filling, make the streusel, then assemble and bake.
Make Apple Filling
- First, rinse and dry 4 medium-sized apples (500 grams) in running water. Peel, core and slice them, then chop apples in 1-inch cubes.
- Add the apples to a mixing bowl. Sprinkle them with the following ingredients:
60 grams (or 6 tablespoons) of either granulated, powdered or castor sugar ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon lemon juice ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional)
3. Add ½ teaspoon lemon juice. Note: The acid in the lemon juice magically makes the apples taste more like apples; if you don’t have any on hand, swap in another acid like apple cider vinegar instead. 4. Sprinkle in 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour. Note: This acts as a thickener. You can swap in all purpose flour, a gluten-free all purpose flour mix or cornstarch instead. 5. Mix very well and keep aside. 6. Grease a baking tray or pan with some butter and set it aside.
Make Streusel Topping
- Add 75 grams cold butter cubes (⅓ cup) to a mixing bowl.
- Add ½ cup castor sugar or confectioner’s sugar/powdered sugar (100 grams). Note: Please do NOT use granulated sugar as it does not melt while baking and gives a terrible granular texture to the top streusel layer.
- Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or ½ teaspoon vanilla essence.
- Top with 1 cup whole wheat flour (120 grams), ½ teaspoon baking powder and a pinch of salt.
- With a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the dry ingredients till you get a sandy, breadcrumb-y texture. Note: No pastry cutter? No problem. You can use a knife or your fingers to cut the butter into the flour. You can also use a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. If butter begins to melt, then pop the bowl into the fridge for a few minutes until it is cold again.
- The texture of the streusel should look like wet sand or breadcrumbs.
Assemble
- Place the apples in the greased pan in an even layer. Additionally, preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit) for 15 minutes.
- Sprinkle the streusel topping evenly all over the apples, using either a spoon or your fingers.
- Sprinkle the apple mixture with the crumbles until evenly coated.
Bake Apple Crumble
- Place the pan in the preheated oven.
- Bake at 180 degrees Celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit) for 40 minutes, or till golden on top. Oven temperatures vary, so keep an eye on things. If the crumble topping is browning too quickly, cover it with foil so it can continue to bake without burning.
- Let the apple crumble cool until warm and then serve. You can serve with ice cream, custard or whipped cream. Enjoy!
Serving & Storage
The apple crumble can be served warm (which is preferable) or at room temperature. While it is delicious served plain, I like to accompany it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, custard or sweetened whipped cream. Any leftover apple crumble should be refrigerated. To reheat, simply warm it in the oven for a few minutes and then serve.
Tips & Variations
While it’s pretty impossible to make this apple crumble recipe taste anything but amazing, here are a few notes to keep in mind:
A Note On Apple Varieties: Red apples taste best in this recipe. You can use any variety of red apples. Even green apples that have a sour-sweet profile taste good. If you prefer some tartness in the crumble, you can opt for green apples. If you’re short on time or working with just pantry ingredients, you can even use canned apples.
Oats: For a crispier texture, you can replace up to half of the flour in the streusel topping with oats. Flour: You can use all-purpose flour or a gluten-free flour mixture instead of whole wheat flour. Mixing: You can mix the flour with butter using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. You can also mix with your hands. Vegan options: You can use either vegan butter or solid coconut oil instead of butter. If coconut oil is in liquid form, then refrigerate until it solidifies. Use maple syrup or raw sugar for apple stuffing. For the streusel use maple syrup or powdered unrefined raw sugar. Sugar: Use either castor sugar or powdered sugar for the streusel layer. Granular sugar does not melt or dissolve and gives a grainy coarse texture which is not pleasant while eating. For the apple filling, you can use granulated sugar, raw sugar, powdered sugar, brown sugar or castor sugar – it’ll all work beautifully. Butter: You can use either salted butter or unsalted butter for the streusel. If using salted butter, then skip the salt in the recipe.
Please be sure to rate the recipe in the recipe card or leave a comment below if you have made it. For more vegetarian inspirations, Sign Up for my emails or follow me on Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter. Peach Cobbler Recipe Applesauce Cake Recipe Sour Cream Coffee Cake Recipe Carrot Cake (Eggless & with Whole Wheat Flour) This Apple Crumble recipe from the archives was first published in February 2020. It has been updated and republished on January 2024.
